Nigerian artistes generate N60bn from Spotify streams in 2025

Nigerian artistes have generated over N60 billion in revenue from music streaming on Spotify in 2025.

Spotify disclosed this in its “Loud & Clear” annual report released on Monday in Lagos.

Our correspondent reports that Loud & Clear provides insights into the economics of music streaming and how artistes build careers, grow audiences and reach new markets globally.

According to the report, revenue earned by Nigerian artistes from Spotify alone grew by more than 140 per cent over the past two years.

“The figures reflect both the growing global appeal of Nigerian music and the increasing economic opportunity for artistes across the market,” the report said.

It also highlighted strong listener engagement with Nigerian music on the platform.

It said that in 2025, Nigerian artistes generated about 30.3 billion streams and 1.6 billion listening hours on Spotify, which was also discovered by first-time listeners more than 1.3 billion times, thereby representing a 26 percent increase compared with 2024.

“At home, Nigerian music continues to command a powerful share of listening.

“In 2025, Nigerian artistes were responsible for over 80 per cent of the tracks featured on Spotify Nigeria’s Daily Top 50, underlining the strength of local talent in shaping the country’s listening habits.

“Local consumption of Nigerian artistes also grew by 170 per cent year-on-year on Spotify alone,” the report said.

Jocelyn Muhutu- Remy, Managing Director for Africa at Spotify, said that Nigeria’s music industry continues to demonstrate creativity and global cultural influence.

“What we are seeing is a market where talent is not only reaching new audiences around the world but also building deeper connections at home.

“For us, Loud & Clear is an opportunity to spotlight the evolving pathways artistes are taking to build sustainable careers and to show the many ways Nigerian creators are shaping the future of music,” she said.

Muhutu-Remy also highlighted significant growth across key artiste segments as local streams of Nigerian female artistes increased by 55 per cent year-on-year, while streams of Nigerian independent artistes grew by 75 per cent over the same period.

She added that about 58 per cent of all royalties generated by Nigerian artistes on Spotify in 2025 went to independent artistes or labels, underscoring the role of independent creators in the country’s music ecosystem.

She revealed that the platform’s editorial ecosystem also played a role in artistes discovery with nearly 2,000 Nigerian artistes added to the platform’s editorial playlists in 2025.

“Globally, Nigerian artistes were featured in about 320 million user playlists while over 12 million user playlists featuring Nigerian artistes were created in Nigeria.

“In total, more than 60 million playlists featuring Nigerian artistes were created on Spotify alone in 2025.

“Over the past five years, genres with the fastest growth on Spotify in Nigeria include pop urbane, alternative pop, anime, emo and drill.”

According to her, Loud & Clear continues to offer a deeper look at the data behind streaming.

“In Nigeria, this year’s story is clear: local artistes are building momentum at home, reaching new audiences at scale, and generating growing economic value from Spotify alone.”