It has been a stellar year for African music across the globe. With the recent announcement from The Recording Academy on the nominees for the 2024 Grammy Awards, Africa joined the artists in celebrating their spots in what the Academy called &#8220;history”.



In a statement released in November, one of three newly- added categories for the 2024 Grammys is the Best African Music Performance award. It is being hailed a breakthrough acknowledging the commercial and cultural prowess of African music.



&#8220;Giving African music its own category would highlight and celebrate the diversity and richness of Africa,&#8221; Shawn Thwaites, project manager at The Recording Academy, said in a roundtable about the new category. &#8220;This is a great step forward!&#8221;



Africa’s Grammy nominees for 2024 include Ayra Starr, Burna Boy, Davido and Musa Keys, Asake and Olamide, all for Best African Music Performance, and Trevor Noah for Best Comedy Album. As FORBES AFRICA, we decided to compile our own list of the biggest African hits of 2023 that got the world on its feet. With the help of the numbers on social media, trends, Spotify listens and YouTube views, the list has been whittled down to the following artists who have scaled global heights. Although some of the music was released before 2023, it seems they are still trending.



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table class="has-fixed-layout"><tbody><tr><td>Song</td><td>Artist</td><td>Country</td><td>Spotify Listens</td><td>YouTube Views</td><td>Total</td><td>YT Release Date</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>CALM DOWN</td><td>Rema feat Selena Gomez</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>1,112,827,855</td><td>706,057,845</td><td>1,818,885,700</td><td>Sep-22</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>PEOPLE</td><td>Libianca</td><td>Cameroon</td><td>498,353,247</td><td>218,903,109</td><td>717,256,356</td><td>Jan-23</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>RUSH</td><td>Ayra Starr</td><td>Benin</td><td>281,167,683</td><td>264,455,804</td><td>545,623,487</td><td>Sep-22</td><td>2024 Grammy nominee for Best African Music Performance</td></tr><tr><td>PERU</td><td>Fireboy DML &amp; Ed Sheeran</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>283,657,974</td><td>189,399,170</td><td>473057144</td><td>Dec-21</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>WATER</td><td>Tyla</td><td>South Africa</td><td>155,090,107</td><td>39,605,600</td><td>194,695,707</td><td>Oct-23</td><td>2024 Grammy nominee for Best African Music Performance</td></tr><tr><td>UNAVAILABLE</td><td>Davido feat Musa Keys</td><td>Nigeria-South Africa</td><td>98,950,916</td><td>72,345,505</td><td>171,296,421</td><td>Apr-23</td><td>2024 Grammy nominee for Best African Music Performance</td></tr><tr><td>CITY BOYS</td><td>Burna Boy</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>61,573,500</td><td>23,431,043</td><td>85,004,543</td><td>Sep-23</td><td>2024 Grammy nominee for Best African Music Performance</td></tr><tr><td>MNIKE</td><td>Tyler ICU</td><td>South Africa</td><td>31,970,236</td><td>27,545,449</td><td>59,515,685</td><td>Apr-23</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>LONELY AT THE TOP</td><td>Asake</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>35,859,656</td><td>22,932,185</td><td>58,791,841</td><td>Aug-23</td><td>2024 Grammy nominee for Best African Music Performance with Olamide, &#8220;Amapiano”</td></tr><tr><td>HAMBA JUBA</td><td>Lady Amar, Cici, Murumba Pitch and JL SA</td><td>South Africa</td><td>13,336,755</td><td>14,165,502</td><td>27,502,257</td><td>Apr-23</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr><tr><td>ME AND U</td><td>Tems</td><td>Nigeria</td><td>16,206,894</td><td>7,270,381</td><td>23,477,275</td><td>Oct-23</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr></tbody></table><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">*The list is but a small representation of the enormous potential and success of Africa&#8217;s musicians ** All data is as of November 12 2023</figcaption></figure>

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