Nigeria’s music market has achieved a significant milestone, reaching over a billion streams on Spotify in the first half of 2024. From January 1 to June 30, the nation accumulated 1.37% of the global total of 72.9 billion streams, representing a 96.7% increase from the 511.4 million streams recorded during the same period last year. This achievement makes Nigeria the market with the steepest climb on the charts.
Data from Spotify Stats, an unofficial streaming tracker, indicate a remarkable surge in daily streams from Nigeria, with the country resetting its all-time high on the daily charts twice in late June. On June 27, Spotify Nigeria recorded 8.6 million streams, surpassing the previous record of 8 million streams on June 21.
This growth is particularly noteworthy considering Spotify only launched in Nigeria in February 2021, alongside Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The platform’s popularity in Nigeria is evident, with artists like Burna Boy and Shallipopi benefiting from the surge. Burna Boy’s latest single, “Higher,” recently made history with the biggest debut numbers for any Nigerian song on Spotify, reaching 530,792 streams and overtaking Wizkid’s “Diamonds” (518,000) in 2023. Shallipopi and Rema’s “Benin Boys” also briefly held the record for the biggest debut streams of the year.
With Nigeria’s population exceeding 200 million and a vibrant music scene, the number of streams from the country is expected to continue growing.