Spotify's Afrobeats site gets new updates

The ‘Afrobeats: Journey of a Billion Streams’ online hub follows the genre's growth, which has increased by 550% since 2017, and was streamed more than 13 billion times on Spotify in 2022.

The latest development arrives on the heels of the June launch of the platform, and a celebration of the genre’s crossing 15.3 billion streams in Lagos, Nigeria in October.

The new update includes details about the most streamed Afrobeats tracks, albums and artists in 2023, and the company says the new content will augment already available information on the site about the genre’s beginnings, evolution, fusion of styles, cultural impact, and highlights of notable women who have played influential roles within the genre.

“Afrobeats exponential growth and global acceptance are evident in its significant milestones,” a statement reads. “From Rema’s groundbreaking achievement of surpassing a billion streams on Spotify with his track ‘Calm Down’ featuring Selena Gomez, Afrobeats artists being nominated for and winning the prestigious Grammy awards, to other Afrobeats artists headlining their shows at iconic venues both home and abroad; the music genre is taking its position as a leading and globally celebrated cultural export from Africa.”

“The tenacity, musical prowess and accomplishments of Afrobeats artists brings pride to the African continent and is worthy of celebration,” Spotify managing director for sub-Saharan Africa Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy noted. “Spotify is delighted to spotlight Afrobeats artists who are breaking boundaries as catalysts of growth for the Afrobeats genre”.

The new updates showcase Davido as the most streamed Afrobeats artist in 2023. ‘Unavailable’, taken off the singer’s latest album Timeless, also claims the top spot of the most streamed Afrobeats tracks in 2023, while Rema’s Rave and Roses Ultra emerged as the most streamed Afrobeats album in 2023.

Spotify is currently the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with a community of 574 million users, including 226 million Spotify Premium subscribers, in over 180 markets. The platform also boasts over 100 million tracks.