IMS Business Report 2024: Afro house is largely on the rise

The IMS Business Report of 2024 details how afro house’s popularity has shot way up, especially on Beatport and Loopmasters.

A pivotal part of the electronic music industry year after year is IMS (International Music Summit). Taking place in Ibiza yearly, one of the most important aspects of the conference week is, of course, the IMS Business Report. Detailing trends, reports, stats and more from the previous year in the industry, this gives us a. closer look at all aspects within the scene.

According to the report, one sub-genre which has seen an exponential rise is afro house. It no doubt has its cult fanbase and has been a strong part of the house genre and the scene for many, many years now, but Beatport has recently seen a trend where more people are searching for it on their site. Pictured below, it seems as though the demand for this genre in terms of sales is shooting rapidly. At no.18 in Beatport sales in 2022, it went all the way up to No.9 in sales in Q3 2023.

Not just Beatport that has seen the afro house trend surge, royalty-free sample service Loopcloud has also taken note. In 2023, it came out of seemingly nowhere to become the site’s 23rd most-searched genre, just behind genres such as EDM, pop and techno, with genres like jungle, rock, trance and dubstep even behind afro house.

If anything, this shows that we can expect the biggest rise for the genre as we go into the rest of 2024, and we’re already seeing it now. To see the IMS Business Report 2024 in full, download it here.