Spotify reveals songs Kenyans are listening to on Valentine’s Day

Music streaming service Spotify has been tracking songs Kenyans have been adding to their playlists in the run up to the day, painting a picture of how they have been expressing their love.

A look at Spotify data shows that Kenyan listeners have been turning to classic favourites, as well as some newer hits to cure their love fever.

The 2010s seem to have been a great time for modern love songs as the majority of the songs in the list were released then. British popstar Ed Sheeran has two songs in the list, ‘Perfect’ and ‘Thinking Out Loud’, which has been a wedding staple for a long time after its 2014 release. Another modern love song of our time is John Legend’s ‘All of Me’.

Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’, the soundtrack to the movie The Bodyguard, is still popular with lovers 31 years later, making it the oldest song that fans are adding to their playlists.

But Kenyan listeners are not just making playlists by international artists during this period. Homegrown talent is also on the list. Nyashinski is known for his rap skills, yet his ballad ‘Malaika’ is still tugging at people’s heartstrings six years later. And even though 2020 brought the pandemic, it also brought Bensoul’s ‘Forget You’ and Sauti Sol’s ‘Feel My Love’ – two songs that are making Kenyans all mushy.

Below is the list of the top love songs and Spotify’s love playlists Kenyans are listening to on the day of love. 

Top love songs in Kenya

1. ‘Perfect’ – Ed Sheeran
2. ‘Malaika’ – Nyashinski
3. ‘All of Me’ – John Legend
4. ‘Thinking Out Loud’ – Ed Sheeran
5. ‘Just the Way You Are’ – Bruno Mars
6. ‘I Will Always Love You’ – Whitney Houston
7. ‘My Boo’ – Alicia Keys
8. ‘Forget You’ – Bensoul
9. ‘Feel My Love’ – Sauti Sol
10. ‘Señorita’ – Camila Cabello, Shawn Mendes

Top Spotify love playlists

1. I Love My ’00s R&B
2. I Love My ’90s Hip-Hop
3. I Love My ’10s R&B
4. 90s Love Songs
5. I Love My ’90s R&B
6. One Love
7. Country Kind of Love
8. Love Pop
9. I Love My Neo-Soul
10. Timeless Love Songs