Vanessa Obioha
Nigerian artists are earning increasingly higher revenues from the music streaming platform Spotify.
New data from the streamer’s Loud & Clear report shows that Nigerian artists generated more than N60 billion from Spotify in 2025, representing a 140 per cent increase over the last two years. The platform had paid over N58 billion to Nigerian artists in 2024.
Globally, Spotify paid more than $11 billion to artists in 2025, bringing its total lifetime payouts to nearly $70 billion.
The report also highlights the scale of engagement with Nigerian music on the platform. In 2025, Nigerian artists generated 30.3 billion streams and 1.6 billion listening hours on Spotify. They were also discovered by first-time listeners more than 1.3 billion times, a 26 per cent increase compared with 2024.
Local consumption also remained strong. More than 80 per cent of the tracks featured on Spotify Nigeria’s Daily Top 50 were by Nigerian artists, while domestic listening of Nigerian music grew 170 per cent year-on-year.
“Nigeria’s music story continues to be one of creativity, innovation and global cultural influence,” said Jocelyne Muhutu-Remy, Managing Director, Spotify in Africa.
“What we’re seeing is a market where talent is not only reaching new audiences around the world, but also building deeper connections at home.”
The report also shows strong growth across key artist segments. Local streams of Nigerian female artists increased 55 per cent year-on-year, while streams of independent artists grew 75 per cent.
About 58 per cent of all royalties generated by Nigerian artists on Spotify in 2025 went to independent artists or labels, highlighting the important role independent creators and businesses continue to play in Nigeria’s music industry.
Spotify’s editorial ecosystem also continued to drive artist discovery. In 2025, nearly 2,000 Nigerian artists were added to editorial playlists on the platform.
Beyond editorial support, Nigerian music continued to resonate globally. Nigerian artists appeared in nearly 320 million user-generated playlists worldwide and over 12 million playlists in Nigeria. In total, more than 60 million playlists featuring Nigerian artists were created on Spotify in 2025.
The report also reflects the changing listening culture in Nigeria. Over the past five years, the fastest-growing genres on Spotify in the country include pop urbaine, alternative pop, anime, emo, and drill, signalling an increasingly diverse and fast-evolving music landscape.
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