Afrobeats today is now known to be the voice and face of African music when it comes to international recognition. African music seem to be getting more attention and listeners every single day thanks to the works of many intellectual artists out there putting in the work and energy, promoting the sounds of Africa. As we all can see the movement is growing harder and harder than before, maybe not as fast as many Africans would want but most certainly it is penetrating different markets from Europe to the Americas and even Asia. The afrobeats music or let me say the African music promotion over the years have been championed by many local artists, organizations and also supported by many international brands and personalities.
Over the years many African songs have went ahead to become massive international hits while gaining popularity amongst young and old people in different areas of the world and this energy have not relapsed not for once for the past decade, what i mean is there is no single year we don’t see some new African hit record making waves in the international communities whether its the Caribbeans or other big continents, it is no doubt that new African music releases are getting a lot of attention year by year. Artists like Nigeria’s D’banj who started the Afrobeats revolution in 2011 with the release of the chart topping single Oliver twist which took over the United Kingdom music scene drawing a whole lot of attention to the music of Africa, which then started the movement of calling successful pop songs out of Africa the “Afrobeats”
Most of these songs have come out of West Africa from major music countries like Nigeria and Ghana the East African music industry over the years have proven themselves a force to reckon with artists like Diamond Platnumz, the popular boy band Sauti Sol championing the Swahili music of East Africa. The South African music scene have produced several house music hits too and their rap music industry seem to be doing quite enough.
Below we are going to be highlighting the top 10 African songs released in the past decade since the “Afrobeats” term was created and these list is based on how successful the songs are since release how well they did using digital statistics from Youtube views to downloads and streaming numbers.
List Of The Most Popular Afrobeats Songs (Top 10 African Songs) Of All Time:
Davido – Fall
Based on pure statistic this is not even debatable this song is the most successful, most popular African song ever made. As 2020 the song has gone gold in several countries outside Africa including Canada and the united states. This is one of the Afrobeats songs that has surely promoted the culture.
D’banj – Oliver Twist
This is the song many believe started the afrobeats revolution with the success it garnered in the early 2010s in Europe its is definitely still one of the most popular African songs out there as of 2020
Runtown – Mad Over You
This is one of my personal best, arguably the best Afrobeats songs ever created when it comes to lyricism, melodies and amazing visuals, but its up to you to decide what is best. But with over 100 million views on youtube it is certainly one of the most popular Afrobeats songs.
Tekno – Pana
The song was created and released back in 2016, becoming an instant hit all over Africa, little did we know it go on to become one of the most popular Afrobeats songs ever created outside of Africa.
Wizkid – Come Closer
He is arguably the most famous African musician out there as of 2020. This single was released in 2017 and it features star singer and rapper Drake, its been quite successful looking at the numbers.
Yemi Alade – Johnny
This song was released in 2014 and many don’t understand till date why this song is such a huge success abroad. I mean it is a piece many Africans could relate with, but foreigners? It is the most popular song ever from an African female pop artist based on digital statistics. Yemi Alade has been doing really since
Burna Boy – Ye
This was the song that did the magic for Nigerian superstar Burna Boy. Released back in 2018 and it went wildly popular abroad after many people mistakenly streamed the single instead of Kanye West’s ‘YE’ album.
Korede Bello – Do Like That
This is a song from Nigerian Mavin record act Korede Bello and the song organically grew garnering several international streams and downloads, its his most successful song till date.
Davido – If
Davido is surely a huge part of the success and attention African music in globally getting right now. He has done so much when it comes to contents. The music video for this song is another one of his videos with over 100 million views on Youtube.
Mr Eazi – Leg Over
This is one of the song popular Afrobeats artist Mr Eazi released on his 2017 mixtape, it was release as a single earlier and it has grown to become one of the most popular African songs ever released.
Bum Bum Timaya ft. Sean Paul
Bum Bum is a 2014 single by Nigerian artist Timaya featuring Jamaican artist Sean Paul, it is a remix of its first version. The song was a huge success in the Caribbeans and some parts in the Americas. Bum Bum is Timaya’s most successful song so far after the song was featured on several foreign charts.
My Woman – Patoranking ft. Wande Coal
Released in 2015 by Nigerian Reggae act, Patoranking featuring the popular Wande Coal. The song was ranked among the biggest and best songs of 2015 by many African media houses.
My woman was a huge success continent-wide and internationally reaching places like the Caribbean and more parts of the world.
Slow Down – R2bees ft Wizkid
Slow down is single by top African artists, R2bees from Ghana featuring the popular Nigerian act Wizkid.
Slow down was a successful Dancehall song with the sweet and melodious touch of the ‘afro-vibes’.
Slow down has millions of views on YouTube and was a huge success continent-wide and internationally mostly in the Europe, and UK to be specific.
Melanin – Sauti Sol ft. Patoranking
Africa’s best soul band released this song in 2017, the song already has tens of millions of views. Featuring Nigerian artist Patoranking. The song has become the most successful soul song Africa has had in a while and it’s been doing well overseas accepted and loved by every single melanin lover all over the world.
Particular – Major Lazer ft. Iceprince, Nasty C, Jiddenna, Patoranking
A dance hall Afrobeats song from the combination of different artists across Africa and America. The song Particula was released in 2017 by Major Lazer
It’s a sensible treatment, because “Particula” is all about African influence. From the Know No Better EP, it features South African artists Nasty C and DJ Maphorisa alongside Nigerian rapper Ice Prince, Patoranking and Nigerian-American artist Jidenna.
Nana – Diamond Platnumz Ft. Flavour
Song released in 2015 by top Tanzanian act Diamond Platnumz featuring Nigerian act Flavour. The song has gone to become a success locally and internationally. At the moment the music video currently has over 40 million views on YouTube.
Khona – Mafikizolo
This probably birthed and promoted the modern South African House Music.
“Khona” is a song by South African duo Mafikizolo. It was released as the first single from their eighth studio album, Reunited (2013). The song features additional vocals from Uhuru and was released by Kalawa Jazmee Records.
The song made the list of the top 10 African songs of 2013, peaking at number 1. Furthermore, the song peaked at number 1 on Afribiz’s Top 100 chart.
CARO – Wizkid ft. LAX
Caro is a 2013 single by Nigerian artists Wizkid and L.A.X. The song has done brilliantly well abroad amidst Africans in diaspora. It’s been revealed the song has a huge acceptance in the U.K, the song is definitely one of Wizkid’s biggest songs so far
Dance For Me – Eugy ft. Mr Eazi
Dance for me is a 2016 single by Ghanaian artist Eugy featuring Mr Eazi. This song is one of the biggest dance songs to come out of Africa in recent times.
The song has a huge acceptance from dancers all over the world making it a favorite of many from different countries of the world.
Its music video has tens of millions of views on YouTube
WO – Olamide
This is another single released in 2017 by Nigerian hip hop act Olamide. Wo was said by many critics to be a phenomenal sound from the rapper and singer. Wo has garnered over 20 million views in less than a year on YouTube, with a lot of acceptance by foreigners and with millions of streams on digital platforms Wo is definitely one of the top Afrobeats songs of the decade.
Omunye – Distruction Boyz ft. Benny Maverick, Dladla
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npw4M2XLZK0
Omunye is a 2017 single from South African music group Distruction Boyz. The song is loved by many for its exceptional beat coupled with some interesting dance steps that has gone along with the song. Omunye cut quite some international attention in 2018 and is still growing as the sound is growing wider locally and internationally.
Girlie O – Patoranking ft. Tiwa Savage
Girlie O is a single by Nigerian artist Patoranking featuring Tiwa Savage, Girlie O was a dance hall success for Patoranking as the song was quite accepted in the Caribbeans and it was revealed most its streams are from foreign countries.
Tiwa Savage – Eminado
Released in 2014 Many will say this is Tiwa Savge’s biggest song so far. The song dominated many African countries chart. The song was quite the hit amidst Africans in diaspora. Eminado was one of the biggest singles in Africa in 2014.
