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Tanner Walling, Brendan Meehan, Kellie Yezza

COM 315

December 12, 2023

Prevalence of Cultural Influence on Music Preferences in Southeast Asia

Introduction:

Music is so omnipresent in the lives of so many, rarely do many people take notice of the

kind of unrivaled cultural influence music can hold. Being one of the most intimately consumed

forms of media, as the listener picks and chooses what they like to listen to in private as opposed

to the collective viewing experiences of mediums such as movies, music has the most potential

to reflect the values, preferences, and sensibilities of its listeners. It is this unique nature of music

that also makes it a fascinating avenue for exploring the impact culture has on music preferences

for people around the world. While it is easy to get caught in an ethnocentric view of the world

that puts America and the global West at the forefront, the reality is that, even in a globalist

world, national cultures play a large role in dictating what people consume and music

preferences can vary widely outside the United States. Culture dictates people’s beliefs and

values which thus dictates what media they consume, moving them to choose media which

matches their cultural sensibilities and values. Self-promotional and individualistic music such as

hip-hop and country may not do well in nations that have collectivist mentalities, for example. In

this paper, we decided to take a look at the impact of culture on music preferences by focusing

on Southeast Asia.

An oft-overlooked area of the world, Southeast Asia is only becoming of greater

importance with every passing year. Home to nearly a tenth of the world’s population, including

some of the most populous nations in the world such as Indonesia, the region will only continue
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to become of greater importance as it develops economically and further enters the world stage.

Being home to a myriad of diverse yet strong cultures, as well as being exposed to increasing

Western influence in accordance with their rise on the global stage, Southeast Asia serves as a

perfect region to observe the ways in which culture dictates music preferences. To do so, this

paper will explore the music preferences of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore

to examine the ways in which culture dictates music preference. In doing so, we hypothesize

that, in their own unique ways based on their nation’s cultures, the nations of Indonesia, the

Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore will exhibit a co-existence between local and Western

forms of music, as mirrored in Spotify’s Weekly Top Artists chart.

Literature Review:

The literature surrounding music preferences in Southeast Asian countries has been

relatively sparse, given the greater focus on Western music in academia. There are, however, an

increasing number of scholarly articles on the subject as well as a number of articles that discuss

the musical history of the region, country-by-country, that provides a look into how music

preferences developed in Southeast Asia. This literature review takes a look at each country, one-

by-one, to discuss the literature present on each nation.

The existing literature on music preferences in Singapore largely reflects the city-state’s

multi-racial nature and position as a hub of the international economy. Lily Kong reflects on how

Singapore’s unique position in the region of Southeast Asia, and in the world as a whole, means

it has edged ever closer toward adopting Western influences as it modernized, stating that “not

only do the [popular] songs reveal the multiracial mix of people in Singapore, but they also

reveal how Singaporeans, as individuals, have embodied...elements of other cultures in their

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everyday lives.” (Kong, 1995, p. 60). Owing to its inherently multi-racial composition and its

position in the global economy, Singapore has adapted far quicker to Western influences due to

this unique set of conditions, which has made the music landscape of the nation far more

influenced by the global West. Of all the foreign influences, however, two have the most

influence in Singapore: Japan and the United States. The history of Japanese popular music in

Singapore is an extensive one, with the nation’s music dating back to the 1980s in the country.

Given Singapore’s small size and lack of an ethnically indigenous population like the nations

surrounding it, Singapore adopted the cultural products of other nearby countries, including

Japan. During the last two decades of the twentieth century, Japanese pop music, also referred to

as J-Pop, became popular in Singapore due to the presence of Japanese television and radio

stations in Singapore (Ng, 2002, p. 6-7). Being such a large regional power in East and Southeast

Asia, Japan was able to leave a mark on the popular music environment of Singapore by filling

the gap left by the nation’s lack of an indigenous music tradition. In much the same way, the

United States also gained a cultural foothold in Singapore due to the nation’s prominent status as

a global cultural exporter. Due to American military operations in Southeast Asia during the

Second World War, English-language music gained a foothold in the region with many

Singaporeans starting to cover American songs in the genres of rock and roll and the blues,

America’s most popular genres of the time (Mattar, 2009, p. 185). Filling the need for a music

environment in Singapore that did not exist due to the nation’s youth, English-language music

gained an even stronger foothold in Singapore than Japanese-language music due to America’s

very physical presence in the region. Furthermore, with the United States having pushed imperial

Japan out of Southeast Asia during World War II, it is no surprise that Singapore was more

favorable to English-language music than Japanese-language music because of the positive

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historical associations with America. This positive historical association seems to endure and

shape the popular music environment in Singapore, as Singaporeans prefer English-language

music to be sung by native English speakers while they prefer Chinese, Malay, and Tamil-

language music to be performed by people of those backgrounds (Kong, 1995, p. 56-7). This

simultaneously reflects the presence of American influence in the Singaporean music

environment as well as its multi-cultural nature, the two existing side-by-side with each other in

the nation’s music environment. By balancing music written and sung in the languages of the

nation’s many ethnic groups with English-language music, the current literature reflects that

Singapore’s popular music environment is shaped largely by a combination of English-language

music and music performed in local languages.

The Philippines are another nation which has been heavily shaped by outside influence,

while also maintaining a strong cultural tradition of its own. The Philippines has a complex

history of its own that has shaped its music preferences but, unlike Singapore, it has an ethnically

indigenous population who cultivated a centuries-old musical tradition. An independent region

before Spanish colonization, early records of Filipino music include accounts of substantial

usage of gongs and bamboo-based wind instruments that formed the basis for Filipino folk

music. This sound started to morph and change as Spanish colonization of the archipelago

continued, leading to the incorporation of Spanish sounds into the traditional Filipino folk sound

(Dioquino, 1982, p. 125; Griffith, 1924, p. 28). The history of Filipino music is one of the fusion

of a myriad of styles and international influences, dating back to the Spanish colonization of the

country hundreds of years ago. Such colonization has left its mark on the indigenous folk sound

of the Philippines, forming the basis of the nation’s music environment. Much like Singapore,

the Philippines have a distinctly international musical landscape, but the Filipino music scene is
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shaped more by a fusion of a variety of cultures’ musical styles, as opposed to Singapore’s

amalgamation of genres. José Maceda observed this kaleidoscopic Filipino music environment,

noting that Muslim colonization of the islands prior to the arrival of the Spanish left an Islamic

musical tradition in the Christian nation, as well as noting the presence of Malay music in the

islands (Maceda, 1978, p. 79; Maceda, 1971, p. 15). The roots of the Philippines’ consumption of

a wide variety of musical styles has its roots in its nuanced history that has been influenced by

colonization from a number of world powers. As Maceda notes, “the result is that the Philippines

were exposed during centuries to a Western culture that produced changes in manners, behavior,

[and] philosophy” (Maceda, 1978, p. 78). This history expands further to encompass American

influences from the period of American colonization of the Philippines, which introduced the

English language and American musical forms to the islands. This influence can be seen to this

day as English-language songs permeate the radio, with much less presence of Filipino songs by

comparison (Lockard, 1996, p. 164). Not only does the Philippines have a rich musical tradition

of its own, but it also openly embraces Western music. Such an embrace is a product of their

unique history as a colony of two Western powers which brought a more mixed musical

environment to the nation. The existing literature on the Philippines very much supports the

notion that the histories and cultures of nations directly influence their music preferences, as

mirrored by the Philippines’ nuanced musical history. The Philippines, being a nation that exists

halfway between indigenous tradition and Western modernism, directly incorporates this

philosophy into their musical landscape, with Filipino performers intending to “perform for

Filipino and non-Filipino audiences” (Trimillos, 1986, p. 12). This pride in their cultural

heritage, as well as their desire to share it with the West, reflects the nation’s distinctly multi-

ethnic cultural history and further emphasizes the embrace of both local and Western forms of
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music in the Philippines. Overall, the literature on music preferences in the Philippines reflects

the nation’s multi-ethnic history and supports the notion that the musical environment of the

Philippines is one that is proudly indigenous and Western at the same time.

In contrast to both Singapore and the Philippines, the literature surrounding Indonesia’s

music preferences suggests that the nation is more isolationist in its musical sensibilities and

prefers homegrown music, as opposed to Western music. The literature on music preference in

Indonesia reflects a frequent tendency of Indonesians to incorporate Western influences into their

music, while still retaining their culture’s unique musical styles. One of the primary places this

can be viewed is in the genre of Dangdut and its newly popular derivative Dangdut Koplo. This

genre has no Western equivalent to compare to and is a high-energy, high-volume, and danceable

genre that was immensely popular in Indonesia in the twentieth century. Starting in the 2000s,

the genre adapted some more modern influences with the creation of Dangdut Koplo which,

interestingly, opted to include regional languages alongside its modern beats (Weintraub, 2013,

p. 166; Wallach & Clinton, 2013, p. 12). Such a genre is reflective of Indonesia’s culture of

preserving tradition while also making modern advancements. The popularity of Dangdut and

Dangdut Koplo in Indonesia reflects the country’s notable preference for homegrown music

genres that mirror the nation’s unique cultural values. Furthermore, the inclusion of regional

languages alongside modern beats in Dangdut Koplo reflects the uniquely Indonesian attitude of

modernizing with tradition in mind. In making this fusion, Indonesians preserve their own

cultural traditions while also selecting which Western influences they want to allow in. Looking

to music that is currently charting in Indonesia as well, this same pattern can be seen. A recent

study found that songs which perform best in Indonesia are high-energy, danceable, high-

volume, and retain a positive mood (Saragih, 2023, p. 13). All four of those traits are noticeably
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present in Dangdut Koplo, reflecting how traditional musical forms in Indonesia affect popular

music in the country outside of the genre of Dangdut. Such findings are reflective of the previous

literature’s findings that Indonesia is largely adherent to cultural tradition and picks and chooses

what Western influences it allows into its culture, ensuring that those Western influences are in

line with their own cultural values. The same can be seen in Krakatau music in Indonesia, a local

music genre from the region it is named for, which is a combination of traditional Indonesian

music and American jazz. With jazz introduced to the country in the 1920s by Dutch settlers, the

genre became one of the most prestigious in the country. The genre eventually evolved into

Krakatau music, which mixes jazz with local instruments to create a distinctly Indonesian take

on jazz (Harnish & Wallach, 2013, p. 116-17). This further supports the notion that when

Indonesia incorporates foreign genres and music styles, they do so by making the genres

distinctly Indonesian. This reflects Indonesia’s adherence to tradition and pride in their cultural

heritage despite copious amounts of Western influence, the existing literature supporting the

notion that Indonesia’s music, like the other nations of Southeast Asia, is very much informed by

its culture. Another avenue of recent scholarship does digress from this, however, and suggests

that this cultural presence is starting to wane. Indonesian popular music now consists of multiple

different genres including American genres like rock and house music, and there has been a

noted decrease in traditional forms of music becoming commercially successful in Indonesia

(Barendregt & van Zanten, 2002, p. 68; Ikhsano & Sianipar, 2021, p. 204). With the arrival of

downloadable music and streaming platforms, more Western influence is being brought on

Indonesia than ever before and, as such, the music environment there is starting to diversify.

While this may seem to contradict the other literature, it in a way reflects it by demonstrating just

how strong Indonesia’s national culture is in opposition to the West. It is only in recent years that
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Indonesian music’s hegemony is slipping and being threatened by Western music, something not

seen in the other Southeast Asian nations. In summary, the scholarship on Indonesia very much

reflects the notion that culture influences music preference as the nation’s resistance to Western

music mirrors its strong national culture.

Lastly, Malaysia exists at a unique crossroads between the other three nations in terms of

its music preferences, but nonetheless, the scholarship reflects the same sentiment that culture

influences music preference. Malaysia started incorporating Western music later than the other

Southeast Asian countries, with the 1960s being the first time Western music had a significant

presence in the country with the arrival of American and British rock and roll. Despite the

Western genre’s massive popularity, Malaysians formed cover bands that covered popular

Western rock and roll songs in their native languages of Chinese and Malay, as well as writing

original songs in these languages (Johan, 2014, p. 144). Despite the massive popularity of

Western music, there is a very clear adaptation of Western music to match Malaysian national

culture. The strong presence of their native languages in the music they created at that time

reflects a long history of a strong national culture existing alongside Western musical influences.

Other scholars agree on this notion, discussing the ways that the nation's multi-ethnic and

religious culture impacts its music preferences. Much like its neighbor Singapore, Malaysia is

multi-ethnic and this multi-ethnic nature has become more apparent with the rise of mass media

as more music is available now than ever before, allowing for music from all of the nation’s

ethnic groups to achieve popularity in the nation (Chopyak, 1987, p. 441). While in most nations

this would mean a significant rise in Western music, in Malaysia, the proliferation of music in

locally spoken languages occurred instead, reflecting the nation’s strong national culture and

pride in its multi-ethnic nature. The nation’s religiosity is also reflected in its music preferences,
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with the popularity of Nasyid music on the rise in Malaysia. Originating in the Middle East, this

genre is poetic in nature and is based on Islamic values, reflecting the nation’s Islamic faith. This

genre has been increasing in terms of popularity in Malaysia, even with the youth who are

coming of age in a more globalist world (Sarkissian, 2005, p. 126). The increasing popularity of

Nasyid music is a direct reflection of the nation’s religiosity. Islam dictates its adherents’ lives to

a large degree, informing the culture of Malaysia to a great extent. The increasing popularity of

this Islamic music genre is a direct representation of how cultural values reflect in music

preference, as those who are devout Muslims will prefer such music that matches their religious

and cultural sensibilities. In summary, Malaysia exists at a middle-point between Indonesia and

Singapore, having a distinct and strong national culture that is mirrored in its music, while also

incorporating Western influences. The literature on the Malaysian music landscape largely

reflects the notion that music preference is shaped by culture, and this is exhibited in Malaysia’s

unique musical landscape.

Despite the cultural differences of each of these four nations, there is one main takeaway

from the existing scholarship: national culture very much shapes music preferences in Southeast

Asia. Striking a balance between tradition and modernity, this struggle is present in many of the

studied nations’ musical landscapes. Each nation has a strong national culture and, according to

the existing literature, that national culture is mirrored in their unique music preferences.

Methodology:

To go about collecting our data on music genre preference in Southeast Asian countries,

we chose to perform a content analysis of the Spotify Charts for four prominent Southeast Asian

countries: Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. Spotify Charts is a website
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maintained by the Spotify streaming service which shows which songs and music artists are

being streamed most often on their platform every day and week. As a result of the fluctuations

that arise daily on streaming services, with social media trends able to make a song trend for a

few days before disappearing from the charts, we opted to perform a content analysis of Spotify

Charts’ Weekly Top Artists chart for each country as it would be less prone to fluctuations

caused by social media trends and provide a more long-range look at what is popular in each of

these countries. Furthermore, we specifically chose the week of September 29-October 5, 2023

as this avoided any ‘album bombs’, or times when an artist exhibits an unusual level of

popularity on the Weekly Top Artists chart because they have just recently released an album

and have higher streaming numbers than would normally be expected of them. After deciding

which chart we would perform content analysis on, which week we would use, and which

countries we would examine, we then went about our data collection. After listing out the Top

100 artists in each country during the week of September 29-October 5, 2023, we then proceeded

to take note of both the genre of the artists as well as the primary language of each music artist.

We chose to also look at the primary language of the music artists to see the ways in which

Western and localized forms of music co-exist in each specific country. We then did the same

data collection for the United States, which will serve as a comparison group of sorts. By

including the United States in this, it will provide a look at the significance of the trends in

Southeast Asian music consumption and how it differs from the United States.

Analysis & Discussion:

In Indonesia, there is a much heavier presence of localized forms of music. Looking at

the primary language of the top 100 artists in Indonesia, 58% of them had Indonesian as their
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primary language. English came in second, with 32% of Indonesia’s top artists singing primarily

in English. Korean was third, with 9% of Indonesia’s top artists singing primarily in that

language, likely due to the popularity of K-pop in the region. Lastly, Arabic was fourth with 1%

of Indonesia’s top artists singing primarily in Arabic. This demonstrates Indonesia’s strong

preference for localized forms of music and resistance to Western influence, with nearly double

the amount of Indonesian-speaking artists to English-speaking artists in their top 100 artists.

While songs sung in English certainly aren’t uncommon in Indonesia, with a third of their top

artists singing in the language, there is certainly a notably larger preference for local forms of

music, suggesting that Indonesia retains a strong national culture that resists Western influence,

corroborating the findings from previous scholarship. Even the 1% Arabic-speaking artists falls

into this trend, as Indonesia has one of the largest populations of Muslims in the entire world.

With Arabic being the language of the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, the presence of Arabic-

speaking artists in Indonesia’s top hundred artists is not only not a surprise, but a direct reflection

of the nation’s unique culture on the music preferences of its people.

Looking to the genres of the most popular artists in Indonesia, similar trends can be seen.

Pop music, whether it is sung in Indonesian, English, or Korean, is by far the most popular in

Indonesia with 60% of their top hundred artists being classified as pop. The next most popular

genre after Pop is Rock, with 17% of the top hundred artists performing primarily in this genre.

This is then followed by a tie between R&B and Indie, both at 5%, then Dangdut Koplo, a fusion

of dance music with the Indonesian folk genre of Dangdut, at 4%, Folk music at 3%, and Islamic

music at 1%. Yet again, the influence of Indonesia’s national culture can be seen directly

reflected in their music consumption habits. Genres shaped directly by Indonesian culture and

religion — those being Dangdut Koplo, Folk, and Islamic — account for nearly 10% of the most
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popular artists in Indonesia, suggesting a strong preference for music which reflects their unique

culture. Furthermore, the dominance of pop music also speaks to the influence of Indonesia’s

culture on music. Rejecting genres which are commonly viewed as more profane, such as rap

and hip-hop music, as well as genres with strong ties to a separate culture, such as country,

Indonesia has a strong preference for pop music which is not abrasive and is lyrically clean and

conformant to their religious culture.

In the Philippines, the influence of the nation’s unique culture can also be seen in the data

gathered. Looking at the primary language of the top 100 artists in the Philippines, English is the

most common language with 50% of the top 100 artists singing primarily in English. Tagalog,

the most common Filipino language, takes second place with 40% of the top 100 artists singing

primarily in Tagalog. Korean follows in third place with 9% and Spanish rounds out the top 100

with 1%. These figures directly reflect unique cultural influences compared to Indonesia. While

the Philippines also has a strong preference for local forms of music, with two-fifths of the most

popular artists singing in the local Tagalog language, it is far more open to music of Western

origin. This is likely a direct reflection of the Philippines’ unique culture and history, as the

nation was formerly an American colony for almost half a century from the end of the Spanish-

American War in 1898 until American recognition of Philippine independence following World

War II in 1946. With nearly fifty years of occupation by the United States, the Philippines has a

distinctly more prominent connection to American and English-speaking culture, explaining the

nation’s much stronger preference for English-language music than was present in Indonesia.

Turning to the most popular genres in the Philippines, similar patterns are also observed.

Much like Indonesia, Pop is the most common genre among the top 100 artists in the Philippines

with 59% of the artists being classified primarily as Pop. However, the Philippines’ unique
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connection to the United States is mirrored in the next most popular genres. Hip-Hop is the

second most popular genre with 14% of the top hundred artists being classified as Hip-Hop,

followed by 9% for R&B, 5% for Pop Rap, 4% for Indie, 3% for both Rock and Reggae, and 1%

for Flamenco. While pop music is just as popular in the Philippines as it is in Indonesia, the

Philippines’ unique cultural history and connection to the United States can be seen directly

reflected in the nation’s strong preference for Hip-Hop/Rap compared to Indonesia. Whereas

Indonesia had no Hip-Hop or Rap artists in their top hundred artists, the Philippines has almost a

fifth of their top hundred artists performing in those two American-originating genres when

combining Hip-Hop and Pop Rap. While this prominence of hip-hop and rap in the Philippines

can be attributed to a combination of English-language and Tagalog-language artists, it

nonetheless reflects distinct cultural sensibilities and the country’s connection to American

culture. While Indonesia resists American cultural influence more strongly with Indonesians not

consuming genres of distinctly American origin like hip-hop and rap, the Philippines actively

consumes hip-hop/rap as the second most popular genre in the nation following the ever-popular

pop genre, reflecting the pre-existing scholarship’s discussion of the American-Filipino cultural

connection.

Moving to Malaysia, the country’s multicultural nature can be seen directly reflected in

their music preferences. Looking to the most common primary languages among the top hundred

artists in Malaysia, English yet again takes first place with 64% — nearly two-thirds — of

Malaysia’s most popular artists primarily singing in English. Korean is the second most common

language, with 16% of the top hundred artists singing primarily in the East Asian language.

Following English and Korean, Indonesian is the next most common language at 9% followed by

Mandarin and Malay, both at 4%, Tamil at 2%, and Japanese at 1%. Malaysia’s highly
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multicultural and multiethnic nature, as well as its position as an international economy, can be

seen directly reflected in the music consumption habits of its citizens. While the country is

majority Malay, there are also substantial Chinese and Indian minorities present in the country.

Thus, English can be seen as a sort of lingua franca that bridges the cultural divides between the

country’s many ethnicities. Furthermore, the less-popular but still-present languages in the top

100 can also be seen as reflections of Malaysia’s unique culture and geography. The popularity

of Indonesian-language music in the country is reflective of Malaysia’s unique geography, with

East Malaysia being located on the island of Borneo where it shares a border with Indonesia. The

popularity of Mandarin-language music in Malaysia is also reflective of geographical cultural

influences, as peninsular Malaysia borders Singapore, where Mandarin is a popular language.

The unique ethnic minorities of Malaysia are also mirrored in this data, as Tamil is a language

native to southern India.

Moving to the primary genres of the most popular music artists in Malaysia, the

culturally diverse nature of the country can also be seen in its more diverse music preferences.

Much like the previous two nations, Pop music is the most popular genre with 69% of

Malaysia’s top 100 artists being classified as Pop, regardless of their language. R&B is the

second most popular genre at 7% followed by Hip-Hop and Rock both at 6%, Pop Rap and Indie

both at 4%, and Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and Filmi, a Tamil-language genre of Indian

music, both at 2%. This more diverse array of genres outside of the dominance of pop music

directly reflects Malaysia’s uniquely diverse nature in Southeast Asia. The European/North

American-originating genre of EDM is just as popular as the Indian-originating genre of Filmi,

while the combination of Hip-Hop and Pop Rap, both American-originating genres, represent

10% of the most popular artists, only a hair more popular than R&B, an ever-popular genre in
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Southeast Asia. Being a majority Muslim country that is also a uniquely global economy with

heavy Western influence, the nation’s unique culture can be seen in its music preferences, with

its religious culture shaping the popularity of non-abrasive, family-friendly Pop music in the

country while its Western influence contributes to its consumption of Hip-Hop and Rap. The

unique cultural mixture of Malaysia is directly reflected in the genres and languages present in

the country’s most streamed music artists, patterns that share similarities with, but are distinctly

different from, other Southeast Asian nations.

Lastly, the heavily international city-state of Singapore shares many notable similarities

to Malaysia on account of its inherently multicultural nature and position as a heavily

international economy. Looking at the primary language of the top hundred artists in Singapore,

English yet again takes the lead, much like it did in Malaysia, with 69% of the top hundred artists

having English as their primary language. Korean comes in second with 17% followed by

Mandarin at 9%, Tamil at 3%, and Japanese at 2%. Much like Malaysia, Singapore has a highly

international economy and a multicultural history. However, unlike Malaysia, which has a native

Malay population, Singapore lacks a native Singaporean population. Originally a British colony,

the city-state is comprised mostly of Mandarin-speaking Chinese, Malay-speaking Malaysians,

and Tamil-speaking Indians. This unique combination of cultures accounts for its unique music

preferences, with English again serving as a sort of lingua franca between the various ethnic

groups like it does in Malaysia. Furthermore, the history of British colonization explains the

prevalence of the English language in Singapore, with the language serving not only as a lingua

franca from an outside source, but as part of the nation’s history. Like Malaysia, the presence of

Mandarin and Tamil in the most popular artists in Singapore is unsurprising given the significant

populations of each in this diverse city-state. Much like Malaysia, the country’s geographic
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neighbor, Singapore’s highly global economy encourages the prevalence of English, while its

multicultural history directly shapes its population’s preference for music in their native tongues

of Chinese and Tamil. Thus, a co-existence of Western and local cultures is exhibited in the

nation’s top hundred most streamed music artists.

Moving to genres, the country’s diverse roots explain its equally diverse music

preferences. Much like the other three Southeast Asian nations, Pop is the most popular genre

with 64% of the top hundred artists in Singapore being classified as such. The remaining 36%,

however, is comprised of a multitude of genres. Following Pop music, R&B and Hip-Hop both

comprise 7% each, Rock and EDM both comprise 5% each, Pop Rap comprises 4%, Filmi

comprises 3%, Indie comprises 2%, and Video Game Music comprises 1%. This diverse array of

genre preferences is reflective of the nation’s innately multicultural identity and place as a highly

advanced economy. The popularity of genres like Hip-Hop and Pop Rap, which together account

for over 10% of the most popular artists in the country, reflect the country’s cultural ties to

Western powers like the United States where such genres originate. At the same time, however,

the popularity of Filmi, for example, is reflective of the country’s significant Tamil Indian

population. The presence of all of these genres side-by-side is a direct reflection of the nation’s

diverse culture, with Western and local music forms existing side-by-side in the musical

landscape of Singapore.

After looking at these four Southeast Asian nations, it is important to also look at the

same data from the United States to get an understanding of the unique musical preferences of

Southeast Asia in comparison to Western nations like the United States. In terms of language, the

United States is much less open to other languages, with 88% of the top hundred artists in the

United States having English as their primary language. The remaining 12% is exclusively
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Spanish, accounting for the heavily Hispanic and highly populated regions of South Florida and

the American Southwest. Being the world’s largest economy and a dominant cultural exporter,

the United States’ position in the world geopolitically lends itself to being relatively

monolingual. This monolingual culture is mirrored directly in the music preferences of the

United States, with the only non-English language coming from one of the United States’ largest

ethnic groups. Looking to genres, there are both distinct reflections of American culture in music

preferences as well as notable differences from Southeast Asia. Unlike Southeast Asia, where

Pop music dominates with oftentimes well over 50% of the top hundred artists being classified as

such, Pop music is not the most popular genre in the United States. Hip-Hop is the most popular

genre in the United States, with 36% of the top hundred artists being classified as such. This is

followed by Pop at 17%, R&B at 13%, Rock at 7%, Country at 6%, Reggaeton, a combination of

Latin music and American hip-hop, at 5%, Pop Rap, Corridos Tumbados, Spanish-language

ballads influenced by hip-hop, and Indie all at 4%, Regional Mexican Music at 3%, and Folk

music at 1%. In stark contrast to Southeast Asia, pop music is far from being the most popular

genre in the United States. Instead, hip-hop, a form of music invented in the United States, is by

far the most popular, especially when accounting for its influence in American pop rap, R&B,

reggaeton, and Corridos Tumbados. The culture of America, which favors locally created genres

like hip-hop and country, is directly reflected in the music preferences of the United States, as

well as the cultural prevalence of the Hispanic minority population in the United States. Much

like Southeast Asia, the United States’ culture very much impacts its music preferences, also

demonstrating the distinct cultural differences between Southeast Asia and the United States.

The prevalence of Pop music in Southeast Asia at first might seem insignificant — after all, Pop

is short for Popular music — but compared to the United States’ music preferences, the unique
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cultures of Southeast Asia become very apparent in their unique music consumption habits. With

cultures that are more consistently religious — Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia, Christianity in

the Philippines, and Buddhism in Singapore — Southeast Asia generally prefers pop music that

is more universal, less profane, and more family-friendly than the United States to match their

cultural sensibilities. Furthermore, the complete lack of hip-hop, and comparatively smaller

presence of hip-hop, on the music charts of Southeast Asia in comparison to the United States

speaks to the cultures of the countries of Southeast Asia. While they do incorporate much

English-language music into their musical landscape, they are still selective about what they

consume and distinctly American genres like country and hip-hop hardly penetrate the music

landscapes of Southeast Asia. Cultural imperialism is a strong force but, at the end of the day, the

people of Southeast Asia choose what they consume and, even if what they stream features a lot

of English, it still fits their cultural sensibilities. Thus, the data gathered from Spotify Charts

illustrates the exact music consumption habits of the people of Southeast Asia and directly

reflects the unique cultures of the countries of Southeast Asia and how they share many

similarities in their chosen genres, language preferences, and co-existence of local and Western

music, as well as differences in their unique local forms of music.

Conclusion:

Looking at the data and looking at the previous literature on the topic of music

preferences in Southeast Asia, it is clear that this newly gathered data is in line with the pre-

existing literature in terms of demonstrating the impact of culture on music preference. While

each nation varies in terms of what music its citizens prefer, such as Indonesia largely preferring

Indonesian music compared to Singapore largely preferring English-language music, those

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variances are nonetheless in accordance with each nation’s unique culture. Singapore is an

international economy without an ethnically indigenous population, which is mirrored in its

preference for English-language music and pop music. Indonesia, on the other hand, has a storied

history and strong national culture that can be seen in their uniquely large preference for music in

their native language, mirroring the findings from pre-existing literature. Especially when

compared to the American comparison group, it is clear to see how distinct the music preferences

of Southeast Asia are in comparison to the United States. While all four Southeast Asian nations

do have a presence of Western artists, the artists which are popular in those nations are ones

which make music that matches their cultural sensibilities. While the United States may be the

world’s cultural superpower, the nations of Southeast Asia demonstrate that every nation picks

and chooses what they consume based on their unique cultural sensibilities. This thus creates a

music environment where local and Western music exist side-by-side, the Western music that is

popular in these four nations being informed by their unique cultural sensibilities. This paper

corroborates the work done by previous scholars while also adding a quantitative layer to the

pre-existing research. While the pre-existing research took a more qualitative approach to the

subject, this paper provides a quantitative look at how culture shapes music preferences in

Southeast Asia. By looking to the Spotify Weekly Top Artists chart, this paper successfully

confirmed the hypothesis that, in line with previous scholarship on the topic, the nations of

Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore exhibit a co-existence between local and

Western forms of music informed by their unique and distinct cultures, as mirrored in Spotify’s

Weekly Top Artists chart.

 20

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