New Arab Pop

Nancy Ajram’s October 2026 single “Bastafizzak” arrived with an immediate, self-referential wink that listeners caught instantly. Under the video, viewers joked about whether she was delivering watermelons again, riffing in Arabic on her earlier work: “طلبية بطيخ؟ لا يا عيني غيرنا المصلحة” (“A watermelon order? No my dear, we changed the business”). The Beirut pop singer, who launched a streak of nine consecutive number-one albums across the Arab world with 2003’s Ya Salam, remains a fixture on local airwaves. Her eleventh studio LP, Nancy 11, dropped in July 2025 across 11 tracks, accompanied by the In2Musica release Toul Omri Negma.

What Ajram represents on the pop end sits right next to a very different sound dominating local streaming platforms. In Egypt, street-level mahraganat accounted for 40 percent of the top tracks on Spotify Wrapped 2024. Listeners in Cairo and Alexandria drove mahraganat figures Essam Sasa and Eslam Kabonga to the top of the charts alongside Amr Diab, Tamer Ashour, Sherine, Ramy Sabry, Muslim, and Cairokee, while rappers Wegz and Marwan Pablo held the center of the youth rotation. In Saudi Arabia, Khaleeji music dominated the streaming tallies, led by Ayed as the country’s top Arab artist.

Apple Music’s Arabic Pop Hits tracks this regional sprawl from the Maghreb to the Gulf, pulling in releases from TUL8TE, AL SHAMI, Elissa, Yara Mustafa, RYM, Noor Helou, Nour, and Shargeeya. But the sharpest collaborative momentum is coming out of North Africa. In Morocco, the upper tier of Spotify Wrapped 2024 featured local heavyweights ElGrandeToto, Stormy, Morad, L’morphine, Draganov, LFERDA, Inkonnu, and DYSTINCT, whose album Bababa World ranked in the top 10 most-streamed albums across the Maghreb in 2025. In the clubs, Douaa Lahyaoui took “Cheraniya” to the top spot on Spotify’s Hot Hits Morocco following its July 24 release, stacking over three million views on YouTube behind her 2024 track “Badadi.” At the same time, Jaylann and producer Beathoven soundtracked the coastal season with “La Côte” and “Allez Allez.”

Casablanca rapper 7liwa (Ihab Ikbal) has anchored Moroccan trap since his 2011 start, breaking out in 2013 with “Da7k T9ada” and “Batal L3alam” before dropping his 2014 mixtape Ktabi Baki and the Soolking feature “Bilal.” In the comments under his catalog, fans still trace local rap history to his early output; under the video for “NIK DT,” one listener wrote: “هاد التراك هو سبب الانقلاب في الراب المغربي” (“This track was the reason for the coup in Moroccan rap”). After major runs with albums like #Wf (2017), La Street (2019), Weld Fatima II (2021), and Champion (2024)—alongside chart entries like “Dalé,” “Liyam,” “Namasté,” “Quds,” “Hallelujah,” and “Laisse tomber”—7liwa returned in April 2026 with the single “Parano.”

That Casablancan scene has regularly pulled in outside collaborators. On 2017’s “LA FAFA” and “MI AMORE,” 7liwa teamed up with Fez rapper Inkonnu and Belo Horizonte native Drizzy (Filipe Henrique Gomes Moura). Inkonnu, who debuted with the 2012 mixtape Dmou3 Dam and broke out with 2014’s “Rssam Zan9a,” went on to issue his solo album Arabi in 2021 while landing chart placements with “WARDA” (alongside Manal), “TJENENY” (with Draganov), and “Mizane” (with Stormy). Drizzy, whose Brazilian catalog spans battle-rap beginnings, the 2017 debut single “Herdeiro,” the 2024 drop “Postura,” and 2025 EPs like Vitrine and A História do Neguinho, brought an unconventional cross-Atlantic presence to those Moroccan sessions.

The club circuit also runs on tracks like “KAMIN,” dropped in October 2026 by 20MOODS and produced by Ozer, coming after 20MOODS’s January 2025 single “MOUJA” with Chaos333 and Jonahlevrai, and cuts like “GRAMMY” and “GARAGE.” Meanwhile, Cairo rapper Sara El-Messiry, working as Felukah, teamed with Lana Lubany and Tära for the collaborative single “Sahara” ahead of her nine-track album Hibiskiss. Cross-border linkups like Haifa Wehbe joining Saint Levant on July 10 for “Mitsubishi” match that current pulse, coming alongside Saint Levant’s 2024 debut album Deira and his 2025 EP Love Letters.

Palestinian singer Elyanna (Elian Amer Marjieh) has built hits across Lebanese charts with tracks like “Ana Lahale,” “Ghareeb Alay,” “Ala Bali,” and “Mama Eh.” After her 2019 breakout “Tata (Freestyle)” and two self-titled EPs, she released her debut full-length Woledto in April 2024, followed by singles like “GANENI,” the RedOne-produced “BOSA,” and “Yabn El Eh,” where one viewer simply commented “شاكيرا العرب” (“the Shakira of the Arabs”).

Her visibility abroad came strictly on the back of that run: appearances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Coachella in 2023, Glastonbury with Coldplay in 2024, and a broadcast on Saturday Night Live. At home, the music stays anchored on car stereos and in the clubs, tracked right down to 7liwa’s “Parano” spinning out of Casablanca.

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From the YouTube conversation

@TehKhronicler
very high quality, cvnty, catchy, great production, the whole thing, hope you blow up girls
♥ 2
@busybeingahmed
The language mix in the song took it to another level and the cinematography is insane
♥ 3
@busybeingahmed
Wow we really need to hear more music like this one it's next level ❤
♥ 2
@busybeingahmed
Just came back to listen to this piece of art
♥ 1
@huseyinduran7393
i’m from Turkey and i love Lana and now love this song:)
♥ 1
@wu2276
واووووو
@NEMOGAMZO
فلوكه بقي جامده
@przemek2573
Love from Poland!
♥ 1
@Letveecook
FIREEEE
♥ 1
@mahmoudnawarr
Track of 2026
♥ 1
@jjjjaaccoobb1
TOREEE
@AtefAdel-d4p
So good fr