Jaycer Bajo, a call‑center employee in the Philippines, has experienced a significant shift in his Spotify listening habits over recent years.
Previously, his playlist was dominated by U.S. chart‑toppers, but now it features a steady rotation of Pinoy Pop acts, including the boy bands ALAMAT and BGYO, and the girl group BINI, which made history in April as the first all‑Filipino girl group to perform at Coachella.
‘In the last five years, my listening pattern has shifted from roughly 70 % Western music to about 70 % Philippine music and 30 % other genres,’ Bajo, who resides north of Metro Manila, explained to Al Jazeera.
He added that Filipino bands and groups had been producing quality music before 2020, but their popularity surged thereafter.
ALAMAT, BGYO, and BINI—each of which released their debut singles in 2021—draw heavily on K‑pop, J‑pop, Western pop, R&B, and hip‑hop influences, yet embed Filipino themes and languages into their music.
‘They adopt K‑Pop structures, but the talent and lyrical elements are homegrown,’ he said.
Across Southeast Asia, homegrown acts are progressively displacing Korean, Japanese, and American pop artists on listeners’ playlists.
Spotify data shows that between 2021 and mid‑2026, the proportion of local artists in the weekly top‑10 playlists rose dramatically—from 39 % to 97 % in Indonesia, 31 % to 81 % in the Philippines, and 71 % to 76 % in Thailand—according to Soundcharts, a French analytics platform.
Similarly, local acts captured a growing share of weekly radio top‑10 charts, increasing from 29 % to 55 % in Indonesia, 0 % to 5 % in the Philippines, and 38 % to 65 % in Thailand over the same period.
Thai film producer Cod Satrusayang, who collaborates with local musicians on soundtracks, observed a significant shift toward homegrown influences in the commercial music market in recent years.
Satrusayang cites acts like YOUNGOHM, MILLI, and Joey Phuwasit—artistically distinct from the classic K‑Pop formula—as evidence that South Korea’s cultural export has demonstrated to other Asian markets the viability of a global audience for their music.
Since Psy’s 2012 hit “Gangnam Style,” K‑Pop has achieved mainstream success far surpassing earlier waves of Asian pop.
Although Japanese, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese artists enjoyed regional fame in the 1980s and 1990s, few matched the crossover appeal of acts like Blackpink’s 2023 Coachella appearance or BTS’s collaborations with Lil Nas X and Coldplay.
In 2023, the K‑Pop industry generated $893 million overseas, encompassing album sales, streaming revenue, and performance income, according to South Korea’s Culture and Tourism Institute.
Satrusayang asserts that K‑Pop has definitively demonstrated the commercial viability of Asian music.
Industry executives, studios, and independent creators now recognize the financial potential of international reach, fueling a renaissance in Thailand’s creative sector, he added.
Although Southeast Asia’s music sector remains smaller than those of South Korea, Japan, and China, it is expanding rapidly.
In the Philippines, digital music revenue—encompassing podcast advertising, streaming, downloads, and streaming‑related ads—doubled from $93 million to $180 million between 2021 and 2025, per data released by Statista analyst Julia Stoll.
Thailand saw digital music revenue rise from $132 million to $204 million over the same period, while Indonesia’s revenue grew from $164 million to $264 million.
Much of this success has been driven by social‑media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, which allow artists to engage fans directly through short‑form video content.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from the Philippines, BGYO members noted that social media is as vital to their careers as training with both South Korean and Filipino coaches.
‘We interact with our fans daily, from morning until night. We’re constantly on our phones, posting TikToks, dances, and fun content, and engaging through comments,’ said BGYO member Nate Porcalla, 23.
Like their K‑pop contemporaries, the group engages local fans through regular performances and events, and on tracks such as “Forever Tonight,” their latest single, they blend English and Tagalog.
This pop renaissance aligns with rising consumer spending power across the region, echoing post‑WWII economic booms in the US and East Asia, noted Mary Ainslie, a researcher on culture and media in Southeast Asia at the University of Nottingham’s Ningbo campus in China.
The World Bank classified Thailand as an upper‑middle‑income economy in 2011, when its gross national income per capita reached $4,210.
Indonesia attained upper‑middle‑income status in 2023, after slipping out of that category in 2020 due to COVID‑19‑related economic disruption.
The Philippines remains a middle‑income nation, though President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. aims to elevate it to the next income bracket by the end of his term in 2028.
‘All these “waves” adapt and innovate for regional and global audiences while aligning with each nation’s economic growth,’ Ainslie told Al Jazeera.
‘K‑Pop has shown that Asian‑based pop culture is globally viable and appealing, offering inspiration and a blueprint for innovation to local industries,’ she added.
Singapore and Malaysia, among the region’s wealthiest economies, stand as notable outliers to this trend.
Soundcharts data indicates that Western music and K‑Pop continue to dominate radio and Spotify playlists in Singapore and Malaysia.
Although local acts have made modest inroads in Malaysia, regional artists still dominate its playlists.
Malaysian artists’ share of Spotify’s weekly top‑10 climbed from 1 % in 2021 to roughly 8.3 % by mid‑2026, while regional groups increased from 5 % to 45.7 % over the same span, per Soundcharts.
Much of this interest stems from Indonesian artists, according to Tsurezure Lab, an independent researcher and data analyst whose work has been cited by the Japanese government.
Analysis of Spotify’s weekly top‑50 songs from 2023 onward revealed that Indonesian artists grew from an 18 % share in Malaysia in 2023 to about 22 % by early 2026.
The researcher, who requested anonymity due to private‑sector employment, described this as an example of “cross‑border cultural alignment,” noting the cultural and linguistic similarities between Malaysia and Indonesia.
Millions of Indonesians also reside and work in Malaysia and other Asian countries, bringing their music with them.
For Elhana Sugaiman, an Indonesian NGO employee based in Taiwan, the rise of Indonesian pop music has helped her stay connected to home while living abroad.
Sugaiman has been listening extensively to No Na, a girl group composed entirely of Indonesians and signed to the US label 88Rising, which champions Asian and Asian‑American artists.
No Na’s tracks deliver a dose of Indonesian culture and nostalgia, weaving in sounds that locals instantly recognize—such as the city bus and traditional gamelan—and featuring lush Indonesian backdrops in their music videos.
‘They really showcase Indonesian culture through their music,’ Sugaiman told Al Jazeera, adding that she appreciates being reminded of home and seeing global listeners discover Indonesian culture via No Na’s music.
‘It makes me proud to be Indonesian,’ she said.
‘I’m not sure if it’s because I live abroad… but part of it is because you get to see [Indonesia] on screen and represented,’ Sugaiman said.