On February 23, 2021, more than 70 million songs, 2.2 million podcast titles and over 4 billion playlists were made available to Spotify listeners in Nigeria free of charge.
But the question is: what got music fans listening in Nigeria? Consumer data from February 23 to March 22 and made available to TS Weekend indicates that Spotify’s listeners in Nigeria are showing plenty of love for home grown music. Now, four out of the top five most streamed artistes are from Nigeria. They include Wizkid, Burna Boy, Davido, and Rema.
The report also shows that local hits are resonating the most with Nigerian listeners. Over the past one month, the most streamed track in Nigeria is Bounce by Rema. This is followed by Wizkid and Burna Boy’s Ginger as well as Davido and Teni’s For You.
With a strong appetite for local sounds, it comes as no surprise that Hot Hits Naija is one of the top-streamed playlists among users. Spotify’s Africa to the world playlist, African Heat comes in second reflecting listeners’ keenness to discover music from all over the continent.
Podcast listening may be a relatively new trend in Nigeria, but it is fast gaining momentum among the citizens. In the last one month, the most popular podcast on Spotify is I Said What I Said followed by Kwality Kontent. TED Talks Daily came third, followed by Articulate One and The Daily Show With Trevor Noah: Ears Edition in fourth and fifth position respectively. However, residents of Lagos, Suleja, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Benin City account for the most Spotify streams in Nigeria.