New music data reveals that Nairobi youth, aged between 18 and 24, account for 53.7% of all streams in the city in the month of June 2026.<\/p>\n
This data means Nairobi has the highest share of Gen Z listeners among the three African cities analysed. By comparison, 18\u201324 listeners made up 44.4% of streams in Lagos and 29.9% in Johannesburg, according to Spotify.<\/p>\n
The new data comes ahead of the streamer\u2019s event scheduled for Wednesday, dubbed the Greasy Tunes.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreasy Tunes Nairobi brings the data to life by showing how young Kenyans actually listen: across genres, across formats, and across the social moments that shape the city,\u201d said Agnes Opondo, Artist and Label Partnerships, East Africa, Spotify. \u201c Over 12 days, we are creating space for artists, communities, food, conversation and sound to meet in one programme, reflecting Nairobi\u2019s energy as a culture hub where music is not just streamed, but experienced together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additionally, the newly released report also gives insight into the growth of specific genres such as Gospel, which grew 37% in Nairobi.<\/p>\n
Other genres that showed growth in Nairobi include:<\/p>\n
Dancehall \u2013 95% year on year, the fastest-growing genre in the dataset
\nBongo flava \u2013 75%, reflecting accelerating cultural exchange between Kenya and Tanzania
\nGengetone, the genre born in Nairobi, grew 48%
\nAmapiano \u2013 34%, continuing its expansion from South Africa into East Africa
\nAfrobeats (+25%)
\nR&B (+28%)
\nAfropop (+21%)<\/p>\n
Addressing the average listening time, the company said Nairobi\u2019s stream rate was the highest.<\/p>\n
\u201cNairobi\u2019s 18\u201324 listeners stream throughout the day, with listening strongest from midday into early evening. The highest hour for this age group is 12 pm, while 6 pm marks the peak for all age groups in the city,\u201d the report said. \u201cThe work and focus window (10 am\u20134 pm) accounts for 39.7% of Gen Z\u2019s daily listening, with the evening (5\u201310 pm) contributing another 30.5%. Even between 2 am and 5 am, 18\u201324 listeners account for 55% of all streams in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spotify will officially launch Greasy Tunes from July 15 at 6 pm with an evening event before the 12-day programme continues through to July 26 with the aim of reflecting \u201cthe breadth of ways Nairobi\u2019s Gen Z engages with culture and audio.\u201d<\/p>\n
The programme highlights include live music performances, the Fresh Finds emerging-artist showcase, the Nakili Sessions, a Gospel and Alt Night, and a football-adjacent watch party<\/p>\n
The post Nairobi youth top streaming in 3 African countries, new data reveals ahead of Greasy Tunes launch<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New music data reveals that Nairobi youth, aged between 18 and 24, account for 53.7% of all streams in the city in the month of June 2026. This data means Nairobi has the highest share of Gen Z listeners among the three African cities analysed. By comparison, 18\u201324 listeners made up 44.4% of streams in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}