#Other countries : Concerts on the biggest stages in the world, international awards, streaming records … We are witnessing a tsunami of African music all over the world. Here are the top 20 African musicians, according to Forbes Africa.
There are countless world stars who have been inspired by African rhythms to produce hits that monopolize the top of the charts (even in South Korea!) Or who make irresistible featuring with their African colleagues. Chris Brown, Drake, Beyoncé, Selena Gomez or Ed Sheeran won’t say otherwise.
>>> READ ALSO: Forbes Africa: here are the 30 most influential Africans under 30 this year
Of course, seeing African artists achieve world fame is nothing new. Megastar, Africa has always had them, like Angélique Kidjo, Cesaria Evora, Alpha Blondy, Cheb Khaled, Oumou Sangaré, Miriam Makeba, Fela Kuti, and the list is long. But today we are witnessing what could be called a “new wave”, which weighs with all its weight on the world stage.
This trend is facilitated by the development of social networks – Tik Tok, Facebook, etc. – and streaming apps like YouTube, Spotify, Deezers, and others.
However, some artists are ahead of this foray of African music on the world stage. Forbes Africa has recently compiled a list, but without ranking them, of the 20 most important African artists currently. DJs, singers, composers… They were chosen for “their opinions” on the industry and “the thousand ways” in which they contributed to the development of the continent.
Here are the 20 best African musicians from Forbes Africa:
Angelique Kidjo (Benin)
Monthly Spotify Listeners: 505K
Average total YouTube views: 21 million
Followers
Instagram: 465K
Twitter: 96.7K
Facebook: 2.4 million
TikTok: 37.4K
Tiwa Savage (Nigeria)
Monthly plays on Spotify: 1.2 million
Average total YouTube views: 382 million
Followers
Instagram: 15.3 million
Twitter: 5.3 million
Facebook: 7 million
TikTok: 1.8 million
David (Nigeria)
Monthly plays on Spotify: 5.3 million
Average total YouTube views: 1.1 billion
Followers
Instagram: 24.6 million
Twitter: 11.8 million
Facebook: 4.3 million
TikTok: 933.3K
Master KG (South Africa)
Spotify monthly plays: 3.8 million
Average total YouTube views: 130 million
Followers
Instagram: 2.1 million
Twitter: 338.1K
Facebook: 3.6 million
TikTok: 198.9K
Major League DJz (South Africa)
Average total YouTube views: 325,000
Total average YouTube views: 131 million
Followers
Instagram: 1.7 million
Twitter: 365.5K
Facebook: 3.2 million
TikTok: 219.5K
Nasty C (South Africa)
Monthly Spotify Listeners: 610K
Average total YouTube views: 146 million
Followers
Instagram: 3.8 million
Twitter: 2 million
Facebook: 3.7 million
TikTok: 579.5K
Yvonne Chaka Chaka (South Africa)
Monthly Spotify Listeners: 35K
Followers
Instagram: 129K
Twitter: 67.6K
Facebook: 460K
WizKid (Nigeria)
Monthly plays on Spotify: 8.7 million
Average total YouTube views: 1.3 billion
Followers
Instagram: 14.9 million
Twitter: 10.3 million
Facebook: 7.2 million
TikTok: 198.9K
KDDO (Nigeria)
Monthly Spotify Listeners: 101K
Average total YouTube views: 1.9 million
Followers
Instagram: 353K
Twitter: 33.6K
Facebook: 340K
Burna Boy (Nigeria)
Monthly plays on Spotify: 11 million
Average total YouTube views: 1.3 billion
Followers
Instagram: 10.7 million
Twitter: 6.9 million
Facebook: 6.6 million
TikTok: 1.2 million
Ravanny (Tanzania)
Monthly Spotify Listeners: 481K
Average total YouTube views: 772 million
Followers
Instagram: 8.1 million
Twitter: 138.1K
Facebook: 2.2 million
TikTok: 381.2K
Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania)
Monthly Spotify Listeners: 845K
Average total YouTube views: 1.8 billion
Followers
Instagram: 14.9 million
Twitter: 1.2 million
Facebook: 6.8 million
TikTok: 1.4 million
Fally Ipupa (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Monthly Spotify Listeners: 580K
Average total YouTube views: 1.1 billion
Followers
Instagram: 4.5 million
Twitter: 1.1 million
Facebook: 8.1 million
TikTok: 807.9K
DJ Maphorisa (South Africa)
Monthly plays on Spotify: 1 million
Average total YouTube views: 114 million
Followers
Instagram: 2.6 million
Twitter: 1.6 million
Facebook: 4.2 million
TikTok: 961.9K
Lira (South Africa)
Monthly Spotify Listeners: 54K
Average total YouTube views: 6 million
Followers
Instagram: 337K
Twitter: 502.9K
Facebook: 987K
TikTok: 54.1K
Mr. Eazi (Nigeria)
Spotify monthly plays: 5.1 million
Average total YouTube views: 433 million
Followers
Instagram: 4 million
Twitter: 2.9 million
Facebook: 1.9 million
TikTok: 284.1K
2face Idibia (Nigeria)
Spotify monthly listeners: 282 million
Average total YouTube views: 122 million
Followers
Instagram: 7.6 million
Twitter: 3.2 million
Facebook: 2.7 million
Cassper Nyovest (South Africa)
Monthly Spotify Listeners: 234K
Average total YouTube views: 60 million
Followers
Instagram: 5.6 million
Twitter: 3.9 million
Facebook: 6.2 million
TikTok: 1.1 million
Lebo M (South Africa)
Monthly streams on Spotify: 2.1 million
Average total YouTube views: 8.6 million
Followers
Instagram: 24.2K
Twitter: 7K
Black coffee (South Africa)
Monthly plays on Spotify: 1.4 million
Average total YouTube views: 35 million
Followers
Instagram: 3.3 million
Twitter: 4.7 million
Facebook: 29 million
TikTok: 14.6K
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