On February 23rd, more than 70 million songs, 2.2 million podcast titles, and over 4 billion playlists became officially available to Spotify listeners in Nigeria for free. Spotify launched with a tailored music experience for Africa with more than 100 expertly curated playlists across some of the most popular genres in the continent. But what got the fans listening?
The first 30 days demonstrated how much Nigerian listeners love their home-grown artists.
Four out of the top five most-streamed artists are from Nigeria. Topping the list are the country’s beloved superstars: WizKid, Burna Boy, DaVido, and Rema.
Local hits are also resonating the most with Nigerian listeners. The most-streamed track in Nigeria over the past month is “Bounce” by Rema, followed by Wizkid and Burna Boy’s “Ginger” and DaVido and Teni’s “FOR YOU”.
With a strong appetite for local sounds, it comes as no surprise that Hot Hits Naija is one of the top-streamed playlists among users. Spotify’s ‘Africa to the world’ playlist African Heat comes in second reflecting listeners’ keenness to discover music from all over the continent.
Podcast listening may be a relatively new trend in Nigeria, but it is fast gaining momentum among Nigerians. In the last month, the most popular podcast on Spotify was “I Said What I Said,” with “Kwality Kontent” coming in second. “TED Talks Daily” came in third, followed by “Articulate One” and “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah: Ears Edition” in fourth and fifth positions respectively.
Residents of Lagos, Suleja, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Benin City account for the most Spotify streams in Nigeria.
Spotify has over 70 million songs in its catalogue with over four billion playlists available. It also boasts of over 345 million monthly active users and over 155 million subscription users. Spotify is available across 178 markets globally.
