Spotify Launches Afrobeats Hub To Celebrate the Genre’s Global Rise 

Spotify has announced the introduction of Afrobeats: Journey of a Billion Streams, a dedicated site that will follow everything connected to West Africa’s fast-growing genre.

By Omotayo Olutekunbi

Afrobeats is one of Africa’s most popular musical exports, presently sweeping the globe. The genre has risen by 550% on Spotify since 2017, and it was played more than 13 billion times in 2022, with its major performers continuing to achieve massive milestones on the world music scene, including live events, awards, and streaming.

From its beginnings in Ghana to its popularity in Nigeria, its fusion with various genres, and how it has become one of the continent’s most important cultural exports.

The site will serve as an archive for this cultural phenomenon, holding text, infographics, and visual features such as Spotify streaming statistics and poll findings from the April 2023 Afrobeats study commissioned by Spotify. The poll, performed by the research organization Kuvora, follows the growth of Afrobeats and its cultural effect over many decades.

The site will be updated fortnightly for the next eight weeks, but it will continue to be active as an always-on resource, with regular updates on new Afrobeats moments. It will also provide an interactive experience for fans to learn and engage with new Afrobeats information.

Afrobeats: Journey of a Billion Streams will be divided into five sections: Origins, which will look at the genres that influenced Afrobeats as we know it, such as Afrobeat, Highlife, and Juju, among others.

The second pillar will be Evolution and which industry figures contributed to the Afrobeats sound that the globe is obsessed with.

The third pillar will be the fusion of Afrobeats with genres such as Reggaeton, Amapiano, and others, as well as their effect on Afrobeats’ success story. The fourth pillar will be cultural exporting, particularly to nations outside of Africa, and Afrobeats’ participation in this via music, cuisine, language, and fashion perspectives.

The fifth pillar will spotlight some significant female characters whose contributions to the industry catapulted the genre to its present stature as a worldwide success.

The site will also include major Afrobeats timelines from the past, fascinating Spotify statistics, snippets from interviews with industry experts, and man-on-the-street films from key Sub-Saharan African markets.

Origins, the first installment of the Afrobeats adventure, is now available through the Spotify App and website.