2022's Music Trend Forecast
Another year is coming to an end, so we’ve asked our music curation experts to give us a forecast of the musical landscape of 2022.
Another interesting year is coming to an end, and while uncertainty is the only thing being certain, music is the one thing we can always lean our heads against. We’ve asked our music curation experts to give us a forecast of the musical landscape of 2022.
If you look at the sound of 2021, the year consisted of happy, hopeful, dreamy and laid-back music. But what’s around the corner? Here are our Music Curation Team’s best guesses for the music trends of 2022.
Trending genres
Amapiano
Amapiano is a subgenre of South African house music and can be classified as a hybrid of deep house and lounge music with a jazzy sound. “Even during the pandemic, Amapiano, a bright, jazzy dance music culled from the local house flavors and global R&B has persisted as the country’s top genre, according to prominent South African artists and DJs.” - Rolling Stone
Amapiano tracks by Epidemic Sound:
K-Pop
K-Pop stands for Korean Pop and the genre did not only win Grammys during 2021; it also started to pop up in Netflix shows and at Coachella. It was even performed at the United Nation’s general debate by the famous K-pop group BTS. We definitely think this trend will continue to grow in 2022. Click here to read more about K-Pop and our K-Pop artists.
K-Pop tracks by Epidemic Sound:
Modern Latin Pop
Artists such as Rosalia, Bad Bunny and Nathy Peluso have been on the rise since 2019. Rosalia and Bad Bunny both made appearances in Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty 2020 fashion show which took their careers to new heights in the US.
Modern Latin Pop by Epidemic Sound:
- Perdidos (Cushy And Ballpoint Remix) – Cushy, Ballpoint feat. Nico Rengifo
- Gozo La Vida – Louie Wuatton
- De Amor Nadie Se Muere – NeiNei
Multilingual & bilingual music
The upswing in cultural diversity keeps influencing the music scene and our guess is that trend will continue to grow – in music and in content overall. Over the recent years, bilingual tracks like ‘Despacito,’ ‘Tusa,’ and ‘Hawái’ have topped the charts. Simultaneously, Spotify’s recent global ranking of the ten most played tracks includes Farruko’s Spanish-language hit ‘Pepas’ as well as Nigerian singer CKay’s ‘love nwantiti (ah ah ah).’
Multilingual & bilingual tracks by Epidemic Sound:
Hyperpop
Hyperpop is a postmodern microgenre that has started to make it into the mainstream music scene during the past couple of years, and we think this trend will continue to grow. Hyper pop artist Caroline Polachek’s track ‘Bunny Is A Rider’ was even named Pitchfork’s best track of 2021.
Hyperpop tracks by Epidemic Sound:
Music for short video content
Although this is not a music genre, we still wanted to mention it as it’s so intertwined with music. We all know about them, we all use them; social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram are still on the rise, and music is at the heart of the short format content created there. According to TikTok’s latest music report, 2021, approximately 430 songs surpassed 1 billion video views on their platform during the year.
In other words: we’re pretty sure that catchy and dynamic tracks that are well suited for shorter videos will be trending a lot in 2022.
Dynamic tracks by Epidemic Sound:
- Caution Content Hot – Fashion
- Panty Drop – Zorro
- The Light – Loving Caliber, Ooyy
- Ga$ Money – Xavy Rusan
- Day N Night – Aiyo
- Cardio – Superintendent McCupcakes
We hope you enjoyed this music trend forecast for 2022. Want to be ahead of the curve and soundtrack your next video according to these new trends? Check out our entire catalog below to find the perfect soundtrack.
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