Shazam unveils Naija Risers playlist on Apple Music

Naija Risers, which can now be streamed on Apple Music here, comprises current popular songs on Shazam in Nigeria, including new releases and tracks featured in movies and TV shows. It will be updated with new music every week. In June, Shazam launched a similar playlist in South Africa called Mzansi Risers.

“Naija Risers compiles songs by Nigeria’s fast-emerging artists trending across the Shazam Charts,” a statement reads. “It offers a select mix of sounds that show what music aficionados have been actively discovering on Shazam, and reflect the energy and boundless spirit of Naija, from Afrobeats and Afropop through to alté and hip hop."

The current playlist features songs from artists such as producer Kiddominant and 2020 Big Brother Naija winner Laycon, as well as Omah Lay and Tems, both of whom have been featured on Apple Music’s Africa Rising artist discovery programme.

“As a new artist, my voice was unfamiliar, my name was unfamiliar,” Omah Lay said. “Shazam has been very instrumental to my career, and was the first real data I had that let me know people were checking me out."

Kiddominant said: “Afrobeats is becoming a global sound and Shazam has been a key tool to the discovery of our sound all over the world.”

Naija Risers is the second playlist launched on Apple Music Nigeria this month, after the platform introduced its Oshe Naija playlist, which was unveiled in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Independence Day in the country.

Launched in 2002, Shazam allows users to discover, interact with and share video or audio content on various devices by capturing short segments of music, movies, advertising and television shows. In 2018, the app was acquired by Apple for $400m. Shazam app has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times globally, with over 25 million Shazams daily.