Afrobeats records in 2026: Burna Boy's nine Billboard Hot 100 hits and Rema's 3 billion Spotify streams
Nigeria's biggest stars are breaking chart and streaming records year after year, and most of the people listening live far from Lagos.
Nigerian Afrobeats artists keep setting new marks in 2026. Burna Boy now has nine entries on the US Billboard Hot 100, more than any other African artist, and has charted there six years in a row, with Tems one behind on eight. Rema's Rave & Roses is the first African album to pass 3 billion plays on Spotify, and Nigerian artists as a whole drew 30.3 billion streams there in 2025.
Burna Boy and Tems on the Billboard Hot 100
Two Nigerians have led the race on the American chart this year. In February both featured on J. Cole's album The Fall-Off: Tems on "Bounce Road Blues" with Future, which entered at No. 34, and Burna Boy on "Only You", at No. 78. That left each on eight entries and gave Burna Boy a sixth straight year on the chart, a first for an African artist.
In June he pulled ahead. "Dai Dai", his song with Shakira and the official song of the FIFA World Cup, came in at No. 75 after the two sang it at the opening ceremony in Mexico. It was entry number nine, leaving Tems second among African artists. She had already logged three entries of her own by February, the most of any African act in 2026.
- 2021"Loved By You" starts the run.
- 2022"Last Last".
- 2023"Sittin' On Top Of The World" and "Talibans II".
- 2024"Just Like Me" and "We Pray".
- 2025"WGFT".
- February 2026"Only You" with J. Cole, No. 78: a sixth straight year.
- June 2026"Dai Dai" with Shakira, No. 75: entry nine, an African record.
Rema's Rave & Roses passes 3 billion
On Spotify, the album benchmark belongs to Rema. Rave & Roses was released in March 2022, and its expanded Ultra edition followed in April 2023, adding the Selena Gomez remix of "Calm Down". In August 2025 it became the first African project past 3 billion Spotify streams. "Calm Down", counting every version, supplies more than 2 billion of those, and in 2023 it was the first African song to reach a billion by itself.
- 9Billboard Hot 100 entries for Burna Boy, an African record
- 3bn+Spotify streams for Rema's Rave & Roses (Ultra)
- 30.3bnSpotify streams of Nigerian artists in 2025
- 46Spotify markets abroad reached by Nigerian tracks, 2021 to 2026
Heard far beyond Lagos
A September report by the data firm Chartmetric, published with Digital Music News, found Nigerian tracks reaching 46 Spotify markets abroad between 2021 and 2026, more than Brazil (42), Mexico (32) or India (24). For the biggest names, listeners at home are a small share of the crowd. The portion of each artist's estimated YouTube audience based in Nigeria in 2025:
- CKay: 2.1%
- Rema: 6.4%
- Burna Boy: 8.3%
- Tems: 9.1%
- Ayra Starr: 10.3%
The estimated YouTube audience of Nigeria's leading global acts rose from 6.1 million in 2020 to 27.7 million in 2025, with the US, Kenya, France, the UK, South Africa, Ghana and Tanzania among the key markets. And 27 Nigerian artists reached Chartmetric's Superstar tier, its top 0.02%, for the first time in 2025, against four in 2021.
Photo: Nuță Lucian from Cluj-Napoca, Romania — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What Spotify paid Nigerian artists in 2025
Spotify's Loud & Clear report, out in March, put a figure on the money. Nigerian artists earned more than ₦60 billion, around $43.8m, on the service in 2025, and that revenue has grown by over 140% in two years. Their songs were played 30.3 billion times, first-time listeners discovered them more than 1.3 billion times, 26% up on 2024, and about 58% of the royalties went to independent artists or labels.
“Nigeria's music story continues to be one of creativity, innovation and global cultural influence.”
Older music keeps finding fans. Tems's 2020 debut EP, For Broken Ears, has brought nearly 19 million first-time listeners to her since 2023, Spotify says, and in September she played an invitation-only Spotify Surround Sound show at Livespot in Lagos.
Frequently asked questions
Which African artist has the most Billboard Hot 100 entries?
Burna Boy, with nine as of June 2026. His ninth, "Dai Dai" with Shakira, debuted at No. 75. Tems is second among African artists with eight.
What is the most-streamed African album on Spotify?
Rema's Rave & Roses, in its Ultra edition. In August 2025 it became the first African album to pass 3 billion Spotify streams, more than 2 billion of them from "Calm Down".
How much did Nigerian artists earn on Spotify in 2025?
More than ₦60 billion, around $43.8m, from 30.3 billion streams, according to Spotify's Loud & Clear report published in March 2026.
Where do most Afrobeats listeners live?
Mostly outside Nigeria. Chartmetric found that in 2025 listeners in Nigeria made up between 2.1% (CKay) and 10.3% (Ayra Starr) of top stars' estimated YouTube audiences, with the US, Kenya, France and the UK among key markets.
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