Spotify Unveils Nigeria's Top Songs, Artists, Albums in 2021

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The entertainment industry in Nigeria was busy in 2021, with some artists making headlines with the release of their albums, songs and others.

One company that tracked happenings in the year, especially how some songs and albums faired is Spotify, a music streaming platform.

The firm has now released what it called Wrapped, an annual round-up of the top artists, albums, songs and playlists of the year as streamed by users on the platform from around the world.

Analysis of Wrapped as released by Spotify revealed who Nigerians are listening to, the newcomers that are shaking up the music scene and those who still have the staying power in the new normal and the local artists compared with the globe’s top hits and international hitmakers.

In the year, Wizkid was the most streamed artist in Nigeria, followed by Burna Boy, Davido, with Drake in the fourth position and Olamide in the fifth.

The love for local music continues in the most streamed female artists in Nigeria, with Tems topping this list. Nineteen-year-old Ayra Starr, who is also Spotify EQUAL’s November artist, is the second most-streamed female artist. Doja Cat is the only international artist in this top five, coming in third. Teni is the fourth most streamed female artist, and Tiwa Savage is the fifth.

LADIPOE’s Feeling got Nigerians in their feels, coming in as the most-streamed track in Nigeria, followed by Peru by Fireboy DML, then Ruger’s Bounce in at third. Omah Lay’s Understand is the fourth most-streamed track in Nigeria, with Monalisa by Lojay closing off a Nigerian-dominated top five.

Unsurprisingly, Wizkid’s rave of the moment Made in Lagos (Deluxe Edition) is the top streamed album in Nigeria, and the original Made in Lagos is the second top streamed album, beating international star Justin Bieber’s Justice which is third. Davido makes another top appearance with his album A Better Time coming in fourth, and Drake’s latest release, Certified Lover Boy closes off the top five.

The playlist that Nigerians showed the most love is Hot Hits Naija, which really cements the fact that Nigerians love homegrown music.

To further give its users in Nigeria a more personalised feeling, Spotify has added a personalised Wrapped experience which has fun features such as:

Data stories to express a user’s year in audio– In addition to a user’s top artists, genres, songs, podcasts and minutes listened, the personalised Wrapped experience includes features such as 2021: The Movie, Your Audio Aura and 2021 Wrapped: Blend.

Shareability– Fans can share their Wrapped cards on social channels like Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Exclusive experiences for top fans– An exciting feature is videos from more than 170 artists and creators, thanking fans for having them in their Wrapped. These thank you videos will appear if fans have a song by one of the participating artists in their “Your Top Songs 2021” or “Your Artists Revealed” playlists. Spotify will also be rolling out Spotify Clips for Podcasts and fans will be able to view special thank you messages from some of their favourite podcast hosts by visiting a participating show’s page on the platform.

The full breakdown of the top lists is below.

Most streamed artists in Nigeria