It was a stellar week for folk group Ben&Ben.
The nine-piece band was hailed as the most-streamed Filipino act on Spotify Philippines this year, according to data released on Wednesday, December 1.
They also won at the prestigious 34th Awit Awards that was held last November 29.
In a tweet on December 2, Ben&Ben shared an image from streaming platform Spotify where it showed they amassed 299 million streams for 19.8 million hours in 2021 2021.
They also earned 10.7 million listeners from 176 countries.
This is the second consecutive year that the group dominated Spotify in the Philippines.
For this record-breaking achievement, the group immediately thanked their fans called “Liwanag” for their support.
“Thank you for a beautiful year, Liwanag (blue and yellow heart emojis) Kayo ang aming tahanan. #SpotifyWrapped (Spotify wrapped emoji),” they said.
Thank you for a beautiful year, Liwanag 💙💛 Kayo ang aming tahanan. #SpotifyWrapped pic.twitter.com/p1MFJf7SFJ
— Ben&Ben (@BenAndBenMusic) December 2, 2021
This data is part of Spotify’s end-of-year campaign called Spotify Wrapped that is released every December.
It showed listeners and creators curated rundowns of their streaming experiences on the platform for the entire year.
As of writing the hashtag #SpotifyWrapped is among the top trending topics on Twitter Philippines with over 447,000 tweets.
Prior to this, Ben&Ben also swept top prizes at the Awit Awards ceremony, a prestigious music awards show in the country given by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI).
The group won the following awards:
- Record of the Year and Best Inspirational Recording for their track “Di Ka Sayang”
- Best Ballad Recording for their track “Sa Susunod na Habang Buhay”
- Most streamed artist
Ben&Ben also thanked their fans for these awards. They expressed their gratitude in a heart-tugging letter they posted on Twitter.
“Sulit lahat ng dugo’t pawis naming dito, Liwanag dahil para sa’min, kayo ang aming dahilan. Patuloy kaming magsusulat ng mga awiting mula sa buhay naming, para samahan kayo sa iba’t iba mong karanasan sa buhay,” they said.
“Kayo ang aming Liwanag, We’re with you in your journey, in your failures, and in your successes,” they added.
Long post, but please read! Para sa’yo to. pic.twitter.com/QcwtY5l21F
— Ben&Ben (@BenAndBenMusic) November 29, 2021
‘Sacrifices were worth it’
In a separate statement, Ben&Ben shared that they made a lot of sacrifices in their lives this year that were worth it because of their fans.
“With everything happening and all the blessings coming our way, it’s a whole lot to be grateful for indeed. The hard work is worth it in that sense for sure, but we do go through our fair share of personal struggles as well, especially with this year and even the past year being two of the absolute most challenging years so far, not just for us but for so many in the world too,” the band said.
“We want to thank our listeners especially though, because they really were the ones that give us that daily reminder that it is all worth it,” they added.
Aside from these achievements, Ben&Ben also recently made headlines for their advocacy work with coastal communities in La Union.
Their song “Kayumanggi” was used for a video campaign that showcased the communities of Bangar and Bauang and San Juan.
The project was helmed by Emerging Islands, a coastal-based arts organization and National Geographic.
Moreover, Jollibee’s new film commercial “One True Pair,” a John Lloyd Cruz-Bea Alonzo reunion project, also featured their chart-topping ballad “Pasalubong.”
“Kayumanggi” and “Pasalubong” are songs from their latest album “Pebble House Vol. 1: Kuwaderno” that was released last August.
Ben&Ben are set to hold a concert at SMART Araneta Coliseum that will be streamed on digital streaming platform, KTX.ph on December 5.
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