See how much Nigerian and South African musicians earned from Spotify last year

See how much Nigerian and South African musicians received from Spotify last year

Featured

Kweku Zurek

Showbiz News

Apr – 05 – 2025 , 19:36

2 minutes read

Artists from Nigeria and South Africa raked in a combined $59 million in royalties from Spotify in 2024, as global appetite for African music continued to soar, according to data released by the streaming platform.

The Swedish audio streaming giant announced that Nigerian musicians earned over $38 million, more than twice the amount paid out in 2023, while their South African counterparts took home $21 million, marking a 54% year-on-year increase.

The surge in earnings reflects the growing popularity of African sounds on the international stage, driven by global chart-toppers like Nigeria’s Burna Boy and South Africa’s Grammy-winning vocalist Tyla.

“What we’re seeing is an excellent evolution around more and more mid-tier or up-and-coming artists making a living,” said Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, Spotify’s Managing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa in an interview with Reuters.

Spotify paid out approximately $10 billion in royalties worldwide last year, and while Africa still makes up a relatively small share of the platform’s global payouts, it is rapidly becoming a hotspot for musical growth.

According to Spotify, around 250 million user-generated playlists now feature at least one Nigerian artist, while 220 million playlists include a South African act — underscoring the continent’s expanding influence on global listening habits.

The growth is not limited to domestic markets. Nigerian artists have experienced a 49% increase in export growth over the past three years, while South African musicians recorded an even more dramatic 104% growth in international streams.

In terms of individual earnings, Spotify noted that the number of Nigerian artists making at least 10 million Naira annually has doubled year-on-year, and tripled since 2022. For South African artists, those earning between 100,000 and 500,000 Rand also doubled over the past three years.

With Afrobeats, Amapiano, and other genres steadily gaining ground globally, Spotify’s latest figures reaffirm the commercial viability and global appeal of African music — and hint at even greater returns for the continent’s artists in the years to come.

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