Everything that sounds speaks. After February 24, 2022, Ukrainian music ceased to be just the background. It has become a way to live, hold on, scream or be silent. The favorite genres have changed as rapidly as the country: rock instead of pop, rap instead of chanson, silence instead of rowdy. Now music is a litmus test of inner shifts, pain, anger, dignity and hope. The demand for Ukrainian-language, patriotic, honest, sweet food is growing rapidly. Tastes have matured, and each track is a choice, not a habit. The mass audience no longer swallows mindless content: TikTok tracks now compete with the songs of volunteers and frontline bards. And if earlier popularity was measured by rotation on the radio, today it is dictated by playlists in Telegram, swearing under acoustic covers and prolonged listening at night. Ukrainians are no longer looking for music “for the mood”, they are looking for something that hits the heart.
Statistics of musical preferences of Ukrainians
Until 2022, music platforms in Ukraine functioned according to the principle of marketing with a stretched flavor of globalization: English-language mainstream, some Russian pop classics, a couple of Ukrainian-language songs for the tick were mixed in playlists without strict selection. According to Apple’s ratings before the full-scale invasion, there was no Ukrainian artist in the top 10 most popular tracks among Ukrainian users. Instead, there was a total dominance of Russian pop music: HammAli&Navai, Slava Marlow, Miyagi, Macan, Morgenstern, Kazakh Scryptonite, which works exclusively in Russian. Even Dorofeeva managed to reach only 20th place with a Russian-language song. At that time, only six Ukrainian performers made it into the top 100, one of whom had a song in Ukrainian, the satire “Geese”.
Artem Pyvovarov announced himself then with the song “Deja Vu” in Russian. One could turn a blind eye to such numbers if it were not already the eighth year of the war. And if two months after the publication of this rating, Russian missiles had not started hitting residential areas in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mariupol. The situation when it was Ukrainians who helped Russian artists to get rich by paying them for broadcasts, music videos and productions looked especially cynical. Part of these revenues went to the budget of the Russian Federation, which was already preparing to unload bombs on Ukrainian soil.
But already on March 5, 2022, less than two weeks after the start of full-scale aggression, a cultural breakdown took place. Eight Ukrainian-language songs appeared in the top of Apple Music. The first place was “Stephania” by KALUSH Orchestra, which later became an international symbol of struggle. The change was not evolutionary, but radical. Ukrainians massively began to revise their musical habits. Songs became markers of position, music showed internal transformation, and charts turned into a kind of map of national self-identification. Already in 2023, the share of Ukrainian artists in the streaming charts has increased to 65%. Russian artists moved from the dominant position to the third place, and Western music was recorded on the second step. This distribution is characteristic not only of YouTube, but also of the Apple Music and Spotify platforms, where the situation is similar, albeit with a slightly higher share of Russian content.
Both leading platforms, Spotify and Apple Music, although they have different selection methods (the first focused on Ukrainian performers, the second on the general user choice), in 2024 recognized the absolute favorite: the composition Teresa & Maria performed by Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil. With this track, the duo took third place at Eurovision, but in Ukraine it was not perceived as a competition number, but as a cultural manifesto. This song, charged with a cultural message and performed in Ukrainian, became a kind of symbol of a new musical choice.
Of the 100 most popular Apple Music tracks in 2024, 59 were from Ukrainian artists. In the top ten, there are nine songs in Ukrainian, and only one in English: Lose Control Teddy Swims in seventh place.
Spotify has shown an even deeper focus on local artists. Wellboy, SadSvit, KRBK appeared in the top 10 of Ukrainian songs along with familiar names like Jerry Heil, Klavdia Petrivna and DOROFEEVA. It is interesting that the only Russian-language song in the Top “Krepche” by the Ukrainian rapper KRBK is of local origin and not imported.
If we delve into the statistics, the structure of musical preferences confirms changes in the musical tastes of Ukrainians. By data bezodnya.music, Ukrainian songs account for an average of 39% of listenings on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Shazam, Russian songs – 26%, and foreign songs – 34%.
NUAM (New Ukrainian Music) project counted, that of all tracks released by Ukrainian artists in 2024, almost 80% were in Ukrainian. Another 10.5% – in English, and only 9.7% – in Russian. This proportion shows not just a change in auditory preferences, but a rethinking of the very function of music, which is increasingly becoming an instrument of cultural hygiene.
The lists of the most popular songs of 2024 finally confirm the fact that Ukrainian performers have established themselves in the charts. Now we can safely say that the cultural revolution has taken place and even with a result that was hard to imagine three years ago. The share of Russian pop music has tripled. But the “gap” of 20% still remains. So far, it has not been possible to achieve complete purification from “neighborly” influences and 19 tracks in the Top 100 are Russian-language.
Why Russian music is still on the air
In 2024, the publication Texty.org.ua investigated the Spotify charts and found that most of the Russian-language tracks that make it to the charts contain profanity. A simple, aggressive, unbridled sound that appeals to emotions and quickly became popular among the undemanding part of listeners. For example, the audience of the rapper Gio Peak, who entered the top 15 artists in four eastern cities at once, consists not only of rap fans, but also of former prisoners and so-called “boys from the neighborhood”.
Streaming algorithms also play an influential role. Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, which have their own internal recommendation mechanisms, which are often opaque, as a result of which the Ukrainian listener does not always get a Ukrainian song even when he is looking for it.
A few years ago, the income of Ukrainian artists consisted mainly of concerts and advertising integrations. Streaming was somewhere in the tail. The war changed the rules of the game. Due to the danger of mass gatherings and the decline of the market of cultural and mass events, artists were forced to reorient themselves to the digital format, which began to bring them the main income. And here the number of listenings is directly converted into money. It is clear that the artist who is promoted by the algorithms has more auditions.
Geography of musical preferences
It should be understood that not only the language determines the musical choice. Regional features of content consumption in different parts of the country also have an influence. According to analytical data, there is a group of performers who are listened to regardless of region. These are KALUSH, Jerry Heil, KOLA, Klavdia Petrivna, Artem Pyvovarov and YAKTAK. In general, the latter became the absolute leader in terms of views: 133 million per year only in the cities where the study was conducted.
In the center cultural map of course, Kyiv was the focus. The capital has absorbed the tastes of the entire country, and it is here that they intersect, mix, and interact. Lviv is nearby. After the start of a full-scale war, it turned into a multicultural city, which quickly grew in both population and cultural weight. The picture is completely different in the east. In cities such as Dnipro, Odesa, Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, Russian performers or artists from the post-Soviet space focused on the Moscow market are still consistently present in the ratings. In local tops, they occupy two or three positions out of fifteen. A small percentage, but enough to talk about the cultural remains of the colonial past.
How Ukrainian music was taken out of the game
The current success of Ukrainian music looks like a real revival. But it is worth remembering that the decline did not start yesterday. After a booming development in the 90s, the music scene exploded with new names. Vakarchuk, Iryna Bilyk, “Skryabin” formed the first impulse and became direct proof that it is possible to sing in Ukrainian in a modern and interesting way. But, unfortunately, the Ukrainian music market faced systemic pressure when Russian money went to radio, TV channels, and concert agencies. The Ukrainian song was pushed out of rotations, explaining that it is “not a format”. To break through, you had to be not just better than your competitors, but dramatically higher in level.
At the same time, the Russian Federation did not skimp on cultural expansion, buying up media and show business. And in these conditions, Ukrainian music, which had neither oil dollars nor political cover, naturally lost. There were crumbs left for Ukrainian performers. In the 2000s, radio stations began to actively abandon Ukrainian-language content. At that time, Russian pop had completely flooded the airwaves, music TV channels and clubs. Those Ukrainian bands that survived had to either adapt to trends (including Russian-speaking ones), or balance between creativity and survival.
Shifts began with the advent of the Internet. Platforms like YouTube have made it possible to bypass traditional media and bring your music directly to the listener. New voices appeared: “TNMK”, “DahaBrakha”, ONUKA, “Boombox”. They already had their own face, style and, most importantly, a clear position. Ukrainian music received a powerful boost after the Revolution of Dignity. Along with social changes, there was a demand for real, native, authentic, but at the same time modern. At this time, The Hardkiss, Zhadan and Dogs, Pianoboy, One in a Canoe, Kozak System and others became famous. The number of Ukrainian-language rap and electronica, which were rarely associated with the Ukrainian scene before, has increased.
And already after February 24, 2022, everything that had been maturing for years broke through. Listeners started switching to Ukrainian content en masse. Not because of a directive or a fashion, but because of an internal need to be heard in the conditions of a full-scale war. What sounds like one’s native language has become a desire to express one’s identity.
The healing value of music
Speaking about music, it is impossible not to think about its importance in people’s lives. It has long since passed from the category of entertainment to something more important. Music is no longer just a background. Now musical compositions bite into the body like an electric current and start a chemistry that cannot be faked.
Finnish researchers have proven for the first time in practice that music really affects brain chemistry, creating a completely physiological response. A team of scientists from the University of Turku discovered that listening to your favorite music activates the same system in the brain that is responsible for pleasure – the opioid system. It is she who “turns on” when eating tasty food, during intimacy or in response to pain, when the brain tries to reduce it. In the study, the results published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine, scientists used positron emission tomography (PET) to record brain responses in real time.
In addition, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was also involved, which made it possible to measure the density of opioid receptors in the brains of the participants of the experiment. It turned out that the very compositions that cause “tingles” or pleasant shivers in the body cause the release of natural opioids in the areas of the brain associated with the feeling of pleasure. And the more such receptors a person has, the stronger the reaction was.
According to study leader Vesa Putkinen, this is the first confirmation of a direct link between music and the activation of the opioid system. This explains why melodies can evoke such powerful emotional experiences. This discovery sheds light on the previously documented pain-relieving effects of music and potentially paves the way for new treatments. For example, with chronic pain or mental health disorders, music can become part of therapy not only as a background tool, but as a full-fledged tool for influencing brain chemistry.
And now let’s transfer it to the reality of Ukraine, where the siren is no longer a special effect in the film, but a reality. For Ukrainians, music has become a way not to lose one’s mind. A song can pull a person out of the emotional basement, give a sip of strength when it seems that only rage or complete apathy is left. In the conditions of war, music has become a flash of warmth when all around is cold and enmity. The songs “Chervona Kalyna”, “Stefaniya” or even TikTok hits, which Ukrainians have remixed in their own way, have long embodied national unity. The taste of Ukrainians is no longer built around a habit or a global trend. Now it is a point of support, a manifestation of strength, a way to stay within oneself when there is continuous turbulence around.
But it is impossible not to note the fact that “modern music” teeters on the verge of self-parody. Any popular hit usually contains about four words, two of which are repeated, the third is borrowed from the English language because it’s fashionable, and the last one is a swear word. The beat is built on the principle of “let it rock”, and the clips express nothing but aesthetic degradation: silicone, brands, tons of filters and no meaning. However, such music is gaining momentum today. This is not even escapism, but capitulation to one’s own laziness to think more deeply.
People no longer listen to music, but simply consume sounds. Everything should be “short, loud, cool”. Neither time nor desire to stop and catch the nuance, structure, drama. Classical music used to speak to the heart and mind of a person. Chopin made the skin feel cold, Strauss’s notes spoke irony, and Bach sounded the whole harmony of the universe. Modern compositions sound like thunder that hits the head, and the lines of the lyrics do not make any sense.
It goes without saying that the world is changing, and so is music. But the question is what have we lost in this change. It’s not necessary to listen to Wagner every day, but when your musical range is limited to generic beats for dance reels, it’s worth wondering if it’s a symptom of cultural anemia. Once upon a time, music healed, caused catharsis, opened new facets of the human soul. Now she fills a void because people are afraid to be alone with their fears. Modern pop is rapidly turning into a meaningless soup of noise, and we risk losing the ability to listen to the real thing.
In recent years, Ukrainian music has ceased to be simply part of the cultural background. She has become the voice of a nation that is not just struggling, but reimagining itself in real time. What yesterday was a “non-format” and a “niche product” today forms a new aesthetic and a new ethical norm. The path of musical preferences of Ukrainians resembles the path of a society that emerged from the shadow of imperial influence. During the war, music became not entertainment, but a resource for self-preservation, struggle and healing. But the “cleansing” is not over yet. The Russian mark in the charts is like a stain that cannot be erased the first time. However, the fact remains: the musical space of Ukraine will not return. The cultural revolution did not just happen, but changed the very logic of what is considered “own” music. And now it is important not to lose this gain in the future.
