Because of the way music is distributed and marketed these days, it’s hard to precisely define what qualifies as ‘indie’. In this episode, we attempt to lay out the degrees of ‘independence’ most releases fall under, imagine what an Indian indie music chart might look like, and discuss how far it would help or harm musicians working outside of the major label ecosystem. As always, we look at the key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on June 13, 2025.

With thousands of tracks being released every week, it’s become increasingly hard for even established acts to score a chart-topping hit. It’s even harder for relatively new artists to make it all the way to No1. There are always exceptions, such as “Finding Her” by upcoming singer/songwriter Kushagra. On this week’s episode, we speak to Nikhil Dwivedi, the founder of EYP Creations—the label and management company behind the smash—to find out what it takes. As always, we look at the key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on May 16, 2025.

The charts look considerably different from how they did a year ago and on this week’s episode, we’re discussing what’s led to these changes in the form of four hot takes. We talk about what’s behind pop’s recent resurgence, how the catalogue music being streamed is much younger than you would expect, and why a Haryanvi singer has managed to score ten concurrent hits! As always, we look at the key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on April 24, 2025.

In a rare occurrence, three of the top five tracks on Spotify’s Weekly Top Songs chart for India are by Pakistani acts: "Jhol” by Annural Khalid and Maanu; “Maand” by Bayaan, Hasan Raheem and Rovalio; and “Pal Pal” by Afusic and AliSoomroMusic. Notably, they've been put out by the three major international labels - Warner, Sony and Universal respectively - with teams in India and MENA. It's a good time therefore to revisit the episode we published in 2023, which made a case for cross-border collaboration. Happy listening!

According per two recently-published annual gauges of the health of the industry, the IFPI’s Global Music Report and the EY Media & Entertainment report, in 2024, India’s music business didn’t grow as much as it did in 2023. In this episode, we discuss the factors behind the slowdown and why there’s reason to be optimistic about the future. As always, we look at the key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on April 4, 2025.

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Vote for The Indian Music Charts Podcast in the Art & Entertainment category for the HT Smartcast Awards: https://survey.zohopublic.in/zs/H3CRUA

Earlier this month, Spotify shared some India-specific data as part of the 2024 edition of Loud & Clear, its annual report that details how and how much artists earn money through streams on the platform. Among the highlights were stats relating to the export of Indian music abroad. On this week’s episode, we discuss and contextualise some of the lists they’ve shared and talk about the potential for local artists to expand their international audience. As always, we look at the key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on March 20, 2025.

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Listen to how Big Dawgs became the biggest export of 2024: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Bk3RgsIobpAJnvLXmi1LY?si=vhRfCqmARZWA2RQANeQbXQ

If you were at Lollapalooza in Mumbai last weekend, and were among the thousands of fans who sang along to Shawn Mendes or Green Day, then you saw for yourself how India has become a major market for concerts and tours by international artists. Why then, despite their huge popularity here, do so few hits by international acts reach our local charts? In this conversation from October 2023, we discuss exactly this. Happy listening!

From Chapell Roan’s Grammy acceptance speech to country star Jelly Roll’s viral video, artists seem to be calling out label deals more frequently now than in recent memory. But are they really that bad? Why do rising talents continue to aspire to sign them? Why did they get such a bad rep in the first place? And how are they evolving with the times? These are among the things we discuss on this episode in which we also talk about the different types of offers out there and the career stage at which we believe an independent act should consider taking them. As always, we look at the key movements on the Spotify Weekly Top Songs India chart, this time for the survey published on February 21, 2025.