Nigerian music continues its unstoppable conquest of global streaming platforms as five home made albums have officially crossed the one-billion-stream mark on Spotify, cementing Afrobeats as one of the world’s fastest-growing genres.
Leading the pack is Divine Ikubor, better known as Rema, whose debut album ‘Rave & Roses’ (and its expanded ‘Rave & Roses Ultra’ edition) has amassed a staggering 3.1 billion streams, according to the latest data from Chartmasters.org. Released in March 2022, the project was propelled into the stratosphere by the viral smash ‘Calm Down’ and its record-breaking remix featuring Selena Gomez, which alone accounts for over 2 billion streams and remains the most-streamed Afrobeats song in history.
Trailing Rema but still towering over most global releases are four other landmark Nigerian albums that have joined the billion-stream club: Burna Boy – ‘African Giant’ (2019): 1.6 billion streams. The Grammy-nominated album formerly introduced the world to Burna’s Afro-fusion sound and earned him the moniker “African Giant.”
‘Love, Damini’ (2022) with 1.4 billion streams was Burna Boys personal project featuring hits like “Last Last” that dominated charts across Africa, Europe, and North America.
Omah Lay joined the list of artists with ‘Boy Alone’ (Deluxe) (2022–2023) which garnered 1.2 billion streams. The Port Harcourt star’s moody, melodic debut resonated globally, powered by tracks such as “Soso” and the Justin Bieber-assisted “Attention.”
Ayra Starr, the only female artist on this list has her sophomore album ‘The Year I Turned 21’ (2024) join the prestigious list with 1.1 billion streams
Also as the youngest artist on the list, the Mavin Records starlet achieved the milestone in record time, under 18 months, with infectious singles like ‘Control’ and ‘Commas’.
The achievement underscores Nigeria’s unprecedented dominance on Spotify. In 2024, Nigerian artists accounted for four of the top ten most-streamed African albums ever, and Afrobeats playlists consistently rank among the platform’s most popular worldwide.
However, the milestone has sparked lively debate among fans. Notable absences from many published lists include Wizkid’s ‘Made in Lagos’ deluxe (approximately 1.2 billion streams) and CKay’s ‘The First’ EP (1.1 billion streams), largely because some aggregators separate deluxe editions or count EPs differently. Supporters of both stars have quickly pointed out the omissions on social media.
As 2026 approaches, industry insiders predict more Nigerian projects will breach the billion-stream barrier, with recent albums from Wizkid, Asake, and Tems already generating massive numbers which remain ever green.
