With the Arabic music industry gaining further momentum in 2025, the year ahead is shaping up as a pivotal one for the region’s global reach.
According to Spotify’s 2025 end-of-year data report, Wrapped, streaming audiences continued to grow across the Middle East and North Africa, while listening habits became more eclectic.
To understand what those shifts might signal for this year – and how artists can position themselves to ride the next wave – The National speaks with Mark Abou Jaoude, Spotify’s head of music for Mena, about five developments he believes will shape the Arabic music calendar in 2026.
1. There will be more interesting collaborations
One of the clearest industry signals to emerge in 2025 was the rapid rise of genre-blending collaborations across the Arab world, says Abou Jaoude.
Once treated as side projects or novelty releases, collaborations are now being pursued deliberately by artists looking to expand their reach and audience base.
The result is a more eclectic regional sound, with genre blending long associated with western pop now becoming a defining feature of Arabic music’s mainstream.
Abou Jaoude points to the collaboration between Palestinian artist Saint Levant and Egyptian rapper Marwan Moussa on Kalamantina as a clear example of the trend. The track merges English and Arabic rap with Levantine folk elements and Egyptian drill-influenced hip-hop.
Another resonant partnership came from Morocco’s Dystinct and Egyptian crooner Ahmed Saad, whose rap-pop hybrid release Ghazali broadened both artists’ audiences.
“This is the sound shaping what pop could become in the region,” Abou Jaoude says. “It’s the blending of genres and collaborations, particularly in Egypt and Morocco. You are also seeing this among artists and genres that historically did not collaborate, and the fact that it is happening and receiving attention on our platform is encouraging for the industry.”
2. The musical hierarchy is flattening
The divide between emerging artists and mainstream acts is narrowing, Abou Jaoude says, with streaming continuing to accelerate career trajectories for artists who understand how to interpret and apply their data.
“I think the gap between who is considered an emerging artist and an established artist is getting smaller,” he says. “You now see established artists collaborating with emerging artists and producing strong records together.”
Part of that shift is practical. Each collaboration brings access to new audiences and new geographic markets. For example, Egyptian star Tamer Hosny’s 2025 collaboration Maleket Gamal El Kon with Jordanian singer Al Shami helped extend Hosny’s reach across the Levant, while introducing Al Shami to a wider Egyptian mainstream audience.
In other cases, the bridge is generational. That was evident in Kalam Forsan the collaboration between Egyptian pop veteran Mohamed Mounir, 71 and rapper Wegz, 27.
“There is far more education around streaming and audience reach now, and it is no longer approached in a purely traditional way,” Abou Jaoude explains. “The younger generation adopted it faster, but the older generation is increasingly engaging with it as well.”
3. Artists will be discovered based on career planning
For emerging artists, one message is clear. Success is rarely accidental, and discovery increasingly follows well-executed campaigns paired with entrepreneurial thinking.
“What we are seeing is a stronger growth mindset and a higher level of commitment,” Abou Jaoude says. “It is no longer just about production. It is also about how you package your music and how you roll it out.”
Spotify’s data illustrates the scale of that shift. According to Abou Jaoude, more than 100 billion streams were generated globally over the past six months through Discover Weekly, Spotify’s personalised algorithmic playlist tailored to individual listening habits. That activity resulted in more than 56 million tracks being discovered, with 77 per cent of those streams going to emerging artists rather than established stars.
“When it comes to Mena, we are seeing hundreds of millions of discovery moments in markets such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia,” he says. “Artists can now see what is happening, understand where they stand and act on that information. They are not working in the dark any more.
“I expect to see more planning, better execution and stronger positioning, which will lead to discovery happening at a much larger scale.”
4. More hits with local Arabic dialects
Another defining takeaway from 2025 is the growing importance of local identity as a driver of global success, a trend Abou Jaoude expects to intensify in the coming year.
“Arabic music as a whole is getting more attention globally as well as locally,” he says. “There was a time when artists thought they needed to sound international, but that is no longer the case and this will continue to happen for a while yet.”
The shift mirrors developments in Latin American music, where former crossover artists such as Colombia’s Shakira found renewed success by doubling down on roots in terms of language and production.
Arabic music listeners are responding in much the same way. Moroccan rapper ElGrandeToto remained the most-streamed artist in his homeland, driven by gritty, locally grounded hits such as Bouhali and Staline. Meanwhile, Egyptian artist Eslam Kabonga landed Egypt’s most-streamed song on Spotify with Ana Mesh Dellar Ya Hokouma, which blends Egyptian electro-mahraganat with pop.
“Mahraganat is a strong example,” Abou Jaoude says. “It began as a street sound in Egypt and has since moved into the mainstream, blending hip-hop with pop. Dialect and local identity are the foundation of the genre, and the artists who preserved that core are the ones who continue to excel.”
5. Arabic music will continue to find a bigger global audience
Building an international audience no longer requires sacrificing language or dialect. While diaspora audiences remain important, Abou Jaoude says Arabic music is increasingly reaching listeners with no cultural or linguistic connection to the region.
“Look at Wegz’s growth from Alexandria in Egypt to sold-out shows across Europe,” he says. “Then you have Saudi singer Ayed, who has major audiences as far as Indonesia.
“Music is more accessible than ever,” he adds. “That opens up huge potential. But how that potential is realised depends on how music is produced, marketed and supported.”
