In 2024, Nigerian music didn’t just dominate playlists; it dominated bank accounts. Spotify announced that Nigerian artists collectively earned more than ₦58 billion ($38 million) in royalties from the platform last year. This is double what they made in 2023 and nearly five times the 2022 figure.
For an industry once plagued by piracy and poor royalty tracking, this was a seismic shift. Afrobeats wasn’t just global in sound; it was global in earnings.
But here’s the kicker: the story didn’t end in 2024. If anything, that ₦58 billion was just a down payment. Early 2025 data reveals the wave is still climbing, powered by streaming figures that position Nigerian stars as some of the most influential artists in the world today.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Spotify’s 2024 report was a revelation: Nigerian artists had become a global economic force. From stadium tours in Europe and North America to crossover collaborations with Drake, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and even Ed Sheeran, Afrobeats was not just riding the wave of pop culture, it was steering it.
The royalties reflected this momentum. According to Spotify, Nigerian acts collectively took home over ₦58 billion in 2024 alone. For perspective, in 2022, the total was around ₦12 billion. In two years, Nigerian music’s share of Spotify payouts had multiplied nearly fivefold.
This wasn’t just about global icons like Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Davido. The money trickled down to newer stars like Ayra Starr, Asake, and Omah Lay. This is proof that streaming had begun to democratize music earnings in a way the old CD-and-piracy era never allowed.
But the Boom Isn’t Slowing Down
Even as Spotify confirmed record payouts for 2024, 2025 has already smashed expectations.
- Rema stormed into the year as Nigeria’s most-streamed act globally, racking up 223 million Spotify streams in Q1 . His catalogue, led by “Calm Down” and the breakout 2025 single “Baby (Is It a Crime),” continues to dominate across continents.
- Burna Boy followed closely with 171 million streams, while Ayra Starr, once called “the princess of Afrobeats”, cemented her global rise with 169 million streams in the same period.
- Davido (113M) and Wizkid (102M) rounded out the top five, proving that the veterans of Afrobeats are still commanding global attention.
- At the song level, Rema’s “Baby (Is It a Crime)” has already crossed 50 million Spotify streams, making it the most streamed Nigerian song of 2025 to date.
- In May 2025 alone, the top 10 Nigerian songs collectively drew 316 million Spotify streams, underscoring how Afrobeats is no longer a niche but a central sound in global pop.
This simply means that the 2024 payout milestone wasn’t a peak, it was a foundation. The Nigerian music economy is still expanding, and 2025 looks set to be even bigger.
The Afrobeats Export Economy
The growth is tied to Afrobeats’ expanding cultural footprint. In 2024 alone:
• Burna Boy sold out stadiums in London, New York, and Paris.
• Wizkid headlined international festivals alongside the likes of Travis Scott and The Weeknd.
• Ayra Starr and Tems became fixtures on Billboard charts and Grammy stages.
• Rema’s “Calm Down” surpassed 1.5 billion Spotify streams, making it one of the most streamed Afrobeats songs of all time.
Streaming payouts, in other words, aren’t just number, they reflect an export economy, where Nigerian music is one of the country’s biggest cultural exports.
Winners of the Wave
Spotify doesn’t disclose individual artist earnings, but the streaming numbers tell their own story.
• Rema is the breakout star, moving from promising newcomer to global hitmaker.
• Burna Boy has positioned himself as the genre’s global ambassador, consistently touring and collaborating across continents.
• Wizkid and Davido remain powerhouses, balancing their legacy status with new hits that keep them on charts.
• Ayra Starr and Tems are rewriting the role of women in Afrobeats, dominating a space once thought to be male-dominated.
Together, they show how broad and multi-layered Nigerian music’s global dominance has become.
The Streaming Question
But the boom raises a critical issue: dependence on foreign platforms. Spotify’s payouts are transformative, but they also highlight the lack of a Nigerian-owned streaming platform with comparable reach. Boomplay, Audiomack, and Apple Music remain key players, but Spotify’s dominance suggests that much of Afrobeats’ wealth is tied to a non-African ecosystem.
While some argue this is a risk, others see it as inevitable globalization, with the upside being visibility and income that Nigerian artists could never have dreamed of in the CD era.
Beyond the Numbers: A Cultural Moment
What makes this wave special is not just the money but the cultural pride. Nigerian fans see themselves reflected on global stages. From TikTok dance challenges to Vogue photo spreads, Afrobeats isn’t just heard, it’s seen, styled, and lived.
And that cultural pride feeds back into the economy. Every sold-out Burna Boy stadium, every Wizkid Grammy nod, every Ayra Starr magazine cover adds another layer of visibility that translates into streams and, as Spotify’s 2024 report showed, serious money.
Conclusion:
Spotify’s ₦58 billion payout in 2024 was historic. But the real story is unfolding now, in 2025, as Nigerian artists continue to climb even higher.
Rema’s 223 million streams in Q1, Ayra Starr’s meteoric rise, Burna Boy’s stadium tours, and Wizkid and Davido’s enduring dominance all suggest one thing. It’s simply that Afrobeats is no longer an underdog story. It’s the sound of the present and, increasingly, the sound of the future.
