'Midnight Train': Sauti Sol’s soundtrack of brotherhood still echoes five years on

When Sauti Sol released ‘Midnight Train’ in June 2020, it marked more than just a new chapter for the band. It became a cultural landmark for East African music. Five years later, the album has clocked over 36 million global streams on Spotify, cementing its status as one of the most streamed Kenyan albums on the platform.

Put out via Universal Music Group Africa, ‘Midnight Train’ was recorded between Nairobi, Johannesburg and Los Angeles. The 13-track album blends Afropop, soul and R&B, with standout collaborations from India Arie, Sho Madjozi, Black Motion and the Soweto Gospel Choir.

Sung in English, Swahili and Luhya, it explores vulnerability, masculinity and brotherhood. The sound and message continue to resonate across Africa and beyond.

‘Suzanna,’ ‘Feel My Love,’ ‘Insecure,’ ‘My Everything’ (featuring India Arie) and ‘Midnight Train’ rose as the project’s global standouts. Not only are they the most streamed songs on the album, they’ve travelled far beyond Kenya. Together, they appear in more than 382,000 user-generated playlists around the world and have become part of the global listening fabric.

Spotify data shows the album has grown steadily year on year. It peaked in 2024 with over 11 million streams. From just over 3 million streams in 2020 to 4 million more in the first half of 2025 alone, ‘Midnight Train’ continues to build momentum five years after its release.

Kenya remains the album’s biggest market, followed by the United States, United Kingdom, Tanzania, Canada and Nigeria.

The top African cities driving these streams include Nairobi, Kampala, Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Lusaka and Abuja. What started in Nairobi has grown into a continent-wide embrace of Midnight Train’s sound, message and spirit.

Globally, the album’s audience skews slightly male, with 54 percent of streams coming from men and 45 percent from women.

In Kenya, the numbers are almost identical. That comes as a surprise to many, given the band’s long-standing connection to a visibly female millennial fanbase.

The album connects strongest with Gen Z. In Kenya, 63 percent of listeners are aged 18 to 24, and another 19 percent fall in the 25 to 29 range. It’s a clear signal that the music continues to speak to a young, digitally fluent audience.

When the band announced their hiatus on 20 May 2023, global streams jumped by 18 percent. In Kenya, that figure climbed to 21 percent.

But it was during Sol Fest, the group’s now-annual reunion concert, that ‘Midnight Train’ hit one of its highest streaming peaks. Between 4 and 6 November 2023, global streams surged by 77 percent. In Kenya, they more than doubled.

The announcement may have caught fans off guard, but the emotional impact was felt again during the December 2024 reunion. Streams surged once more. The music kept moving, even when the band took a step back.

‘Midnight Train’ stands as the fourth most-streamed album in Kenya over the past five years on Spotify, following major releases from Bien, as well as Burna Boy and SZA That metric speaks volumes. The album continues to shape listening habits, soundtrack memories and define an era.

As Sauti Sol’s members pursue their solo journeys, ‘Midnight Train’ keeps playing. It lives on through playlists, reunion shows and a new wave of fans discovering it for the first time. The band may be on pause, but the music hasn’t missed a beat.