In the globalised music industry, the question of language has long been marked by the dominance of English. Despite the fact that music in other languages is far from new, the proliferation of streaming platforms has, among other things, significantly broadened its distribution and, thanks to data collection tools, allowed the extent of this trend to be measured. Although English is still top of the charts, the data does confirm that non-anglophone music is steadily growing in popularity and significantly widening its reach with global audiences.
There is much to learn from this increasingly strong trend, and it raises questions, albeit in a piecemeal way, about the challenges to intangible heritage and social phenomena that make language a powerful vehicle for cultural diversity.
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