From Ariana Grande to Khalid: the most-streamed music artists in the Gulf region this year

Spotify has tracked Mena listeners' top picks for 2019 so far

(FILES) In this file photo taken on December 6, 2018 US singer/songwriter Ariana Grande attends Billboard's 13th Annual Women In Music event at Pier 36 in New York City. Pop princess Ariana Grande is the first act in more than 50 years to claim simultaneously the top three spots on the US singles chart, industry tracker Billboard said February 18, 2019. The 25-year-old star is the second act in the Billboard Hot 100 chart's six-decade history to accomplish the feat, after The Beatles in 1964.Grande's "7 Rings," "Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" and "Thank U, Next" monopolized the top hits chart following her fifth album's debut on Billboard's top albums tally.
 / AFP / Angela Weiss
Powered by automated translation

She broke US records for the largest streaming week for a pop album and for a female album earlier this year, so it's little surprise she's got plenty of fans on this side of the world too.

Spotify on Tuesday revealed the most popular artists and genres streamed on the music platform in the Mena region, with Ariana Grande claiming the top spot in the former category.

The Thank U, Next singer, who this month became the youngest star to headline the Coachella music festival, was the most-streamed performer on the app for the year so far, with Spotify tracking data between January 1 and April 10.

The four other artists that rounded out the top five were XXXTentacion, Post Malone, Billie Eilish and Khalid, respectively.

When it came to the genres that users from the region were plumping for, the most-streamed was pop, followed by rap, hip-hop, trap and R&B. When it came to the Arab musician with the catchiest earworms, the most popular artist streamed on Spotify in the region was Algerian rapper Soolking, followed by Egyptian singer Amr Diab, Moroccan-born Lartiste, Egypt's Mohammad Hamaki and Moroccan rapper ElGrande Toto.

Spotify also revealed that the most-streamed song across Mena was Halsey's Without Me. Ariana Grande's 7 Rings, Post Malone's Wow and Sunflower, and Bastille's Happier closed out the top five.

Spotify, which first launched in 2008 and has 40 million songs in its catalogues, currently has more than 217 millions users, though it was not specified how many are based in North Africa and the Middle East.