Fez — Lebanese pop icon, Nancy Ajram, now towers above New York’s Times Square on a dazzling Spotify screen after being named “EQUAL Arabia Ambassador” for July.
The splashy US rollout comes on the heels of her eleventh studio album, “Nancy 11,” released on July 17, and caps a month that also saw her electrify Rabat’s Mawazine Festival in Morocco. “EQUAL Arabia” is the MENA branch of Spotify’s global gender-equity initiative, promising monthly billboard takeovers, prime playlist placement and social-media boosts for its chosen ambassadors.
Spotify says the program has generated billions of streams worldwide, giving Arab women artists “career-defining moments” and new audiences beyond the region.
Released via Believe on July 17, Nancy 11 delivers 11 tracks that blend contemporary dance-pop with Ajram’s trademark Arabic melodies.
Industry watchers note that early streaming figures on Anghami and Spotify place several cuts—led by “Sidi Ya Sidi” and “Warana Eih”—in regional top 10 charts within 48 hours of release.
Music-industry analysts say Ajram’s Times Square moment underscores a broader streaming-led surge in Arabic-language music.
By pairing marquee names with curated playlists, platforms hope to normalise Arabic pop on global charts and inspire emerging female talent across North Africa and the Middle East.
Since debuting in 1998, Ajram has turned singles such as “Ah W Noss,” “Ya Tabtab,” and “Badna Nwalee El Jaw” into Arab-pop staples. Spotify data show her catalogue reaching listeners in more than 180 countries last year, underscoring her enduring cross-border appeal.
But hey, Moroccan audiences needed no billboard to remember Ajram: she set Rabat’s Nahda Stage ablaze at the 20th Mawazine Festival, drawing one of the pop stage’s largest crowds with a hit-packed, hour-plus set.
