Tanzania: Vanessa Mdee album tops Boomplay

The news was announced yesterday by Boomplay Tanzania, which posted a congratulatory message to the singer on its Instagram page.

“Congratulations to Vanessa Mdee for having the most listened to and sold album in the whole African continent,” the post read. “To all her fans that made it happen, congratulations and let’s keep supporting Money Mondays every day.”

The album showed great potential from the onset when it sold 2 000 pre-ordered copies 10 days before the official release date of 29 January.

Mdee joins a number of Tanzanian artists whose music has garnered regional and international recognition on streaming platforms. A notable example is Ali Kiba who was awarded by his label Sony Music Africa last year, after ‘Aje’ hit 5 million views on YouTube. The song received 1.5 million views in the first three weeks of its release in May 2016.

The singer got yet another standing ovation in August 2017, when ‘Seduce Me’ hit 1 million views 38 hours after it was uploaded on YouTube. ‘Mvumo Wa Radi’, which he released six days ago, has received 1.4 million views on YouTube to date.

This can be attributed to the fact that mobile music consumption has been on a steady rise in Tanzania, with operators in the country accelerating investments in data network expansion to meet user demand.

This is according to a 2017 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report on the entertainment and media industries in Kenya, Nigerian, South African, Ghana and Tanzania.

Additionally, the report says that mobile phones will dominate the Tanzanian market over the next five years, which means that mobile music revenue will rise for artists and labels alike.

To download Money Mondays click here.