Is there an issue with Balkan countries and Spotify charts?

[markovicsara]

Hello,

I have attached a map of Europe where the red represents the countries that have (or in case of Russia, used to have) their own Spotify Charts, and I was wondering why several Balkan countries are not included on this list. The ONLY other European countries that do not have their own charts are San Marino, Liechtenstein, and Monaco (which is understandable considering they are the least populated European countries), as well as Moldova. The decision about Moldova is also confusing, but it can be seen as an isolated case, while there is an obvious pattern with the Balkan countries. 

It is true that Spotify was launched in these countries only 3 years ago, but it was launched in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine on the exact same date, and all of those countries got their charts, with Russia and Ukraine getting them in that same month. 

I am aware that Balkan countries are not the biggest music markets in the world, far from it, and that Spotify is still struggling to become the go-to app in them, but that will never happen if key features like this one remain unavailable to users. In Serbia, for example, all the other streaming services offer charts.

I also know of a person who suggested adding these charts in Spotify Community, their idea got a good number of votes, yet they received an email that the case was closed with no further explanation.

So my question is, how are the Balkan countries different from the rest of Europe? Is there an issue there that I am not aware of? If there is, I would love to know.

Thank you in advance,

Sara

[durko01]

As a listener from Macedonia, I am interested in the same thing. It’s really annoying, especially not being able to see how your favorite artists are performing in your region, and also exploring artists that are popular around you. Please stop discriminating the Balkans just because they are small markets.

[srdjanstrajnic]

I am asking the same question!