The result of Afrobeats crossing its West African borders has not only impacted music, but it has also been a vehicle for food, dance, and language export. This cultural exportation currently taking place thanks to Afrobeats’ prevalence in mainstream global media is the focus of this week’s update to Spotify’s Afrobeats: Journey of a Billion Streams site.
Launched by Spotify last month to chronicle Afrobeats’ growth from West Africa to the global stages, the site has so far journeyed through Afrobeats origins in Ghana and Nigeria, the evolution into the current sound and its fusion with other genres.
New this week
Afrobeats surge in popularity can be linked to several factors including international collaborations, the power of social media, the rise in music streaming, and the African diaspora. According to Spotify-commissioned research conducted by Kuvora, 28% of fans believe that international collaborations are one of the key factors driving the growth of Afrobeats.
The findings from the research and a deep-dive article into Afrobeats as a tool for cultural export are included in this week’s site update. The experts are back, sharing insights into the globalisation of Afrobeats. This week’s videos feature:
- Benewaah Boateng, Spotify’s West Africa Editor
- Efya, a Ghanaian artist
- Seyi Shay, a Nigerian singer and songwriter
- Kofi Bansah, a Ghanaian music producer
- Obi Asika, CEO of Storm Records, one of Nigeria’s pioneer music labels
- May7ven, a UK based Afrobeats artist and pioneer
Ghana has seen a 181% yearly growth in Afrobeats streams since Spotify launched in the region. In Accra, the top streamed Afrobeats songs are:
- Ruger – Asiwaju
- Omah Lay – soso
- Young Jonn – Xtra Cool
- Ayra Starr – Rush
- Asake, Fireboy DML – Bandana
Other data updates
The updates also include new data on:
- Top exported Afrobeats albums
- Top exported Afrobeats artists
- Top exported Afrobeats tracks
- Top exported female Afrobeats tracks
“Afrobeats’ journey has been fascinating to watch, the export story we have seen with the genre has been so encouraging from Mexico to Saudi Arabia – African music is reaching new audiences. We know Afrobeats is going to continue shattering even more ceilings and we are so excited to see how this genre has taken African culture to the world,” says Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, Spotify’s Managing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa
Cultural Export is currently live on afrobeats.byspotify.com.
About Spotify
Spotify transformed music listening forever when we launched in 2008. Our mission is to unlock the potential of human creativity by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by these creators. Everything we do is driven by our love for music and podcasts. Discover, manage, and share over 100 million tracks, including more than 5 million podcast titles, for free, or upgrade to Spotify Premium to access exclusive features for music including improved sound quality and an on-demand, offline, and ad-free music listening experience. Today, we are the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with a community of 551 million users, including 220 million Spotify Premium subscribers, in over 180 markets.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/