YouTube Music has officially launched in South Africa, and locals are taking advantage of this streaming platform to listen to and watch their very favourite content. YouTube was launched in 2005 and allows billions of people to discover, watch and share video content. Using information from the YouTube Music Charts – which provide trends information and insights into South Africa’s favourite music – we’ve put together 16 local facts about YouTube Music that will leave you flabbergasted.
The stats:
1. King Monada’s viral hit Malwedhe reached the top 10 on the YouTube Top Songs charts in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
2. Simmy’s Umahlalela reached 1 million views in under 90 days.
3. Joyous Celebration was the most played artist on YouTube in South Africa in 2018.
4. Sho Madjozi recorded a nearly 90% increase in average daily views on YouTube the week after her performance at Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100, live-streamed globally on YouTube.
5. It took just six days for Sjava’s video for Umama to reach 500,000 views.
6. Lady Zamar earned over 15 million views across YouTube in 2018.
7. Black Coffee earned over 30 million views across YouTube in 2018.
8. Bok van Blerk, Joyous Celebration and Snotkop have appeared on YouTube’s South Africa Top Artists chart every week since the chart launched in May 2018.
9. Over 80% of Black Coffee’s views over the last 12 months came from outside of South Africa.
10. Over 60% of views for Nasty C during the previous 12 months came from outside of South Africa.
11. Simmy’s Umahlalela spent 11 straight weeks on the charts, climbing from #74 in its first week to as high as #16.
12. Black Coffee and David Guetta’s track, Drive featuring Delilah Montagu has amassed over 29m views across YouTube in under seven months.
13. Since launching the chart in May, Joyous Celebration has held the #1 spot on YouTube’s South Africa Top Artists chart in six different weeks.
14. Lady Zamar’s Collide was the number 3 most played song on YouTube in South Africa in 2018.
15. Mlindo The Vocalist’s AmaBlesser was the 11th most played song in South African YouTube in 2018.
16. Master KG’s Skeleton Move was the 13th most played song in South Africa in 2018.
HOW YOUTUBE MUSIC WORKS AND COSTING:
While fans can enjoy the new ad-supported version of YouTube Music for free, YouTube Music Premium, a paid membership that gives you background listening, downloads and an ad-free experience for R59.99 a month, is also available.
Music fans get one month of YouTube Music Premium free and pay R59.99 per month after, or R89.99 per month for a Family Plan, while paid Play Music subscribers get YT Music Premium for free.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING:
YouTube Music features a home screen that dynamically adapts to provide recommendations based on what it thinks users will like. It also provides an option for Premium subscribers to download songs they love to their Offline Mixtape automatically.
Picture: Supplied
Content: Supplied