(Left) Arijit Singh and Sai Abhyankkar are among the most streamed artists on JioSaavn in 2024. Photos: Courtesy of the artists
Streaming platform JioSaavn took on a new way to celebrate India’s highest streamed artists from 2024, with the announcement of India Superhit Awards on May 20.
Based entirely on streaming data gathered on the platform, India Superhit Awards wants to be a “true reflection of what India is listening to on JioSaavn,” according to a press release.
Top winners were awarded in 10 different languages— Hindi, English, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bhojpuri, Bengali, and Marathi for India Superhit Male Singer, India Superhit Female Singer, India Superhit Composer of the Year, and India Superhit Lyricist of the Year.
Unsurprisingly, India’s top-streamed artist Arijit Singh has been named winner in three different language categories, for songs in Hindi, Bengali, and Telugu. Close behind in the tally were Marathi pop artist Sanju Rathod with three awards, and Tamil pop artist Sai Abhyankkar with two.
The winners in the Hindi category include Arijit Singh (India Superhit Male Singer) for “Sajni” and “Superstar,” while Madhubanti Bagchi was awarded India Superhit Female Singer for her film songs “Aaj Ki Raat” and “Peelings.” Composer duo Sachin-Jigar and writer Amitabh Bhattacharya took home the composer and lyricist awards, respectively for “Aaj Ki Raat” and “Aayi Nai.”
The English category awarded India’s rap star Hanumankind for “Big Dawgs” and pop star Sabrina Carpenter for songs off her album Short n’ Sweet in male and female singer categories.
While there’s no on-ground ceremony for this edition of India Superhit Awards, they do mark a multilingual approach to music awards, with favorites like Sai Abhyankkar (“Katchi Sera”), Sanju Rathod (“Gulabi Sadi”) and Dabzee and Sushin Shyam (“Illuminati”) winning in Tamil, Marathi and Malayalam, respectively. Marathi artist Sonali Sonawane also won Best Female Singer for “Nakhrewali” and “Angai 2.0.”
Shilpa Rao’s hit Telugu film song “Chuttamalle” (which she was invited to perform at Ed Sheeran’s Bengaluru stop earlier this year) won India Superhit Female Singer of the Year, while composer Anirudh Ravichander and lyricist Ramajogayya Sastry won in their respective Telugu categories.
Just like Arijit Singh won in the Telugu category for singing “Anuvanuvu,” Jaskaran Singh won India Superhit Male Singer of the Year in the Kannada category for “Dwapara.”
Surprisingly, in the Punjabi category, all the usual hip-hop and pop names seemed missing, where “Ve Haaniyaan” won for Male Singer (Danny) and composer and lyricist (Sagar).
Bengali and Bhojpuri categories offered even more diversity, with Shreya Ghoshal winning in the Bengali category for India Superhit Female Singer of the Year (“Aj Shara Bela,” “Tui Amar Hobi Na” and “Sokhi Go”) and Anupam Roy winning best Bengali composer and lyricist.
Bhojpuri artists like Shilpi Raj (Female Singer), Pawan Singh (Male Singer), Om Jha (Composer) and Ashutosh Tiwari (Lyricist) were declared the most streamed.
A spokesperson for JioSaavn said, “Our goal is to not only celebrate the best of the industry but to ensure our listeners’ choices are recognized by showcasing exactly what the nation has been streaming. These awards are here to set a new benchmark in recognizing both established and emerging musical talent.”