Ahead of Africa Day Spotify took a look at the top streamed artists globally from the African continent. With fans from London to Paris and Amsterdam to Sydney streaming their music via Spotify, it’s not surprising that popular Nigerian singer and songwriter, Burna Boy, takes the top spot.
Africa’s diverse music landscape with its distinctive genres continues to give rise to musical collaborations both on the continent and abroad. Burna Boy has used his particular sound to drive successful collabs including ‘Loved By You (feat. Burna Boy)’ with Justin Bieber and ‘Location (feat. Burna Boy)’ with British rapper Dave. Over the past 90 days (March – May 2021), ‘Loved By You (feat. Burna Boy)’ has amassed over 31 million streams, globally.
Similarly, the phenomenal global success of Master KG’s hit Jerusalema (feat. Nomcebo Zikode), which led to an Afrobeats inspired remix featuring Burna Boy, garnered over 43 million streams, globally over the last 90 days (March – May 2021). African artists are not just featuring on the global stage they are owning it.
Spotify continues to drive initiatives that support African creators including, promoting key curated, flagship playlists such as African Heat, AmaPiano Grooves, RADAR Africa, and most recently, Gengetone Fire, which has driven further discovery and celebration of African influence. Spotify also houses the Afrohub platform that promotes and brings to the surface culturally diverse music to users around the world.
Additionally, kicking off on 24 May and running during the week of Africa Day, there will be an African takeover of Spotify’s Global X playlist. The playlist will spotlight Africa’s biggest artists across regions and on each day, the playlist cover will be dedicated to artists including Lady Du (SA), DaVido (NG), Sarkodie (GH), Sauti Sol (KE), ElGrandeToto (MR), Mohammed Ramadan (EG) and Diamond Platinumz (TZ). The Global X playlist is a key part of Spotify’s Global Cultures Initiative that promotes culturally diverse music from around the world.
The top streamed African artists globally (March – May 2021)
– Burna Boy
– Aya Nakamura
– Seether
– Wizkid
– Master KG
The top streamed tracks by African artists globally (March – May 2021)
– ‘Copines’ – Aya Nakamura
– ‘Loved By You (feat. Burna Boy)’ – Burna Boy, Justin Bieber
– ‘Jerusalema (feat. Nomcebo Zikode)’ – Master KG
– ‘Location (feat. Burna Boy)’ – Burna Boy, Dave
– ‘Djadja (feat. Maluma)’ – Remix – Aya Nakamura, Maluma
The top streamed South African artists outside of South Africa (March – May 2021)
– Seether
– Master KG
– Die Antwoord
– Lebo.M
– WizTheMc
– GoldFish
– Alice Phoebe Lou
– Jeremy Loops
– Saudi
– Matthew Mole
The top streamed tracks by South African artists outside of South Africa (March – May 2021)
– Jerusalema (feat. Nomcebo Zikode) – Master KG
– Fake It – Seether
– Broken – Seether
– Remedy – Seether
– For A Minute – WizTheMc
– Circle of Life – From “The Lion King”/ Soundtrack – Lebo M.
– Jerusalema (feat. Nomcebo Zikode) (Edit) – Master KG
– Fine Again – Seether
– Careless Whisper – Seether
– Jerusalema (feat. Burna Boy & Nomcebo Zikode) (Remix) – Master KG
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