Biggest Music Industry In Africa; In the early years of the advancement of music industry in the world, The United States has long been one of the most influential music markets in the entire world. Producing countless noteworthy artists and boasting a massive pool of music-loving consumers, the country’s live and recorded music industry alone is estimated to have brought in nearly 20 billion dollars in revenue in 2018. Fans in Africa love global icons such as Beyoncé, Lil Wayne, Drake, Justin Bieber and Billie Eilish and so on. But the story has change as African music industry now experience tremendous transformation in the recent year.
Local African artists now shine bright across Europe and Africa continent as Nigeria’s Wizkid, Burna Boy and Davido, Egypt’s Amr Diab and South Africa’s Kabza De Small soar high as some of this artist are now among the the top most-streamed African artists in the world.
The ascension of modern technology, especially the decent access to Internet services and gadgets, has made Africa to be united in music. The Nigerian Afrobeats, Congolese zouk, and the South African Amapiano, to mention but few, has been the transformation of entertainment and music industry and the world is recognizing the industry on a daily basis.
With the growth in the number of online or media streams and the number of emerging artists in Africa, we shall look at the top 10 biggest music industry in Africa; the music industry dominating the whole of African continent that is as well gaining recognition globally.
There’s no limits on the impact the African music industry have had globally in recent time. These top 10 biggest music industry in Africa are the best African music industry. The new looks on the African music industry is very promising. The global explosion of the Nigerian Afrobeats genre and South African Amapiano in particular has seen international collaborations with some of Worlds most exciting artists.
The most exciting African international collaborations that had yielded the continent highest chart and more recognition globally are those from Nigeria artist such as Fire Boy and Ed Sheeran, Wizkid x Justin Bieber x Beyoncé x Drake and Tems. This is evidential that Nigeria has dominated African Music industry for the past 15 years. Nigerian Afrobeats music genre is the kind of music everyone cannot stop talking about. The Nigeria Music industry is the best and biggest music industry in Africa, while South African music industry is the second largest industry in Africa.
Top 10 Biggest Music Industry In Africa.
The African music market is, of course is not one single market. Nigeria and South Africa is the biggest music market in Africa. Here are the top 10 biggest music industry in Africa:
1. Nigeria Music Industry.
Nigeria is the powerhouse when it comes to music in Africa, starting from King Sunny Ade, Fela Kuti and now the recent global artist like Wizkid, Burna Boy, Davido, Psquare, Flavour, Phyno, D’banj, Olamide, 2Baba, Tiwa Savage, Falz, Patoranking and Simi to mention but few.
There are different music genres in Nigeria; each has its unique audience; thus, it will be challenging to even reach a consensus about the best musicians in Nigeria if an objective metric is not used.
Wizkid the Grammy award winner music legend taking after Fela Kuti and contributing immensely to the African sound’s global acceptance (Afrobeats). The Afrobeats singer has always been compared to his colleague, Davido another big Nigerian music industry player.
Burna Boy is a Nigerian Afro-fusion singer. Afro-fusion slightly differs from Afrobeats; the former has a mix of the Afrobeats sound, dancehall, reggae, American rap and R&B music genre.
To credit the popularity of Nigeria music industry, the United States, Def Jam hired Nigerian music executive Tunji Balogun to become the next chairman and CEO. With the growth of Afrobeats in and outside the continent, we have also seen more artists deciding to take more control of their careers and signing up with the top distribution companies to become independent artists globally.
Credit to Nigeria for having the the best and biggest music industry in Africa, multiple Nigerian artists had create larger than life performances globally such as Burna Boy headlining the Hollywood Bowl, Wizkid, Davido and Burna Boy sold out the 02 arena in London, and Burna Boy and Wizkid headlining the first-ever Lost In Riddim Afrobeats Festival in Sacramento, California.
The rise to global prominence of Afrobeats seems to have coincided with the pandemic. Indeed, hit after hit and collaborations with big-name international acts, from Justin Bieber to Beyonce to Ed Sheeran, are among recent successes. But the reality is different, the Lagos-based veteran producer and musician Ade Bantu told DW.
To explain the current wave of international prominence that Nigerian artists are enjoying, the success of the Nigerian artist like D’Banj has barrier-breaking, dancefloor-shaking single “Oliver Twist” in the United Kingdom. Everybody just caught the Nigerian bug. And then you have this massive Nigerian diaspora in the UK, the United States and other hubs around the world.
2. South African Music Industry.
Who else remember the song Jerusalema by Master KG? While the song is in the Zulu language, it has become popular across the globe music is the universal language, after all.
The dance trend began in February of last year, when Fenómenos do Semba, a group in Angola, south-west Africa, recorded themselves dancing to the song while eating and without dropping their plates.
The impressive dance started going viral almost immediately, before exploding into the mainstream of the western world in early 2021 but most people still copy the moves seen in Fenómenos do Semba’s original video.
Across Africa and further into the globe, amapiano is one of the enjoyable beat trying to dominate after Nigeria Afrobeats. According to Spotify’s end of year chart, musicians from this genre snatched up the first five spots on the list of most streamed local artists in South Africa. OG DJ Maphorisa led the pack, followed by fellow Scorpion King Kabza De Small, with newcomers to the list Busta 929, De Mthuda and Mr JazziQ claiming their own spots too.
And while global superstar artists like Drake and Justin Bieber were the most popular overall on the Apple Music charts- thanks, largely, to amapiano.
3. Tanzanian Music Industry.
Among the the top most-streamed African artists in the world, Tanzanian Music Industry is ranked the third best, largest and biggest music industry in Africa.
The popular genre of Tanzanian Music Industry is associated with R&B, afro pop, and hip hop. At its inception, Bongo flava was more heavily influenced by US Hip-Hop and Reggae, fused with traditional Tanzanian music styles.
Bongo is derived from ubongo, literally meaning ‘brain’ in Kiswahili, and was orig- inally used as a term to denote Dar es Salaam, a city where brains were said to be needed by its inhabitants in order to survive. Later the term’s meaning widened to include the whole of Tanzania.
The “marimba” is a common musical instrument in Tanzania. The small wooden box is the resonator for an array of metal springs of different lengths which are touched by the thumb to produce music. The drum is one of the most important African musical instruments.
However, Tanzanian Music Industry gained recognition it deserve when the industry begin to adopt Afrobeats and Afro pop style.
The main reason why Tanzania’s music industry is now successful is because they have an abundance of music talent or rather they have a lot of people who know what music is, how it should be sang, it’s dynamics etc.
BONGO Flava mega star Nasibu Abdul alias Diamond Platinumz is the man behind the transformation of Tanzania music industry. The popular Tanzanian musician, who has so far formed his own record label and has collaborated with so many Nigerian Afrobeats superstars.
Music is among the leading genres of creative arts in Tanzania. In Africa, Nigeria is the biggest producer of music content when it comes to music. The same trend is growing in Tanzania.
Although music production is still on the rise, over the years, Tanzania has managed to export its music, putting Tanzania on the world map.
Tanzania saw a major turn in its music scene which evolved into a mix of all genres from Afrobeats to Bolingo , Taarab, Bongo flava, Hip-hop and reggae artists producing all of their songs in Swahili language.
Tanzanian Music Industry now boast for one of the best and biggest music industry in Africa with music stars like Diamond, Lady Jaydee, Professor Jay, Ay, Mwana-FA, Khadija Kopa, King Kiki, Ali Kiba, Barnaba, Vanessa Mdee and many more. Tanzania music is now celebrated worldwide. Although music business challenges still remain.
4. Ghana Music Industry.
Ghana’s most widely known popular music style is called highlife. It originates in the Gold Coast colonial days of the 1900s and mixes various West African rhythms with jazz, swing, ska, rock and soukous. Ghana music industry has a long history in Africa but the industry failed to remain consistence in the entertainment industry.
Ghana music is fun! Just like the friendly country itself, the music is full of contrasts: Traditional drumming co-exists with modern urban music. There’s something in it for every generation and taste!
Although there are currently no huge world stars in Ghana music industry presently but Ghanaians artists have become more regular in the entertainment industry in Africa and soon will be globally showcased.
The music of Ghana often reflects a Caribbean influence, yet it still retains a flavour on its own. While pan-Ghanaian music had been developed for some time, the middle of the 20th century saw the development of distinctly Ghanaian pop music. High-life incorporated elements of swing, jazz, rock, ska and soukous. Although today’s new wave Afrobeats music scene has been strongly dominated by West African giant Nigeria and Ghana where in the 1970s it originated and become popular via Icon Fela Kuti, neighbouring sister country Ghana has been steadily emerging.
And not just in Accra’s clubs but on a huge international market beyond the Motherland’s borders. According to Africanews, Gyakie and Joey B boast hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers while KiDi has 1.6 million, Sarkodie 4.4 million and Shatta Wale 3.2 million.
Shatta Wale‘s “Already” featuring Beyonce and Major Lazer was one of the hits of the summer of 2020, securing Ghana a place among the countries which now count on Africa’s pop scene.
Jefferson Seneadza, co-founder of the Ghanaian music streaming platform Aftown, which aims to promote African music, has noted “a massive interest in Ghanaian music”.
5. Congolese Rumba.
According to Wikipedia, Congolese rumba is a popular genre of dance music that originated in the Congo basin during the 1940s, deriving from Cuban son. The style gained popularity throughout Africa during the 1960s and 1970s.
Congolese Zouk is one of the largest music in Africa. For decades, Congolese Zouk music has been king on the African music scene. Congolese artists are legends that have filled the world’s biggest concert halls, and people have long loved, cried, lived, and danced to the rhythms of Congolese beats. From rumba to ballads and ndombolo.
Papa Wemba is such an important figure in Congolese music that it is nearly impossible to compete with him. Regardless of the popular hits and artists of the moment, the first name that comes to mind when thinking about Congolese music and rumba is Papa Wemba. With songs such as “Analengo,” Papa Wemba is not only one of the most popular artists in Africa, but also a prominent figure in world music.
6. Cameroon Music Industry.
The music of the Cameroon includes diverse traditional and modern musical genres. The most recent form of Cameroonian popular music is a fusion of Congolese soukous and makossa, a scene which has produced Petit Pays, Marcel Bwanga, Kotto Bass, Papillon and Jean Pierre Essome. Other popular genres include Bend-skin, mangambeu, and makassi. Cameroon music has great singer, rapper or even dancer in Africa. Stanley Enow, the King of Cameroonian Hip-Hop. Not since the early 90s Cameroon’s popular music has witnessed this level of international recognition.
7. Benin Music Industry.
We cant talk about Benin Musice industry without mentioning Angélique Kidjo. Angélique Kidjo was born July 14, 1960, Ouidah, Dahomey, Beninese popular singer known for her collaborations with internationally prominent popular musicians and for her innovative blending of diverse musical styles. Kidjo was born into a family of performing artists and she’s a Grammy award winner.
Angelique Kidjo, Beninese popular singer has collaborations with Burna Boy and Yemi Alade recently. Benin Music industry is one of the biggest music industry in Africa.
8. Senegal Music Industry.
Senegal Music industry is one of the biggest music industry in Africa also one of the most significant and leading country in the music of Africa. It is not a big country but it has huge number of musicians and their music is based on their traditional music.
Senegal is a contradictory country, although the majority of country are Muslim, but the fundamentalism of Islam has not been into Senegal and Muslims of Senegal have a modern version of Islam. Islam came to Senegal through Morocco.
The Mbalax is the type of music maybe the most well-known and important music of Senegal. It is also the national dance of Senegal (and Gambia).
Other African country with the biggest music industry in Africa are Kenya and Algeria.
