During the 20th century, people looked at places like London, New York, and Paris for fashion, music, and entertainment. From flappers to hip-hop, everyone was engrossed in western culture. After the end of the Cold War and the start of globalization, it was anticipated that western culture will rule all over the world, but this is far from true.
Another huge difference can be witnessed around the world. Music and various trends from other countries have made a place for themselves in the western world. For instance, South Korea’s culture has gained a stronghold, and fans of Korean bands can be spotted everywhere. Marty Caplan, Professor, Southern California University, has said that it has been the other way round rather than western culture gaining ground around the globe, and the expectations of one culture spreading all over have been proved wrong.
Today, the probability of a teenager in New York listening to K-pop or western African pop, afro beats, is much higher. In Mumbai, a youth can be found watching an India-made romantic drama, along with a French comedy. As per the data presented by the WTO and OECD, In 2020, the import of films, radio, television and other audio-visual services from the USA to OECD countries, reduced from the 40% of 10 years earlier to 25%. In the meanwhile, the entry of cultures of other countries into the USA augmented 6 times.
As per the Economist’s study of Spotify’s data, which the world’s largest music streaming platform, from 2017 to 2021, the craze for English songs is still at the top. Out of the 50 most streamed songs on Spotify during the last 5 years, 47 are English. Despite this, their grip is loosening. In countries like India, Indonesia, and South Korea, with a strong music industry, in the last 5 years, the share of English songs in the top 100 songs has reduced from 52% to 31% only. On the other hand, with the increasing popularity of local artists singing Spanish songs, popularity of English songs in Latin America and Spain has fallen from 25% to 14%.
