Black Music holds tremendous power and influence within the black community and beyond. It has played a vital role in shaping popular music genres, including jazz, blues, gospel, R&B, hip-hop, reggae, Afrobeats, and more. Black Music often serves as a powerful form of cultural expression, reflecting black people’s experiences, struggles, and triumphs throughout history. Its impact on popular culture, fashion, television, dance, and language undeniably transcends globally and brings people together. The power of Black Music lies in its ability to connect, empower, and uplift individuals and communities worldwide.
Originating in the US, R&B/hip-hop has traveled far beyond American borders. Though 41% of the Total Global On-Demand (Audio and Video) streams are from the US, international territories India, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico together make up an additional 19% of global streams. And while other countries have nominally lower streaming volumes, there is a surprising band of countries that over-index in R&B/hip-hop, as seen below on the map in orange.
Black Music has also prominently featured in film soundtracks, adding depth and enhancing storytelling while reaching listeners on a global scale. Biographical films depicting the lives of influential Black musicians, such as Ray Charles, Tina Turner, James Brown, and N.W.A, showcase their music as a central element, but most recently we are seeing a boom in Black Music making its impact on featured animated film. In 2020, Beyoncé enlisted an all-star list of Afrobeats artists and producers for The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack album. Most recently, Hip-Hop mega-producer Metro Boomin was tapped as executive producer for the soundtrack to the new animated Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, featuring R&B/Hip-Hop and Black Music artists. The soundtrack opened at #7 on the Billboard 200 the week it was released with 66k Total Equivalent Activity. This includes over 84m Total On-Demand Audio and Video streams in the US and globally, the soundtrack drove more than 204m streams in the week ending 6/8/23.
Using Luminate Film & TV data to look at the film’s first week box office numbers around the globe, countries like Mexico and the UK also jump to the top as the movie and soundtrack combine to make an impact on a global scale.
Movies continue to be a great source of discovery as according to the Luminate Entertainment 365 data, Black Music consumers are 13% more likely to discover new content through movies.
People from diverse backgrounds and cultures enjoy Black Music. Using Luminate’s Entertainment 365 data, we found that music listeners who listen to Black Music are +27% more likely to listen to Black Music because it helps them find and interact with a community of new people who share similar interests. Black Music encompasses a wide range of genres such as blues, jazz, gospel, R&B, hip-hop, reggae, and many more. It has had a significant impact on the global music scene and has attracted listeners from various ethnicities, races, and nationalities. The universal appeal of Black Music is a testament to its power to connect people and bridge cultural boundaries.
Source:
Data pulled from the Luminate Entertainment 365 data was filtered by predominantly black musical genres (ie. Afropop, Gospel, Hip-Hop/Rap, Jazz, R&B and Reggae)
