In February 2021, music streaming platform, Spotify had made a major leap, expanding to several African countries such as Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire and Nigeria. This move had enabled Nigerian music lovers the ability to use the app without first making use of a VPN to mask their location and this also boosted the use of the app in the country, resulting in diversification of local streams and income for Nigerian musicians as well as more visibility worldwide. This recent presence however did not impede songs from these regions from reaching great heights as prior to that, Afrobeats had the watershed moment like Wizkid’s feature on One Dance, his Come Closer hit, Davido’s Fall and If global domination and more. Now in more recent times, as Afrobeats and Afrofusion progresses further, these milestones have become more common. Yet Spotify’s presence serves to further underscore the relevance of music streaming and offer options to a populace that mostly interacted with music through other means. As a result, in this list, we examine 8 African songs that have crossed over from being radio hits to streaming smashers, amassing 100 million and more streams on Spotify alone. Here are 8 African songs with a 100 million and more streams on Spotify:
African Songs with A 100M+ Spotify Streams;
1. CKay- Love Nwantiti, 333M+
CKay’s Love Nwantiti had blown up on the video creation and sharing app, TikTok, complete with a dance routine and took him from being a fast-rising Nigerian talent to a global star. This rise had been possible firstly due to the popularity of the video of the version with Kuami Eugene and Joeboy and then the dance trend involving the song had been huge and converted to insane numbers for the song itself, amassing a ground-shattering 15 billion views on the TikTok app and 333 million-plus streams on Spotify.
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2. Love Nwantiti remix ft DJ Yo! & AX'EL, 289m+
One crazy thing about CKay’s global breakout song is that there are at least 4 versions and they’re all doing mad numbers. A backstory to the success of the song is the fact that while Love Nwantiti was released in 2019, the slowed-down remix by Mauritius DJ Yo and AX’EL which was uploaded on TikTok in 2021 had been the first version of the song to blow up on the app. It had however not only been used by TikTokers on the app but eventually became the biggest song in the world according to Shazam’s 2021 Global charts and has amassed 289m plus streams on the Spotify platform.
African Songs with A 100M+ Spotify Streams;
3. Jerusalema- Master KG ft. Nomcebo Zikode, 266M+
Many times we hear about how good music defies barriers but there aren’t as many stellar examples as Master KG’s Jerusalema which was rendered fully in Zulu by fellow South African and vocalist, Nomcebo. The song had grown into such a global force the ensuing #JerusalemaDancechallenge had been jumped on by an Austrian airline even as the song grew to be the most Shazamed song in the last quarter of 2020.
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Jerusalema currently has 266million and more streams on Spotify alone.
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4. Burna Boy- On the Low 139m+
When Poco Lee said ‘Odogwu You Bad’ on Yaba Buluku, it wasn’t mere words as the African Giant has always proved to have all that it takes to be named thus. Till date, the effects of the song remain fresh and evergreen and if you use your social media a lot, you might have seen a recent video of two Asian men dancing to On the Low, reacting passionately to the feel of the Kel-P produced song, indicating the global heights its attained. Released in 2019, the feels it gives from the moment the beats start up and Burna Boy starts to croon over it, has granted the song a pathway to massive streams to the tune of 139m plus streams.
African Songs with A 100M+ Spotify Streams;
5. Amaarae- Sad Girlz Luv Money remix ft Kali Uchis & Moliy, 132 M+
Ghanaian, artiste, Amaarae had released Sad Girlz Love Money with her debut album, The Angel You Don’t Know in 2020, the album had gotten massive fan love as well as critical acclaim and Sad Girlz Love Money had been a party-starter favourite from the jump. Amaarae then took that party to the global level when she featured American singer, Kali Uchis on the remix. The remix soon blew on TikTok and now has 7m videos, it also blew up on global charts and has 132m plus streams on Spotify alone.
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6. Burna Boy- Ye 122m+
Ye makes the second Burna Boy song on the list and makes him the only African artiste to have two totally different songs above 100 million streams on Spotify, serving as a counterpoint to those who’d been of the opinion that the record had only blown up due to it coincidentally appearing like a song by Kanye West. Ye was released in 2018 and grew into a cultural anthem due to its message and melodies. The Burna Boy song now sits on 122 million and more views.
African Songs with A 100M+ Spotify Streams;
7. K'naan- Wavin’ Flag- Coca-cola Celebration Mix 109m+
In case you didn’t know, Wavin’ Flag is a song by Somali-Canadian artist K'naan from his album Troubadour, released in 2009. The song was originally written for Somalia and the aspirations of its people for freedom. It was a hit in Canada and reached #2 on the Canadian Hot 100 as the third official single from the album. It eventually had other versions but it became a truly global hit when it was chosen as Coca-Cola's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, hosted by South Africa. This version of Wavin’ Flag by K’naan currently sits at 109m plus streams on Spotify.
8. Wizkid- Come Closer ft Drake 109m+
Starboy Wizzy has been on a global level for several years but his single Come Closer which featured Drake set him fully apart and proved that he was a global star true and through as he’d had a brilliant run from Ojuelegba down to the remix, and then the world record winning One Dance which he’d been featured on before owning the world with Come Closer. The smash hit sits pretty at a 109 million plus streams on Spotify.
