Popularity ranking · South Africa

The 100 most popular Musical Genres in South Africa

This curated ranking covers the 100 largest musical genres in South Africa, ordered by estimated audience size from Rascasse's anonymized search-behavior signals. Out of 635 musical genres tracked in South Africa, the 100 ranked here account for the largest measured audience reach. Hip hop music, Pop music and Rock music lead the list with a combined estimated audience of 9.7M people. Across all 100 entries the average audience size is 715k, and the largest, Hip hop music, reaches around 3.6M people in South Africa. Audience size is the estimated number of unique people in South Africa who actively engage with each musical genre, derived from search demand signals. Rankings reflect search-behavior signals collected across South Africa and are refreshed weekly.

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How to read this list

Rank

Position in the Top 100, sorted by audience size from largest to smallest. Updated weekly.

Audience size

Estimated number of unique people in South Africa who actively engage with this audience, derived from anonymized search-behavior signals.

Country share

Share of the global audience that is active in South Africa. A higher value means the audience is more locally concentrated here.

Avg age

Average age in years across the people who engage with this audience in South Africa, derived from anonymized search-behavior signals. A dash means demographic data is not yet available.

Female share

Share of women among the people who engage with this audience in South Africa. 50% is gender-balanced; values above mean female-skewed, below mean male-skewed.

Ranking

Rank Audience Audience size Avg age Female share Subtype
1 Hip hop music 3.6M 33.9 50.7% Musical genre
2 Pop music 3.1M 35.1 52.1% Musical genre
3 Rock music 3M 36.1 51.4% Musical genre
4 Rhythm and blues music 2.6M 34.8 50.3% Musical genre
5 Soul music 2.3M 35.2 52.4% Musical genre
6 Blues music 2M 35.9 52.0% Musical genre
7 Jazz music 2M 36.0 49.8% Musical genre
8 Classical music 2M 36.7 51.4% Musical genre
9 Popular music 1.8M 34.7 47.0% Musical genre
10 Gospel music 1.7M 35.3 55.2% Musical genre
11 Contemporary R&B 1.6M 32.9 54.0% Musical genre
12 House music 1.5M 33.3 44.6% Musical genre
13 African-American music 1.4M 34.0 48.9% Musical genre
14 Dance music 1.4M 34.9 47.8% Musical genre
15 Electro (music) 1.2M Musical genre
16 Singer-songwriter 1.2M 33.7 54.6% Musical genre
17 Country music 1.2M 38.1 52.9% Musical genre
18 Reggae 1.1M 32.7 43.9% Musical genre
19 Funk 1.1M 32.0 45.5% Musical genre
20 Afrobeat 985k 33.1 53.2% Musical genre
21 Disco 906k 32.6 47.3% Musical genre
22 Alternative hip hop 893k 30.5 45.3% Musical genre
23 Rock and roll 890k 35.3 52.7% Musical genre
24 Alternative rock 889k 34.1 49.5% Musical genre
25 West Coast hip hop 863k 30.4 44.5% Musical genre

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Frequently asked questions

How is this list of the most popular musical genres compiled?

Rascasse aggregates anonymized search-behavior signals across South Africa and ranks each musical genre by its estimated audience size. Only entries with at least 5 measured entities are listed.

How often is the list updated?

The ranking is refreshed weekly from the latest search-behavior data and re-published as a static page.

What is the largest musical genre in South Africa?

Hip hop music currently leads with an estimated audience of 3.6M people in South Africa.

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