Spotify Wrapped 2023: Burna Boy Leads as Most Streamed African Artist in SSA

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

A new report released by Spotify has revealed that Burna Boy is the most streamed African artist in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) on the platform in 2023, though he is behind Drake, a Canadian rapper, who emerged as the most streamed in the region under review.

In the Spotify Wrapped 2023 unveiled on Thursday, it was disclosed that Burna Boy, who has won the coveted Grammy, maintained the position for the second year in a row.

Spotify Wrapped 2023 is an annual data-led review of how people listen to music and podcasts on the popular platform.

Asake, Davido and Omah Lay all make an appearance in the top ten, showing Nigeria’s dominance in the music scene across the continent.

Ayra Starr narrowly missed the top ten most streamed artists list, landing at number 11 and being the top streamed female artist in SSA.

When it comes to tracks that the whole region can agree on, Ruger’s Asiwaju was on top, followed by Ayra Starr’s Rush.

A host of other Nigerian tracks also made the list, including Asake’s Lonely At The Top which is the most streamed track in Nigeria this year. Tyler ICU is the sole South African with Mnike, featuring DJ Maphorisa, Nandipha808, Ceeka RSA & Tyron Dee, and Libianca’s People is still making waves, almost a year after its release, landing it in the eighth spot.

Davido’s album Timeless was released earlier this year, after much anticipation from the fans, so it follows that it is the most streamed album in SSA, and two tracks from the album, Feel and Unavailable, featuring Musa Keys are in the top ten most streamed tracks in SSA.

To say that Asake is living the dream would be an understatement, after all, the artist was relatively unknown a few short years ago, and now two of his albums, Work of Art and Mr Money With The Vibe are in the top streamed list in the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The top exported artist in SSA is Rema, thanks to the popularity of Calm Down, featuring Selena Gomez, which is also the most exported track from SSA.

Furthermore, for the first time ever, an African artist-led track not only gained 1 billion streams on Spotify, it is also the eighth most streamed track globally. No small feat considering just a few years ago, African tracks were mostly confined to the continent.

All the African artists whose music was felt not just on the continent, but also on the global stages, are featured on Spotify’s Gone Abroad Presents…Global African Hits of 2023.

Even though Ayra Starr leads in the top streamed female artists list, the only other African female artist in the top ten is Tems, with the rest of the list being occupied by American artists.

To further showcase local listening trends from around the world, Spotify this year has Wrapped Mapped, showing which songs have soundtracked throughout the year since January 1, all across the globe.

Eligible users can access their personalized 2023 Wrapped experience exclusively in the Spotify mobile app (iOS and Android) and also this year, via web view on mobile or Desktop by heading to Spotify.com/Wrapped.

Additionally, Spotify has also launched its Wrapped creator experience for podcasters and artists.  With access to their own individualized Wrapped microsite experience, creators can dive into all how their fans listened this year.