As Spotify's annual end-of-year Wrapped reports have shown that Belgian artists feature heavily in the international charts, the streaming platform has now released a mid-year overview of which Belgian songs made an impression abroad.
The first Belgian artist to achieve one billion streams on Spotify is Lost Frequencies, whose track 'Where Are You Now' was the most streamed track by a Belgian artist in 2022 and 2023. His collaboration with David Kushner, called 'In My Bones', was the most streamed Belgian track in the first six months of 2024, with over 24 million streams. It was especially popular in Poland, the US, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Like Lost Frequencies, EDM/Dance genres feature heavily: most of the Belgian tracks fall under the broader category of Dance/Electronic/EDM. Belgium's best-known artists are Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Tiësto and Lost Frequencies – all of whom will play at the legendary Tomorrowland's festival.
Dance, French rap and techno
Second in popularity to Lost Frequencies is Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, whose remake of Eminem's 'Mockingbird' was especially popular in Germany, the Netherlands, France, the US and Sweden.
'Mockingbird' builds on the success of 'Thank You (Not So Bad)', another collaboration with Tiësto and others that became a streaming sensation (#11 in the list). Strikingly, 'Mockingbird' is not the only Eminem remake in the list: Belgian DJ Robert Falcon's remix of 'Slim Shady' stands at #19.
Green Montana and SDM are in third place with 'Barcelona92'. The track is doing well in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and Morocco. As has been shown many times in Wrapped reviews, French-language rap/hip-hop continues to entertain.
Artists doing particularly well are Green Montana (#3 and #16: Ishtar) and Brussels sensation Hamza, who held the record of most played Belgian track in France in 2023 with 'Nocif' and also takes a spot in this list with 'Lalla' featuring Korre (#8).
The Belgian entry for this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Mustii, takes fourth place with 'Before the Party's Over'. While he failed to make it through the preliminary round, the early exit has not stopped music lovers from expressing their appreciation for the track. In another world, Belgium might have received douze points from Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK if the streaming charts are any indication.
As the highest-placed female artists, Amelie Lens (#13: 'Breathe') and Charlotte de Witte (#14: 'Roar') represent the popularity of the Belgian techno scene in the list.
"The Belgian music scene is a melting pot of genres, and while this list highlights the widespread popularity of high-energy electronic music, it also acknowledges the influence of French rap and the enduring appeal of techno and pop music," said Spotify.
Here is a full list of the top 25:
