music / Hip-Hop
Partner

How will 2024’s top genres make noise in 2025?

Splice and MIDiA Research’s Sounds of 2025 Report tracks how genres like pluggnb and Afro House are likely to make waves this year.

February 04, 2025
How will 2024’s top genres make noise in 2025?

Last week, Splice and MIDia Research shared their “Sounds of 2025” report; exploring some of the biggest music trends of 2024 and how they’ll likely evolve in 2025. Among trends like fan remixes and the return of the digital underground, one thing was clear: the rise of pluggnb. As the fastest-growing genre on Splice based on user downloads, the trap-sub genre and 90’s R&B fusion found its footing through fan-made remixes of popular tracks. This led artists to eventually release their own official pluggnb remixes, like K-Pop group Le Serrafim’s 2024 single “Easy.” As the connection between creator and consumer keeps evolving, 2025 will likely see even more of these full-circle moments. Other genres like Rage, another trap sub-genre that developed during pandemic lockdowns by artists like Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti hoping to harness the moshpit energy of their live shows into their production. The genre saw download increases of 207% between 2022 and 2024, with sample packs RAGE WAVE and RAGE TRAP both key to its growth.

A blend of Kwaito, house, and 90s South African house powers Afro House, popularized by key DJs and producers from the region like Black Coffee and singles like“Move” by Adam Port, Stryv, Keinemusik, and Malachiii. Like other South African genres like Gqom and Amapiano, and the continued dominance of West African Afrobeats and Alte, the sounds of the African content will continue to stake its claim on the mainstream and dancefloors around the world.

Taking its cues from chopped & screwed remixing of the early 2000s, the heavy, distorted bass lines of Drift Phonk have TikTok to thank in large part for its popularity. Incorporating more lo-fi and electronic sounds than its Phonk predecessor, sample packs like Serum Phonk, Brazilian Phonk Essence, and Brazilian Phonk 2 have all played a part in its nearly 3 million sound downloads across Splice. More established genres like Jersey Club and K-Pop each saw growth in 2024 thanks to artists and producers like UNIIQU3, Cookiee Kawaii, NCT, and DemJointz, a nod to the timelessness of each sound. While Jsery Club saw a 168.8% increase in downloads in 2024, K-Pop saw massive growth of 294.7% last year.

As producers in 2024 flocked to some of the biggest sample packs on Splice, they point to the continued growth, and potential future fusions, of these sounds in 2025.

You can read the full report here.

ADVERTISEMENT

How will 2024’s top genres make noise in 2025?