Spotify Wrapped 2024: Women Shine Bright In Year Of Brilliant Beats

All hail, queens! Spotify Wrapped 2024 reveals its musical highlights with female trailblazers proving the power of women’s voices in Africa—and beyond.

 

Making way for Africa’s current and future stars

Artists, fans, and creators have ensured that 2024 goes down as a record-breaking, culture-making year with genres like Afrobeats and Amapiano lighting up Sub-Saharan stages and streaming, impacting international trends and inspiring rich cultural conversations.

 

“One of the year’s key developments is the star-studded success of female artists—women who break boundaries and support an increasingly inclusive and diverse future for African music,” says Phiona Okumu, Spotify’s Head of Music, Sub-Saharan Africa.

 

Female artists feel the love

When it comes to Sub-Saharan Africa’s most streamed female artists, there’s no overlooking the allure of Nigerian icons. Grammy-nominee Arya Starr blazed a celestial trail with her hit album, The Year I Turned 21, her worldwide tour, and her fearless red-carpet style.

 

Starr’s soulful Afropop meets R&B sound made her the most streamed female songstress in her home country as well as Ghana and Kenya. Ghanaians also loved their very own Gyakie, who was the 4th most streamed artist in her home country.

 

Tems took the second spot in Nigeria and Ghana and the fourth in Kenya. Nigeria not only produces but also supports talent. The country’s most streamed female artists after Arya Starr and Tems include Tiwa Savage, Bloody Civilian, and Spotify EQUAL artists Qing Madi, Simi, and Fave.

 

The EQUAL programme is a global initiative to drive equity and amplify the voices of women through global and local playlisting and off-platform promotion. 200 EQUAL ambassadors have been supported in the programme’s four-year span.

 

From Africa to the world

Female artists were essential to helping Afrobeats spread its reach in 2024. Among their achievements: multi-award winner Tems, who’s collaborated with Rihanna and Beyoncé, among others, performed at the Netherlands’ legendary North Sea Jazz Festival while her song Love Me Jeje ranked No. 20 on the Rolling Stone Top 100 Song List for 2024.

 

Popiano superstar Tyla secured the highest number of awards at the 2024 BETs, plus three nominations for the 2024 MTV EMAs. Her album TYLA placed in the top 10 list of countries like Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Tanzania, Uganda, Barbados, and Jamaica.

 

African women are making waves all over the globe; from more than 200K plays of her Born in the Wild album in Tokyo, Tems is taking Afrobeats to all corners of the world and more than 2M plays for Ayra Starr’s The Year I Turned 21 says the ladies are alright.

 

Spotify is excited to celebrate the progress of Africa’s women artists, but the data shows that there is still work to be done to see more representation of these powerhouse creators in the top lists.

 

For more detailed data, see below:

 

Top List Female Artists across different countries

Nigeria

Ghana

Kenya

South Africa

1

Ayra Starr

Ayra Starr

Ayra Starr

Taylor Swift

2

Tems

Tems

SZA

Billie Eilish

3

Qing Madi

SZA

Rihanna

SZA

4

Billie Eilish

Gyakie

Tems

Rihanna

5

SZA

Rihanna

Billie Eilish

Beyonce

6

Tiwa Savage

Adele

Nicki Minaj

Nkosazana Daughter

7

Bloody Civilian

Qing Madi

Taylor Swift

Babalwa M

8

Rihanna

Tiwa Savage

Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande

9

Simi

Nicki Minaj

Doja Cat

Summer Walker

10

FAVE

Beyonce

Beyonce

Nicki Minaj

 

EQUAL is Spotify’s global initiative that promotes women’s work in the music industry through playlists, networking opportunities, and increased visibility.

 

Top EQUAL Artists in Africa

Rank

Artist

1

Tyla

2

Ayra Starr

3

Amaarae

4

Qing Madi

5

FAVE

6

Simi

7

Gyakie

8

Yemi Alade

9

Makhadzi

10

Teni

GLAMTUSH

Recent Posts

ICAN, Union Bank Of Nigeria Foster Stronger Relationship With Visit

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) recently paid a courtesy visit to Stallion…

17 hours ago

Court Overtuns Cybercrime Charge Against Julius Oluwafunmisho Okedele, Orders EFCC To Tender Public Apology

The court has overturned the cybercrime charge against Julius Oluwafunmisho Okedele and ordered the EFCC…

21 hours ago

FirstHoldCo: Reinforcing ESG, Sustainability Initiatives As It Rebrands

In a world where approximately 20% of new businesses fail within the first two years,…

22 hours ago

Governor Soludo Unveils Bold Infrastructural Plans For Orumba South

Governor Soludo has unveiled bold infrastructural plans for Orumba South and  pledged a lasting development.…

22 hours ago

Pastor Adeboye’s RCCG To Conduct Free O And G Surgery, Dialysis Session, Other Surgeries

Pastor Adeboye’s RCCG is set to conduct free O and G surgery, dialysis session and…

1 day ago

GTCO Transforms Lives With Waste-For Gas Initiative

GTCO has transformed lives with waste-for gas initiative as it distributes 3,000 gas cylinders to…

2 days ago