Here's a number that would have sounded unlikely five years ago. Between January and September 2026, as many pop songs as Hindi film songs reached the top ten of Spotify's weekly India chart. Thirteen each. That's from an analysis Music Ally South Asia published today, and it lines up with fresh data from Luminate showing Bollywood's growth inside India has slowed right down.
What the numbers actually say
Luminate, the US data company that tracks streaming worldwide, put out its India findings on October 6. A few points stand out:
- Bollywood is still the biggest genre in India by a long way, with 33.5% of all on-demand audio and video streams in the first half of 2026. Pop was second at 16.8%.
- Official Bollywood streams in India grew from 29.2 billion in H1 2022 to 73.2 billion in H1 2026. So film music isn't shrinking.
- But the growth is slowing. Between H1 2025 and H1 2026, Bollywood streams inside India grew only 5.1%. Outside India they grew 8.2%.
- More than 75% of Bollywood plays in H1 2026 were deep catalogue, meaning songs released over five years ago.
That last point matters more than it looks. A big chunk of film music listening is people replaying old favourites. New film songs are not winning attention the way they used to.
Music Ally's chart count fills in the rest. Of the four songs that hit No.1 on Spotify India this year, three were pop: Banjaare's "Bairan" and "Barsaat", and Anuv Jain's "Arz Kiya Hai". The only film song to top the chart was "Gehra Hua" from *Dhurandhar*. And the pop hits weren't only Hindi. They came in Haryanvi, Urdu, Malayalam, Tamil and Punjabi too. Only six of the 13 film hits were from movies actually released in 2026, while five were older songs from 2010s films like *Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania* and *Fukrey Returns*.
This isn't a one-off
Spotify said much the same thing in its Loud & Clear India report in September. Royalties generated by Indian artists on the platform grew 29% in 2025, and Haryanvi streams went up nearly sevenfold between February 2023 and February 2026. Rolling Stone India's latest cover story adds that I-Pop, Indian pop released outside films, made up half of Spotify's year-end top ten in India for 2025.
The labels have noticed. Believe now runs separate Indian imprints for Punjabi, Haryanvi, Tamil and pop music. Warner Music India's MD Jay Mehta told The Hindu that regional and non-film music is what's driving the next phase of growth. When the big companies start building teams around a trend, it's usually because the money is already moving.
Why this matters if you're an independent artist
Think about what used to be the standard advice. Get a film song, and everything else follows. Sanju Rathod told Rolling Stone that was exactly his dream when he started, until a fake "Bollywood opportunity" nearly cost his family their land. He went the YouTube route instead and built a Marathi pop career on his own songs.
That path is now the normal one, not the exception. A Haryanvi singer from Rohtak or a Bhojpuri artist from Ara doesn't need a film producer to reach the charts. What they do need:
- Your songs on every major platform, not just YouTube. Spotify charts, JioSaavn and Apple Music are where streams turn into royalties you can track. If your song only lives on one YouTube channel, it can't show up on a Spotify chart at all.
- Clean language and genre tags. The pop hits on this year's chart were spread across at least six languages. Platforms can only push a Haryanvi pop song to Haryanvi listeners if it's tagged as Haryanvi in the first place.
- Ownership of your masters. Look at that deep catalogue number again. Songs keep earning for years. If you sell your rights for a one-time fee today, someone else collects on the song in 2031.
- A steady release habit. Banjaare had two No.1s in the same year. Charting once is luck. Charting twice usually means you kept releasing.
What we're seeing at RMX
Almost everything that comes through RMX Music is non-film music: Bhojpuri and Haryanvi singles, Punjabi tracks, Rajasthani folk, bhajans and aartis from devotional labels. For a long time, a lot of these artists treated streaming as an afterthought next to YouTube. That's changing. More of them now ask us about Spotify pitching, JioSaavn profiles and callertunes before the song is even finished, which is the right instinct.
RMX works with 3,000+ artists and 2,200+ labels and has delivered 20,000+ tracks to 95+ platforms. You keep 95% of your royalties and full ownership of your music. The Label plan is a one-time ₹4,500 for life, and the Agent plan is a one-time ₹15,000 for those managing many labels and artists.
If the charts are opening up for non-film music, the least you can do is make sure your songs are actually there. Create your RMX Music account and get your next release out everywhere.
*Sources: Music Ally, Luminate, Spotify Newsroom, Rolling Stone India, The Hindu.*