Last year was a mixed year for Afrobeats. In many ways, it could be branded as an in-house year for the genre, with success achieved back home—artists setting new Spotify records, pooling the majority of their first-day numbers from Nigeria. However, outside of the continent, we struggled for numbers—failing to make an appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart— and missed out on winning awards on the music’s biggest nights.
As we roll into the new year, there are bubbling trends and emerging patterns that might break out in 2025. With new albums expected from the other big two—Davido and Burna Boy—and global touring routes expected to resume for the other stars of the genre, there might be a global renaissance for the genre. Here are trends that might impact Afrobeats in 2025.
- Gospel Music Goes Mainstream
The consumption of gospel music has been quietly on the rise in recent years, but 2023 marked a turning point. This Year (Blessings) by Victor Thompson and Ehis D’Greatest became one of the most-streamed Nigerian songs of the year, signaling a shift from what was once niche, small-group consumption to a broader audience. Gospel songs have since become go-to tracks, particularly on Sundays, when listeners turn to them for spiritual upliftment.
This trend could gain even more momentum in 2025. With Spotify’s subscriber base showing positive growth and Nigerian youth increasingly flocking to churches, gospel music is perhaps poised for a breakout year. Data already suggests a pattern: gospel songs consistently make brief appearances on Spotify and Apple Music charts every Sunday.
The question now is whether these fleeting moments can evolve into sustained visibility. One undeniable advantage of the gospel music scene is its strong sense of community. Fellowship groups and congregations often share resources to strengthen their faith—one of the most popular being user-created playlists. These playlists span themes from worship to prayer warfare, and their influence is undeniable. Also, Anendless Ocean became the most shared Nigerian artist to WhatsApp on Spotify in Nigeria in 2024, further showcasing gospel music’s communal power.
Streaming platforms are also recognizing the scene’s potential. Both Spotify and Apple Music have created more playlists tailored to Nigerian gospel music, amplifying its reach. As consumption continues to rise, it wouldn’t be surprising if songs from the scene seep into the mainstream in 2025.
- Rebound of Afrobeats Internationally
2024 was an unusual year for Afrobeats on the global stage. For the first time in years, the genre struggled to make its usual mark. No Afrobeats song released in 2024 broke into the Billboard Hot 100, and key awards at major ceremonies slipped out of reach for Afrobeats artists. The absence of a definitive global hit—something on the scale of Burna Boy’s Last Last or Rema’s Calm Down—left the genre in what some might call a gap year.
But was it really a setback? Many believe 2024 was more of a reset—a year where Afrobeats paused to recalibrate amidst shifting trends in global music. The industry landscape was different, with the global charts dominated by pop powerhouses. Artists like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Billie Eilish had long album cycles that kept them at the top of streaming and radio charts, while the resurgence of country music further crowded the space. Breaking into the U.S. market during this period proved challenging for international acts and not only for Afrobeats artists.
Another factor was the notable absence of Afrobeats’ “big three”—Davido, Burna Boy, and Wizkid—for much of the year. Their relative quietness meant fewer headline moments and fewer opportunities to push the genre forward internationally. The touring scene, a critical tool in the genre’s global ascent during its post-pandemic peak, also slowed down.
However, the tide seems ready to turn in 2025. With Davido and Burna Boy, both set to release new albums and whispers of a Wizkid tour, Afrobeats could be set for a strong resurgence.
- Communities and Fandom will be Key Marketing Drivers
For some of the albums that emerged from the genre last year, their release was usually greeted with instant animosity. Scene-stealing albums such as Morayo and HEIS faced heavy backlash for days from listeners and other competing fandoms. Regardless, the different fan bases worked hard to continue to remind people to listen again by logging links to the albums under viral tweets, amplifying good reviews about the album, and setting up streaming parties to boost numbers. That informed the record-breaking first-day, first-week numbers for an album like Morayo.
As we descend into 2025, the differences between artists’ marketing campaigns keep getting narrow. There aren’t a lot of features that distinguish campaigns anymore aside from artists’ pull power, lean-in of streaming platforms, and how teams can brilliantly utilize marketing channels. Add fandoms to that and a superpower advantage for most artists’ teams emerges.
On the other side of the scene are communities and as anyone who has been neck deep into the music industry in the past year would observe, the rave scene has been on an upward trend. Although still on a niche level, EDM and house music events such as Sweat It Out and Element House have enjoyed consistent patronage owing to visitors feeling secure and the intimate setting of these spaces.
How these niche communities can infiltrate the mainstream is worth keeping a tab on. And not only them alone, but other spaces such as EVEN in the Day, Chiby Verse, and Vogue Boys have also been remarked for being a haven where fun can be experienced. With their ability to pull hundreds and sometimes thousands of people, some artists have used these spaces to tease music, tap into the existing database to promote newly released works, and also to improve their connection to local listeners. This would continue in 2025.
- Street Hop Dominance
At the beginning of 2024, barely a few had a premonition the street hop scene would go bigger and eventually make its mainstream domination. Spearheaded by Seyi Vibez who also heralded into the scene, now-bubbling stars—Muyeez and TML Vibez who contributed staple hits into the pool of the most listened songs of the year.
While that scene expanded last year with the addition of emerging talents (Balloranking, Bhadboi OML, Cazulee, Rybeena) mostly thanks to Dvpper’s foresight of investing in the scene and being the go-to channel for street hop acts, a challenge the scene faces is in two-fold: converting its listeners to streaming platforms and its ability to scale further than Nigeria.
The first part has seen some improvement, more listeners are onboarding to the free tiers of Audiomack and Spotify, reducing the use of music piracy websites.
The obstacle of growing further than Nigeria might possibly be eased this year. Last year, there were cross-continent activities such as the UK’s Tion Wayne featuring Shallipopi and also Seyi Vibez holding a UK tour. With Ayo Maff and TML Vibez being one of the top 20 most streamed artists in Nigeria in 2024, the growth of the scene could expand more than what it currently is in 2025.
- Rise of the Young Music Consumers
A visit to most of the music concerts that held in December revealed some new sights; while more millennials still thronged to these events, one can’t help but notice teens slightly below and above 18 years.
As older Gen Z (24-27) start to phase out of school and join the workforce pool, life expectations are likely to be a burden. Thus, fandom’s behavior of commenting on posts of their artists, spending bizarre hours listening to music and making videos on TikTok might relax a bit.
This habit is thus passed to teens and younger Gen Z, who are still in school and have more time on their hands to listen to music, devote time to watching music videos, and also have more disposable income than the average Gen Z worker faced with splitting sole income between transportation, food, clothing, black tax, savings and emergencies. This audience shift might occur more for artists whose music careers kicked off during the peak of streaming use here in Nigeria (from 2021).
Thus, with their hyper-activity on TikTok where teens and youths mostly spend their time consuming and creating content, they are much more informed than any other age group. That social activity carries over to streaming platforms and to specific artists who this young age group have become familiar with on short-video apps. Artists likely to benefit from this interest are those who’ve built a presence on TikTok and are ever-present on the platform, not only promoting their songs but also tapping into trends on the app.
Likely examples are new industry entrants such as Shallipopi, Zerrydl, Ayo Maff, FOLA to much more familiar faces like Young Jonn. These artists have built a consistent connection on TikTok.
A look at the Youtube audience of Shallipopi reveals his most active audience age in the last 28 days is his 18-24 age group.
This age group may become much more influential in 2025 aside from consuming music. They’re likely also to immerse themselves in the whole experience, not only in the creation that happens on Tiktok but exhibiting the most important superfan activity—getting tickets to artists’ shows.
