Etana’s ‘Love Song’ Tops Kenya’s Most Streamed Song For 2019

Jamaica reggae singer Etana has topped the list of Most Streamed Songs in Kenya, with her single titled Love Song which beat out I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran and Nicki Minaj’s Megatron.   Love Song is not even popular in Jamaica.  The list is part of the much anticipated 2019 Kenya Music Facts which was released by Boomplay, the #1 music streaming service in Africa.

Dancehall princess Shenseea was number 6 of the list of Most Streamed Songs in the African country.

Etana told the Jamaica Gleaner that she certainly felt the love.  “I saw Kenya’s love in 2016 and I saw it before that in 2012 when I performed while I was pregnant.”, she said in an interview with the paper.

“However, in May 2019, it became clear to me that Kenya is my second home. The turnout was more than expected and the roar that came with songs like Weakness In Me, Love Song, I Am Not Afraid, People Talk and others was sometimes so loud that I couldn’t hear myself. I just allowed them to sing. I performed for two solid hours,” she said.

Etana’s popularity in Africa also extends to Tanzania, where Love Song is number four on the Top 10 Most Streamed International Songs for 2020 list, ahead of Forever and Always (Shania Twain); Work (Rihanna feat Drake); God’s Plan (Drake) and Chi Chi (Trey Songz, feat Chris Brown).

But what is it that makes the Kenyans, in particular, connect so solidly with the Warrior Princess?

“I think it’s the heart in the music that they can feel. Not just in the lyrics but in the songs as a whole,” she told The Gleaner.