Best African songs of 2019 – part 1

18 Dec 2019 - 10:49

Published under the Creative Commons Licence

In 2019, African artists continued to make major strides by signing big deals, winning top awards, releasing memorable hits and collaborating with renowned musicians around the world. A number of African musicians amassed millions of YouTube views and gained new international fans on streaming platforms, earning much needed exposure.

Burna Boy, Sho Madjozi, Sarkodie and Yemi Alade.

Like 2018, 2019 has been a great year for Africa artists in terms of collaborations, although divisions were seen after the September xenophobic attacks in South Africa, with a number of local and foreign musicians cancelling shows in the country and abroad.

Nonetheless, 2019, the final year of the decade, can still be marked down as a successful one, as the African music industry continued to gain momentum.

Music In Africa has complied a playlist of the top popular songs that defined the year. The below two-part playlist has been divided into Africa’s five geographic regions with the help of our regional editorial teams in Lagos, Dakar, Kinshasa, Nairobi and Johannesburg.

West Africa

West Africa still commands a huge following and influence on the continent, as well as in the US and Europe. The success of the region’s music has earned artists massive collaborations with some of the biggest names in the music industry. Nigeria’s Burna Boy is no doubt one of the artists who did exceptionally well in 2019. The 'African Giant' hitmaker won accolades at the BET Awards, Headies and MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) and Soundcity MVP Awards Festival. He was also nominated for a Grammy ahead of the 2020 awards ceremony in LA, alongside fellow African nominee Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo.

Joining our list is Ghanaian artist Stonebwoy, who won a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award in 2019. The reggae-dancehall act was victorious in the Best Male West Africa category at the African Muzik Magazine Awards (AFRIMMAs) in Dallas, Texas. In April, he inked a deal with Samsung Ghana.

Ghana’s Sarkodie took home the Best International Flow Award at the BET Hip Hop Awards, beating off competition from fellow Africans Nasty C (South Africa) and Falz (Nigeria). Yemi Alade (Nigeria) also made inroads when she signed a licensing deal with Universal Music Africa in September and was nominated in the African Influencer of the Year category at the E! People's Choice Awards in California.

Wizkid, Davido and Tiwa Savage also had a successful 2019 with the release of big hits. Davido did well on the collaborative front. His two hits, ‘Blow My Mind’ featuring Chris Brown and ‘Risky’ featuring Jamaica’s DJ Popcaan, were sitting on more than 34 and 9 million YouTube views respectively at the time of writing.

Not to be outdone, Wizkid became the first African artist to hit 8 million monthly streams on Spotify. The previous record was held by Congolese rapper and singer Maitre Gims, who had hit 7 million in one month. In addition, Wizkid collaborated with Beyoncé on ‘Brown Skin Girl’, which has also been nominated at the Grammys.

In May, Tiwa Savage signed a record deal with Universal Music Group (UMG) in California. Under the deal, Tiwa Savage’s music will be released internationally through UMG’s operations in more than 60 countries worldwide.

French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura has done outstandingly well with her 2019 hits songs ‘Pookie’, ‘The Dowry’ and ‘Soldier’, which amassed hundreds of millions of YouTube views. In October, she won the Best Female West Africa Award at the AFRIMMAs.

Togolese duo Toofan made their country proud when they earned a nomination at the 2019 MTV EMAs. Their hit single ‘OU LÉ’ is a favourite in Francophone Africa.

Senegalese singer Wally Seck and Ivory Coast’s Safarel Obiang also had a positive year with ‘Yobante’ and ‘Tchin Tchin’ respectively. Obiang also won the Primud d'Or in Ivory Coast.

Anybody by Burna Boy

Blow My Mind by Davido ft. Chris Brown

Risky by Davido ft. Popcaan

49-99 by Tiwa Savage

Low by Larry Gaaga ft. Wizkid

Southern Africa

As usual, South Africa tops the list of southern African artists whose music made waves in the region in 2019. South African rapper Sho Madjozi found global success with her hit song ‘John Cena’, which was inspired by the professional wrestler. In June, she took home two top awards: Artist of the Year and Female Artist of the Year at the South African Music Awards (SAMAs). That same month, she triumphed in the Best New International Act (Viewers' Choice) category at the 2019 BET Awards.

Also in South Africa, Samething Soweto was the first local artist to have concurrent No 1 releases on Apple Music's Singles and Album charts with a pre-add release. He reached the top of the two charts with the single 'Akulaleki’ and the Isphithiphithi album.

Amapiano music has brought new energy to South Africa’s music industry to define a sound that is influencing electronic genres around the world. New names such as Kabza De Small, Sha Sha, Semi Tee, De Mthuda and Gaba Cannal have emerged as the leaders of the scene, and the genre is moving fast to neighbouring countries such as Botswana and Zimbabwe. And South Africa’s house and gqom scenes are showing no sign of slowing down with massive hits coming from DJ Zinhle, Simmy, Heavy K, Ntombi and Moonchild Sanelly.

Apart from Nasty C’s BET Hip Hop Award nomination, Apple Music ranked the rapper among the South African artists whose music is getting the most streams on the platform. His song 'SMA' featuring Rowlene is so far the hip hop song with the most YouTube views in SA, and his Strings and Bling album came out on top in the Best Produced Album and Best Hip Hop Album categories at the 2019 SAMAs.

South African hip hop rivals AKA and Cassper Nyovest had their fair share of success this year. AKA won the Favourite South African Star gong at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in Los Angeles and his album Touch My Blood appeared on Apple Music’s Top Local Albums c hart for South Africa. Cassper Nyovest took home two awards at the SA Hip Hop Awards and triumphed in the Best New Age Kwaito Song category at the Mzansi Kwaito and House Music Awards.

Also doing well on the SA hip hop scene is Afrikaans rapper Biggy with hit track ‘Dames’, which went viral after its release in May and inspired a number of memes on social media.

In Zimbabwe, dancehall singer Winky D and Afropop artist Jah Prayzah released ‘MuGarden’ and ‘Kune Rima’ respectively, and sparked debate on social media with fans arguing about which track is the best. Winky D’s ‘MuGarden’ outdid Jah Prayzah’s ‘Kune Rima’ with more than 1.5 million YouTube views.

Other artists that released top music this year are Zambia’s Sampa the Great and B1.

Kona by Sho Madjozi