The Afrobeats genre is rapidly gaining popularity thanks to social media and TikTok in particular, Ole Obermann, the app's global head of music, told the British media.
"I think that TikTok has played the role of incubator, but also the distributor to the billion-plus global users, and it's just really landed," said Obermann, as cited by the media.
Moreover, new social media platforms like TikTok and streaming services have accelerated artist discovery and given artists new ways to grow their global fan bases, Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif told the media.
No less important, modern Afrobeats “has a feel-good groove to it,” said Heran Mamo, R&B and hip-hop reporter for Billboard magazine, which created a US Afrobeats chart in 2022, noting that “it’s bound to reach a wider audience because it already contains a little bit of everything for everyone.”
TikTok allowed Afrobeats artists to gain global fame, which in turn became the catalyst for the creation of a new category at the prestigious Grammy Awards: Best African Music Performance. The first-ever nominees in this category include South African singer Tyla, Nigerian Ayra Starr, Nigerian Afrobeat artists Burna Boy and Davido, and duo Asake & Olamide.
Let's briefly recall the merits of these artists:
Burna Boy, a Nigerian musician, became the first African artist to sell out a US stadium when he performed at Citi Field in New York last summer;
Tyla's danceable track "Water" reached the top ten on the Billboard charts as it exemplifies Afrobeats: it has a jazzy, piano-infused vibe. She caught the attention of a TikTok executive in her home country in 2020, and later the dance #WaterChallenge with her song "Water" received over 1.8 billion views, according to TikTok;
Davido's collaboration with Musa Keys titled "Unavailable" last year earned the Nigerian the titles of Best Male Artist and Best Collaboration at the Trace Awards, which recognize African and African-influenced musicians from across the continent and its diaspora;
Ayra Starr became the youngest African female artist to reach 100 million views for a single YouTube video with her song "Rush";
Asake won Break Out Artist of the Year at the 2022 All Africa Music Awards, and was nominated for the Best African Music Act at the 2022 MOBO Awards, which marking his first international award nomination.
Afrobeats is a genre of music that developed in West Africa, primarily in Ghana and Nigeria, although the term is usually used to refer to a variety of African music styles. It has beats from percussion blended with sounds from jazz, R&B, rap, and other genres and also has a great potential, according to the TikTok's global head of music.
"This is going to be a big, growing genre," Obermann prophesied.