As the year draws to a close, BD Life reflects on some of the milestones in the music industry in 2025.
Cultural resurgence
In an exclusive interview with the BDLife a year ago, singer-songwriter, musician, Bien-Aimé Baraza (of Sauti Sol fame) revealed that he was seeking a new edge to his music by exploring the cultural heritage of his roots in Western Kenya.
True to his word, 2025 marked a significant shift in his overall sound and image with the hit single All My Enemies Are Suffering. Propelled by the energetic rhythm of isikuti drums, multi-layered harmonies and a contemporary Afro groove, it set the template for a powerful fusion of global and cultural influences.
Some of the biggest acts of the year, including Okello Max, Coster Ojwang, Watendawili and Charisma, have molded their aesthetics with a strong cultural foundation while still producing music that resonates with a mainstream audience.
Reinvention of classics
Just like the soundtrack to the anti-taxation protests in Kenya last year was Kasongo, a 1977 song by Super Mazembe, 2025 also saw classic songs going viral thanks to topical events.
For instance, the most searched song lyrics, according to Google Kenya’s Year in Search, were for the Jamaican folk song Jamaica Farewell, recorded in 1956 by Harry Belafonte. Interest in the song was sparked by the death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who had often mentioned it as his favourite.
The interest in oldies was not peculiar to Kenyans. The No 1 song on video sharing platform Tik Tok in 2025 was Pretty Little Baby, a 1962 song by American singer Connie Francis.
Tik Tok’s Year in Music Recap released this week reveals that the song’s popularity was due to its use as the soundtrack for videos on family, pets, relationship and flowers leading to more than 68 billion views. Its popularity was not just confined to one platform; it has 133 million streams on Spotify.
Francis who died in July 2025 at age 87 expressed surprise at the success of the ballad she recorded 63 years ago: “To tell you the truth, I didn’t even remember the song,” she told the People Magazine in May.
Streaming
Music streaming platform Spotify has now made Wrapped a much-anticipated fixture of the end of the year with fans sharing personalised revelations about their music preferences, from genres to artistes, of the past year.
The data is mind boggling. For instance, Spotify listeners streamed over 163 billion hours of music in 2025 with social features like Collaborative Playlists and Friends Mix accounting for 782 million hours of shared music during the year.
The older generation of Kenyans, those who grew up on physical formats like the vinyl and CDs, are gradually discovering the world of streaming; the over 55s registered the highest growth in listening this year at 74 percent, followed by the 45–54-year-olds whose streaming grew by 56 percent.
Top songs
The East African collaboration between Tanzanian star Marioo and Kenyan artist Bien, Nairobi, tops Apple Music’s 2025 Year-End Charts in Kenya, followed by Tanzanian Joel Lwaga’s worship anthem Olodumare and the South African amapiano/Afrobeats hit Isaka (6 am) by Ciza, Jazzworx, and Thukuthela.
The popularity of the latter, along with other isiZulu hits like Ngishutheni by Goon Flavour, confirms isiZulu as one of the top three most-streamed musical languages in Kenya, just behind English and Swahili, according to Spotify data.
Documentaries and biographies
If you missed any of the outstanding music films and publications in 2025, there is no better time to catch up on them than this holidays season.
The most talked about music documentary of 2025 is the recently released Sean Combs: The Reckoning which investigates the murky events surrounding the life and career of US producer and music mogul, also known variously as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, who is currently serving a 50-month jail term.
Earlier in the year, Avicii: I’m Tim offered a very personal portrait of the much-loved Swedish Electronic Dance Music DJ/producer who died in 2018.
One Shot with Ed Sheeran is a pure musical experience as British singer-songwriter walks the streets of New York City with his guitar spontaneously entertaining fans with a repertoire of his songs as a film crew shoots the unfolding events in one take.
If you don’t want to fight for the TV remote control with members of your household then get your hands on Truly by Lionel Richie, the 2025 memoir of one of the biggest pop stars of all time.
Lionel shares his story with wit, self-deprecating humour and juicy nuggets of his interactions with everyone from Michael Jackson to Quincy Jones.
Transitions
Some big names that left the stage for the last time in 2025, including Roberta Flack, she of Killing Me Softly with His Song fame, who died in February at the age of 88.
Teddy Osei bandleader of the legendary Ghanian group, Osibisa, who found global fame in the 1970s and 80s with hits like Woyaya and Sunshine Day died in January at 89.
Two Jamaican reggae icons died this year, Cocoa Tea in March at age 65 and Jimmy Cliff in November at age 81. US neosoul pioneer D’Angelo passed in October at age 51.
