Arabesk, the Turkish genre of heartbreak and longing built by stars like Orhan Gencebay, Ferdi Tayfur and Müslüm Gürses, is now mostly a young person's stream: Spotify says listeners under 30 generate 77% of arabesk streams in Türkiye, and arabesk streams there have grown 435% since 2020.
The figures come from an October 16 interview Spotify published on its own Spotify Selects Substack with Rhea Chedid, its Editorial Lead for the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye. Music Ally picked them up on October 19. Spotify also says listeners aged 18 to 24 are the single largest share, that year-on-year growth has exceeded 31% every year since 2020, and that listening in Türkiye peaks at 6 p.m.
What is arabesk, and whose music was it?
Music Ally dates arabesk's popularity in Türkiye to the 1960s. Daily Sabah says Orhan Gencebay's 1970 EP, with the song “Bir Teselli Ver,” made him famous and credits him with bringing the genre into Turkish music in the 1970s, adding that “state-funded radio and television excluded the new genre.” Ferdi Tayfur, born in Adana in 1945, broke through in 1970 with his seventh album, Kaderimsin, and Daily Sabah's obituary placed him among the genre's leading voices “alongside Orhan Gencebay and Müslüm Gürses.” Tayfur died on January 2, 2025, at 79.
Gürses, known to fans as Müslüm Baba, died of heart failure on March 3, 2013, at 59. The Associated Press described him as “best known for his mournful tunes blending Turkish folk instruments with Arabic melodies,” and noted something that reads differently now: he had already built “a cult following among the young” by interpreting Turkish pop and rock. In April 2006 he released Aşk Tesadüfleri Sever, reworking songs by Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Björk and others with new Turkish lyrics, Hürriyet reported at the time.
Why are young listeners streaming their parents' genre?
Chedid's answer is ubiquity. “If you grow up here, chances are arabesk becomes part of your musical DNA at some point, whether you realize it or not,” she told Spotify Selects. She also points to “pop and hip-hop crossovers, covers of the classics, and samples in hip-hop tracks.”
The chart data backs the crossover part. Spotify says its most-streamed arabesk artist of all time in Türkiye is Semicenk, whom it describes as a Turkish pop singer, with Müslüm Gürses and Ahmet Kaya right behind. In summer 2023, Spotify's most-streamed song in Türkiye was Semicenk and Doğu Swag's “Pişman Değilim,” and Semicenk had five songs in the top 20, including collaborations with Rast and Reynmen, per the list Cumhuriyet published. Cumhuriyet's read, translated from Turkish: the fusion style that arabesk songs create in genres like pop and rap was clearly being heavily streamed.
The kids did not have to choose. The most-streamed arabesk act on Spotify in Türkiye is a pop singer, and the next two names are the old masters.
Is this a revival or a trend that will fade?
Spotify's own framing is that it is neither a spike nor nostalgia. “Its growth has been remarkably consistent, rather than a sudden spike in popularity,” Chedid said. Growth above 31% in every year since 2020 is a compounding line, not a viral moment.
Two caveats belong next to the numbers. Spotify did not publish raw stream counts, so the 435% is growth from a base nobody outside the company can see. And Spotify has a stake in the story: the interview doubles as a plug for its Arabesk Hits playlist, which just got a visual refresh.
Still, the shape fits a wider pattern. Older recordings already take a large share of what people play, as our look at catalog's 45% share of global chart streams showed, and with overall streaming growth slowing to single digits, a genre growing more than 31% a year stands out. The diaspora carries it further: Spotify ranks Germany second for arabesk streams, followed by the Netherlands and France, and says listeners under 30 account for 61% of streams outside Türkiye.
The lesson for anyone watching how fans attach to music is the one the superfan debate keeps circling: a genre does not need to be new to win a young audience. It needs a living bridge, a Semicenk singing next to a rapper, and a back catalog sitting one tap away. Chedid's next wish is “new crossovers beyond pop and hip-hop,” including producers exploring microtonal sounds in electronic and dance music.