Some voices don’t merely sing they inhabit a song so fully that you feel every word. Arijit Singh is a rare breed of artist.” For the next two decades, this unassuming man from Jiaganj in West Bengal went on to become the defining voice of a generation of Indian music. His Arijit Singh story is one of classical grounding, rejected reality-show dreams, years of grinding backstage and then a staggering pop ascendance that made him the most-followed artist on Spotify worldwide a bar no Indian, or indeed artist living, had crossed before.
In January 2026, he stunned the music industry by announcing the end of his Bollywood playback singing career. But even in the act of stepping away, he reminded the world that real artists do it on their own schedule.
Personal Details
| Full Name | Arijit Singh |
| Date of Birth | April 25, 1987 |
| Age (as of 2026) | 38 years |
| Birthplace | Jiaganj, Murshidabad, West Bengal, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Religion | Sikhism (father) / Hinduism (mother) raised in both traditions |
| Height | Approx. 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) |
| Profession | Singer, Music Producer, Former Playback Singer |
| Genres | Bollywood, Indian classical, Sufi, ghazal, folk, pop |
| Instruments | Tabla, harmonium, voice |
| Education | Raja Bijay Singh High School; Sripat Singh College (Kalyani University) |
| Debut | “Phir Mohabbat” Murder 2 (2011) |
Early Life and Background
Arijit Singh was born on April 25, 1987 in Jiaganj a small town in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. He grew up steeped in the multicultural: His father, Surinder Kakkar Singh, was a Punjabi Sikh whose family had moved from Lahore during the Partition; his mother, Aditi Singh, was a Bengali Hindu with deep connections to classical music.
Music was not something that Arijit was introduced to; it was in the air he breathed at home. His maternal grandmother was a singer, his maternal aunt was trained in Indian classical music, his uncle played the tabla and his mother sang as well as played that drum. This environment immersion meant that by the point his parents chose to train him formally, he already had a basis.
By the age of three, he was formally enrolled in training under the legendary Hazari brothers, three siblings who would influence different aspects of his musicianship. He studied Indian classical vocal music under Rajendra Prasad Hazari, tabla with Dhirendra Prasad Hazari and Rabindra Sangeet, Tagore’s lyrical tradition, with Birendra Prasad Hazari. Recognizing his exceptional talent, the Government of India granted him a scholarship for training in classical vocal music when he was nine years old.
He was educated at Raja Bijay Singh High School in Jiaganj and later attended Sripat Singh College, an affiliate of Kalyani University. He was a good student by his own admission who “cared more about music” and fortunately for him and us, his parents allowed music to take centre stage.
Arijit Singh Family and Personal Life
Despite his colossal fame, Arijit Singh has always been careful in protecting his personal life like he is with his music. He is not the type of star who seeks out the gossip columns.
He was married first to Ruprekha Banerjee, a fellow contestant on the Fame Gurukul reality show. The two became young newlyweds, but their marriage didn’t survive and they divorced after a few years.
In 2014, Arijit had married his childhood friend andrear neighbour from Jiaganj Koel Roy in a low-key traditional Bengali wedding at the Tarapith Temple in West Bengal. Koel was also married before and has a daughter from her first marriage, whom Arijit lovingly accepted as his own. The couple later had two sons together. The family of five alternates between Mumbai and Jiaganj, with the latter becoming Arijit’s preferred base over the past several years.
Koel Roy is not often in the public eye, but those who know the couple say she is the operational arm of Arijit’s touring and scheduling a quiet collaborator who doesn’t ever need to be in front of a microphone herself, instead keeping the machinery running while he funnels every ounce of his time into music. According to legend, Arijit proposed to Koel by singing the song “Tum Hi Ho” from Aashiqui 2 the same song that had recently made him a superstar.
Apart from music, Arijit is a badminton player, a writer, a “movie freak,” and a documentary maker. He enjoys Bengali food (it is said that hilsa fish (Ilish Machh) is a favourite), and listens to the music of Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar (his idol), Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhosle along with Coldplay. He has said he’d like to work with Norah Jones someday.
Career Journey
The Reality Show Years (2005–2010)
In 2005, following his guru Rajendra Prasad Hazari’s suggestion, a teenage Arijit Singh auditioned for Fame Gurukul one of the first Indian televised singing competition. He did not win. The show ended, and like dozens of contestants before him, he appeared to be doomed to vanish.
But Arijit would not go home. He remained in Mumbai and started working as an assistant with genial music composer Pritam Chakraborty programming beats, arranging tracks and everything but singing before the microphone. These were his real music school years, mostly unseen by the world. He learned the craft of film composition from the inside out, how songs are constructed, how a voice can serve a story and that patience is not a passive virtue
Breakthrough: Murder 2 and the Aashiqui Effect (2011–2013)
Arijit made his in Bollywood in 2011 with “Phir Mohabbat” for the movie Murder 2. It was a promising but quiet debut. The real tremor came in 2013.
India music changed in an instant when “Tum Hi Ho” from Aashiqui 2 released. The song expressed the ache of love with a simplicity and rawness that felt entirely fresh. It turned Arijit into a household name within weeks, earned him his first Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer, and kicked off a winning streak that would stretch over a decade.
The Golden Run (2014–2025)
What he got was one of the most dominant runs any singer has had in Bollywood history. Arijit became the voice of choice for romantic cinema, from Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s epics to indie films. A partial list of his hallmark songs includes:
- “Channa Mereya” Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016)
- “Agar Tum Saath Ho” Tamasha (2015)
- “Binte Dil” Padmaavat (2018) National Film Award
- “Shayad” Love Aaj Kal (2020)
- “Kesariya” Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva (2022) National Film Award
- “O Maahi” Dunki (2023)
- “Gehra Hua” Dhurandhar (2025) his last playback song
He also became, simultaneously on that platform and held onto it for an astonishing seven years-straight, between 2019 to 2025: the most-streamed Indian artist on Spotify. In 2024, he surpassed Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran to become the most-followed artist worldwide on Spotify.
Major Achievements and Records
- Most followed artist in the world on Spotify 174.9 million followers (February 2026)
- 7 successive years (2019–2025), most streamed Indian artist on Spotify
- Two National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer “Binte Dil” (2018); “Kesariya” (2022)
- Eight Filmfare Awards for Best Male Playback Singer joint with his icon Kishore Kumar
- The Fourth Highest Civilian Honour Padma Shri conferred by the Government of India in 2025
- An estimated 30+ awards from over 52 nominations in the RMIM Puraskaar alone
- 4 wins from 9 nominations at Screen Awards
- 3 Filmfare Awards Bangla for Best Male Playback Singer out of 12 nominations
- 1st Indian artist to reach 100 million Spotify followers
- With reported individual concert fee of ₹10–14 crore per show, holds the highest number in the list of all Indian singers
Awards and Honours: A Summary
| Award | Times Won | Notable Song |
| National Film Award – Best Male Playback | 2 | Binte Dil / Kesariya |
| Filmfare Award – Best Male Playback | 8 | Tum Hi Ho / Kesariya |
| Padma Shri (Govt. of India) | 1 | Lifetime contribution – 2025 |
| Screen Award – Best Male Playback | 4 | Multiple |
| RMIM Puraskaar | 30+ | Multiple |
| Filmfare Awards Bangla | 3 | Multiple |
Arijit Singh Net Worth and Income Sources
The financial tale of Arijit Singh is as unique as his voice. And while most celebrities have wealth spread across numerous unrelated ventures, the vast majority of Arijit’s fortune comes from music making him one of the most actual and sustainable portfolios in Indian entertainment.
Various financial estimates suggest that as of 2026, his net worth ranged between ₹410 crore and ₹420 crore (approx USD 50 million). His primary income streams include:
- Playback Singing: Allegedly charges ₨8–15 lakh per Bollywood song
- Live Concerts: ₹10–14 crore a show abroad; individual domestic premium shows have seen lounge tickets go for ₹16 lakh
- Streaming Royalties: Ongoing residual passive income from Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and JioSaavn for a catalog of thousands of songs
- Music Production: Has a recording studio and production facility in Mumbai
- Real estate: Residential property in Navi Mumbai worth around ₹8 crore; primary residence in Mumbai worth around ₹53 crore
- International Tours: Consistent tours in US, UK, UAE and Europe for the South Asian diaspora
Amazingly, Arijit has been known to sometimes donate his singing fees for projects he has an artistic stake in debut composers or directors whose work he wishes to endorse. It is a generosity that has quietly created huge goodwill throughout the industry.
Brand Endorsements
Arijit Singh’s e-for-endorsing life is no different from his aesthetics, highly selective, deliberate and authenticity first. He does not go after brand deals willy-nilly. His portfolio, perhaps not as deep as some peers in the space, consists largely of partnerships with brands that represent who he is as a musician music streaming services and consumer electronics brands.
He has worked with Spotify on multiple features for campaigns and served as the face for a few music-themed digital campaigns in India. Working with the international electronic DJ Martin Garrix on the track “Weightless” and Angels for Each Other in 2025 opened a new wave of thespian brand visibility that had never existed before.
His concert globetrotting was sold as a premium, stadium-scale experience-to itself a branding exercise which brings six-figure ticket prices on international markets.
Arijit Singh Social Media
Arijit Singh, notoriously minimal on social media, has found an unusual form of containment that has settled into part of his image. He has spoken publicly about how he uses social media only little, does not read comments and has his team sift through communications. This is not aloofness this is purposeful protection of creativity.
If he does post, it is meaningful. His retirement announcement on January 27, 2026 posted at 9:20 PM on Instagram shattered comment sections, trended worldwide on X (once Twitter), and earned more media hits than most PR campaigns. His scarcity online renders each post a kind of occasion.
- Instagram: @arijitsingh
- Twitter/X: @arijitsingh
- Youtube: @Official_ArijitSingh
- Spotify : Arijit Singh
But his YouTube channel and Spotify artist page are permanently buzzing with new releases, live-performance excerpts and collaborations. Every new track is a global event, thanks to his Spotify following count of 174.9 million (as of early 2026). He is also followed by millions on Instagram and YouTube.
Latest News and Recent Updates (2026)
- Retirement from Playback Singing (27 January 2026): Arijit announced via Instagram that he was retiring from Bollywood playback singing. His statement cited various reasons, calling it a decision he had long considered. He specified that he would keep creating independent music and doing live events.
- His last playback track, Gehra Hua from the film Dhurandhar (2025), was universally considered a fit last hurrah: an emotionally layered number that had everything aligned with what made him the voice of his time.
- The Voice Returns to Stage: Just after the retirement announcement, Arijit took the stage at a concert in Kolkata and shared it with sitar legend Anoushka Shankar in his first live show post-retirement a moment that reaffirmed that voice has not gone silent, only taken another path.
- Global Collaboration: His 2025 project with Martin Garrix not only reached international charts but also marked a new chapter of cross-genre, cross-cultural music for Arijit.
- Padma Shri (2025): Honour of in 2023, the Puneeth was for service | Conferred by President Droupadi Murmu the finally Indian of to arts.
Interesting Facts
- Trained starting 3: Most people do music lessons at 6 or 7. Arijit started formal classical training as a child of three, under the instruction of the Hazari brothers an early start even by Indian classical standards.
- Government scholarship at 9: The Indian government recognised his talent and granted him a scholarship to learn classical vocals when he was only nine.
- He worked in the shadows first: Arijit’s big break may have come as a vocalists, but he spent years before that behind the scenes music programming and arranging for Pritam invisible work that became the template for everything after.
- He allegedly sang ‘Tum Hi Ho’ when he proposed: In what has become a ubiquitous detail of this story, Arijit allegedly proposed to Koel Roy with the song that made him a superstar in the first place bringing their respective roles in the arrangement full circle.
- However, Arijit also adopted his stepdaughter from Koel’s first marriage and both of them raise her as their own child.
- He shuns the limelight: The world’s most-followed artist on Spotify, Arijit travels and behaves like a normal person; rarely attends parties; has never appeared as a judge on an A-list celebrity reality show an astonishing feat in this age of televised singing coach.
- He adored KK: In a 2013 interview, he said that his favourite singer was Krishnakumar Kunnath (KK). The two grew close, and KK’s abrupt death in 2022 had a profound impact on him.
- Multi-instrumentalist: In addition to his voice, Arijit is trained in tabla and harmonium, making him a classical idiom complete musician not only a vocalist.
FAQs
Q1. When was Arijit Singh born and where?
Arijit Singh was born on April 25, 1987, in Jiaganj, Murshidabad district, West Bengal, India.
Q2. Why did Arijit Singh retire from playback singing?
On January 27, 2026, Arijit announced his retirement from Bollywood playback singing on Instagram, stating there were multiple factors he had been contemplating for a long time. He clarified he is not retiring from music altogether and will continue making independent music and performing live concerts.
Q3. Who is Arijit Singh’s wife?
Arijit Singh is married to Koel Roy, his childhood friend and neighbour from Jiaganj. They married on January 21, 2014, in a traditional Bengali ceremony at Tarapith Temple. Koel had a daughter from a previous marriage, whom Arijit adopted. They have two sons together. Arijit’s first marriage was to singer Ruprekha Banerjee, a fellow Fame Gurukul contestant.
Q4. What is Arijit Singh’s net worth in 2026?
Arijit Singh’s net worth in 2026 is estimated at approximately ₹410–420 crore (around USD 50 million). His wealth comes primarily from Bollywood playback singing, live concerts (where he commands ₹10–14 crore per show), streaming royalties, music production, and real estate.
Q5. What awards has Arijit Singh won?
Arijit Singh has won 2 National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer, 8 Filmfare Awards for Best Male Playback Singer (matching Kishore Kumar’s record), 4 Screen Awards, and was conferred the Padma Shri one of India’s highest civilian honours in 2025. He has over 30 wins at the RMIM Puraskaar alone.
Q6. What is Arijit Singh’s most famous song?
“Tum Hi Ho” from Aashiqui 2 (2013) is widely considered his breakthrough anthem. Other iconic tracks include “Channa Mereya,” “Kesariya,” “Agar Tum Saath Ho,” “Binte Dil,” and “O Maahi.” Spotify data shows “Kesariya” and “Agar Tum Saath Ho” among his most-streamed songs globally.
Q7. Is Arijit Singh the most followed artist on Spotify?
Yes. As of February 2026, Arijit Singh became the most-followed artist globally on Spotify with over 174.9 million followers, surpassing international artists including Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. Spotify also named him the most-streamed Indian artist for seven consecutive years (2019–2025).
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