20Nigerian and South African artists earned a fortune from Audio streaming giant Spotify’s royalty payments to artists in 2024, with payments hitting around $59 million.
Artists from both countries which is Spotify’s two biggest African markets rode a wave of growing interest in music from the continent spurred on in part by internationally recognised acts like South African singer Tyla and Nigeria’s Burna Boy.
In 2024, around 250 million user-created playlists featured at least one Nigerian artist, and 220 million contained a South African.
According to Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, Spotify’s managing director for Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigerian artists received over 58 billion Nigerian naira ($38 million) in royalties 2024, more than double the 2023 figure while royalties for South African artistes reached 400 million rand ($21 million), up 54% from 2023.
Much of that figure came from outside their home markets with Nigerian artists having seen a 49% increase in export growth over the past three years, while South Africa saw export growth of 104%.
The number of Nigerian artists earning 10 million Naira from Spotify also doubled in 2024 and has tripled since 2022 while in South Africa, the number of those earning between 100,000 and 500,000 rand has doubled over the past three years.
This is the testament of the growth of Afrobeats on the global stage and the increasing allure for African artistes globally.