5 Years in Nigeria: A Look Back at How Listeners Are Championing Homegrown Sounds
When Spotify launched in Nigeria in February 2021, the very first song a user streamed was Shiga Lin’s “到此為止,” a Cantopop ballad from Hong Kong. It was a fitting start for what the next five years would look like: borderless, discovery-driven listening.
Today, we’re celebrating this five-year milestone by looking at the data that tells the story of Nigeria’s vibrant soundscape. Since launch, we’ve seen an average listening increase of over 163% year-over-year. Fueling this trend is a young, digitally native audience (the average listener is just 26) that’s shaping culture in real time. And their passion is clear: Nigerian users have created more than 25 million playlists to date, and in 2025 alone, they clocked more than 1.4 billion hours of listening time.
As more listeners tune in, more artists are finding a home on our platform. The number of Nigerian artists on Spotify is up 158% since 2021, reflecting an expanding pipeline of local creators reaching audiences at home and around the world.
At the heart of this growth is Afrobeats, which has scaled by 5,022% since 2021 and helped propel a new generation of stars to the top of the charts. Over the last five years, the most-streamed artists in Nigeria have been:
Asake, in particular, has captured the country’s attention, with four of the top 10 most-streamed songs, including the number one track, “Remember.”
Beyond Afrobeats, Nigerians are embracing a diverse mix of sounds. Here’s a look at some of the fastest-growing genres:
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- Amapiano: +10,330%
- Gospel/praise: +5,499%
- Hip-hop/rap: +3,020%
- R&B: +2,602%
Listeners are also embracing Nigerian indigenous languages more than ever, with streams growing 554% in 2024 alone, showing a deep connection to local-language storytelling.
The listening boom has extended beyond music. Podcast consumption is on the rise, with Nigerians streaming almost 60 million hours since launch and embracing a new wave of audio storytelling.
At Spotify, we’re proud to provide a platform where Nigerian artists, creators, and fans can connect and share their culture with the world. We can’t wait to see where the sound goes next.
Celebrate five years of Spotify in Nigeria by streaming the most-played tracks in the country today.
