What are music fans listening to around the world?

USING a music streaming service has become a way of life for many music lovers. So much so that there were 443 million users of paid subscription accounts at the end of 2020. But what's going on in the headphones of all those subscribers? A new ranking from Apple Music looks at the hits that are making the world dance.

For the past four years, Spotify has been making the weekly rankings of the top 200 most-listened-to tracks in each country public through its Spotify Charts. Apple Music is catching up with its Swedish rival with City Charts, a new feature that allows music fans to discover what's hot in over 100 cities around the world.

According to Apple, City Charts are different from other music rankings by combining the number of listens and other "signs of local popularity" to highlight the 25 most popular songs among local listeners on a daily basis. And this is reflected in the rankings for some cities.

It turns out that Berliners are particularly fond of "Liege wieder wach," the latest track by German rapper Jamule. Meanwhile, residents of Buenos Aires are enthusiastic about "Fiel" by Wisin, Jhay Cortez and the reggaeton duo Los Legendarios. What about the "cariocas" -- Brazilians living in Rio de Janeiro? According to City Charts, many of them have been listening to the live version of "Batom de Cereja" by Israel & Rodolffo.

Regardless of the City Chart ranking, artists like Justin Bieber, Lil Nas X and Dua Lipa manage to make it into the top 25 most listened to tracks by Apple Music users worldwide. Proof of the globalization of popular music.