Africa is the next big thing in music and everybody knows that it’s no longer a secret.
The continent has some of the best international exports thanks to music and the number keeps on growing by the day.
Thanks to artistes like Davido, Magic System, Fally Ipupa, Awilo Longomba, Franco, Diamond Platnumz, Tekno, PSquare(though defunct), Wizkid, K’naan, Harmonize, Oliver Mtukudzi, Ringo Madlingozi, Fela Kuti, Lucky Dube, Burna Boy, and so many others, African sound has been able to touch all corners of the earth.
That being said, a lot of the aforementioned artistes and a whole lot of more established artistes has managed to put African music into the global market making a name not only for themselves but also for their country where they come from.
A couple of years ago, Wizkid made entire Africa proud, not only Nigeria when he collaborated with internationally acclaimed rapper and singer Drake.
That milestone wasn’t only for the ‘Ojuelegba’ hitmaker and Nigeria, that was a win for the entire African continent and everybody in it. Africans are always happy when they see their own winning in life and making major unprecedented moves, that’s the beauty of being an African.
There have been a couple of songs which has managed to clock over 100 million YouTube views over the years and this article is specifically meant to celebrate that feat.
Some hit records like Sarkodie’s ‘Hallelujah’, Tekno’s ‘Duro’, Mr Eazi’s ‘Leg Over’ Wizkid’s ‘Soco’ Chidinma ‘Fallen in Love’, and Diamond Platnumz’s ‘Waah’ featuring Koffi Olomide, Flavour ‘Time to Party’ featuring Diamond Platnumz, and Diamond Platnumz’s ‘Nana’ featuring Flavour are almost clocking the 100 million views-mark on YouTube.
So, without any shadow of a doubt, there’s definitely going to be a part 2 of this listicle.
These are the African songs written and performed by African artistes that has surpassed the 100 million views mark on YouTube alone.
There are some artistes on this list who have appeared more than once.
This compilation hasn’t been sorted out in any particular order:
Wizkid ‘Come Closer’ featuring Drake
Wizkid’s collaboration record with Drake ‘Come Closer’ was one of the most memorable moments records released back in 2017 and it was so huge so much so that Wizkid had to release two music videos for the same record.
Currently, the first music video for ‘Come Closer’ has over 100 million.
This was the second time Wizkid got to collaborate with Drake officially in a record, the first time, the Nigerian superstar was featured on Drake’s ‘One Dance’ hit song together with Kyla.
The song was included on Drake’s ‘Views’ studio album.
The ‘Come Closer’ song will never go out of style.
The song currently has 103,796,740 views on YouTube.
Rudeboy ‘Reason with Me’
One-half member of the now-defunct group PSquare has released some hit records of his own earning him a reputation as one of the best songwriters in Africa today.
Rudeboy released the official music video for ‘Reason with Me’ simultaneously together with the record in 2019 which became an international hit once it got uploaded on YouTube.
The song recently reached the 100 million views mark, it actually hit the record yesterday on May 5th, 2021.
This song marks Rudeboy’s very first song that has reached 100 million streams on YouTube as a solo artist and his second one collectively in his music career.
The song currently has 100,163,563 views on YouTube.
Wizkid ‘Joro’
This is yet another record by the Star Boy himself that will never and forever get out of style.
From the start of the song to the last seconds of the same, it’s nothing but positive African energy that oozes from this record.
Wizkid’s ‘Joro’ is his second hit record to hit 100 million views on YouTube having been released back in 2019 September 30.
Everybody knew this song was about to blow up immediately Wizkid dropped the music video and the song itself simultaneously.
It is Wizkid’s first song that reached 100 million views in the shortest time yet in his illustrious, successful career.
The song currently has 117,956,025 views on YouTube.
Wizkid is also about to have his third song reached the 100 million views mark in a couple of weeks from today.
His other hit songs dubbed ‘SOCO’ that features Terri, Spotless, Ceeza Milli is currently at over 95 million views on YouTube and counting.
K’naan ‘Wavin Flag’
Thanks to K’naan’s ‘Wavin Flag’ Africans everywhere felt united more than ever when it finally got released back on March 5, 2010, on YouTube.
The song was the official theme song for FIFA World Cup that was held in Africa for the very time in South Africa in 2010 which proved Africa is perfectly able to host any and all international competitions.
The ‘Wavin Flag’ song didn’t only hit the 100 million views mark, it doubled it, it’s currently aiming for 300 million views. Talk of an African timeless hit song!
From the looks of it, the song will never get out of style, right now it’s somewhat a classic record because the record is timeless, it still makes sense today as it did a decade ago. If it were to be released today, it will still go hard as it did back then.
The song currently has 270,348,311 views on YouTube.
Magic System ‘Magic in the Air’ feat Chawki
Magic System made their name outside of the African sphere thanks to their hit record ‘Premier Gaou’ from their 2000 studio album ‘Premier Gaou’.
Since then, Magic System –a group of four musicians comprising; Salif “Asalfo” Traoré, Narcisse “Goude” Sadoua, Étienne “Tino” Boué Bi, and Adama “Manadja” Fanny from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire– has gone to be an internationally-recognized music group.
Moroccan singer, songwriter, and producer Ahmed Chawki collaborated with the group dubbed ‘Magic In The Air’ back in 2014 and the song became an instant hit.
Since its official release in 2014, the song has gone to have over 326 million views.
It’s one of the music videos on YouTube that is considered to be the most streamed songs in Africa.
Currently, the song has 326,964,191 views during the time of publishing this article on YouTube.
Davido ‘If’
Davido’s hit record dubbed ‘If’ was his first mainstream successful song that hit the 100 million views mark on YouTube.
It was actually the first Afrobeats song at the time to have reached the 100 million views, it was and still is a big deal.
Thanks to the effort that Davido and Wizkid did in the Afrobeats, Afrofusion genre today, the genre that predominantly represents Africa has been taken to the next level.
The ‘If’ visuals that feature Nqobilé Danseur on the cameo took the whole Afrobeats to the next level. It’s not by chance that the song is among the top streamed African songs today.
Currently, it has 128,498,321 views on YouTube alone.
Burna Boy ‘Ye’
Burna Boy proved that indeed the West, Nigeria has something to say in their songs, he took the whole Afrobeats narrative and changed it by taking it to a whole other level.
Granted, he has somewhat an interesting persona just like that of Kanye West but then again, everybody great in life are always having interesting characters attached to their name but you cannot talk ill about Burna’s songs.
His songs speak for themselves, he’s a bonafide artiste today already commanding respect across the globe, not only in Africa, he has since surpassed that plateau.
The music video for his ‘Ye’ hit record taken from his studio album ‘Outside’ instantly became a hit record with the visuals garnering over 100 million views on YouTube alone.
Currently, the video has 138,958,577 views and counting, it was uploaded on August 6th 2018.
P-Square ‘Personally’
P-Square changed the way we looked at African music.
Now defunct, the group that used to comprise of Mr. P(Peter Okoye), and Rudeboy(Paul Okoye) had some of the best hit songs.
Among the hit songs the award-winning group that comprised of twins released, the one that stood out was ‘Personally’ which was officially released in 2013.
The song was not only huge in Nigeria, and Africa collectively, it was a song that was on almost everyone’s lips across the globe. Just to show how great the record was, the legendary Jamaican Reggae and Ragga maestro Busy Signal did a rendition of the same song.
Personally is yet another song that has over 100 million views on YouTube. Currently, it has 107,641,652 views and counting. The song was uploaded on June 22, 2013.
Maleek Berry ‘Kontrol’
Maleek Berry took over the African content with his hit record ‘Kontrol’. If the song was a movie, most of the people who listened to the song that still goes hard to this day would have asked for a sequel.
The ‘Kontrol’ song became an instant hit once it reached the streaming portals all over. Once fans heard the song, they fell in love with it way before the visuals for the same officially dropped.
The visuals for the hit song dropped on August 11, 2016, and it’s managed to clock 104,271,412 views to this day.
The crispy official music video has Nqobile Danseur as well. The visuals proved addictive, it’s that type of music video that you cannot just watch once.
Sinach ‘Waymaker’
Nigerian gospel singer and songwriter Sinach gained international traction thanks to her hit song ‘I Know Who I Am’, since then, she’s been on an upward trajectory in her music career blessing everybody through her music and staying humble at the same time.
The talented musician has numerous hit songs under her belt but her ‘Way Maker’ hit song that was released back 5 years ago is the only one that has reached the 100 million views mark on YouTube.
The Award-winning songwriter and singer has other hit songs that are about to surpass the 100 million views on YouTube.
She has ‘The Name of Jesus’ the live version has over 52 million views, ‘I Know Who I Am’ has 89 million views with other songs quickly climbing up in numbers.
At the time of the publishing of this article, the ‘Way Maker’ hit song which was released back in December 31, 2015 has 174,744,974 views on YouTube and counting.
Tekno ‘Pana’
Tekno took over the international music scene with his hit song ‘Pana’ which instantly became an international hit record way before the official music video dropped.
The song was what ‘Jerusalema’ song is today back in 2016, everybody on social media was doing one challenge or the other with the ‘Pana’ song booming the speakers in the background.
The ‘Pana’ song helped escalate the Afrobeats even higher to an extent where the genre has been placed on a pedestal today.
The more you listen to the ‘Pana’ record, the more you want to listen to it some more.
The song currently has 154,825,399 views on YouTube and counting. It was uploaded on August 22, 2016.
Master KG, Nomcebo ‘Jerusalema’
Okay now, let’s agree to disagree, there wasn’t any bigger song in 2020 as big as ‘Jerusalema’.
The song took over social media thanks to the challenge that was arguably initiated by allegedly tipsy groomsmen dancing in unison on a not-so-busy road. After that, the song spread out the entire globe like wildfire.
The song that is a collaborative effort by Master KG, and Nomcebo was as big as any other song.
It’s actually the first African song that has reached 100 million views in the shortest time period yet, at least on YouTube.
The ‘Jerusalema’ song had folks from every corner of the earth dancing and posting their own version of the challenge and posting them on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, even Twitter thus helping the song to grow even further.
The song has 393,291,737 views on YouTube and counting. It was uploaded officially on December 13, 2019
Aya Nakamura ‘Djadja’, ‘Copines’, ‘Pookie’
Aya Nakamura has a couple of hit songs under her belt and all of them have impressive streaming numbers on YouTube.
Aya Nakamura, a talented, gifted artiste from Mali living in France –a country where she is also a citizen of– is a huge name in France as much as she is in Mali, and Africa.
The song that she released three years ago dubbed ‘Comportement’ is currently at over 95 million views on YouTube alone, it’s about to hit the 100 million mark in a couple of days.
However, her ‘Djadja’, ‘Pookie’, ‘Copines’ has over 100 million views. The celebrated pop singer is known for mixing urban & Afrobeat sounds.
In Spring 2018 she released new single Djadja certified Diamond in France and Europe (Germany, Sweden, Portugal, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Belgium).
On Nov 2, 2018 the new “queen of streaming” released sophomore album NAKAMURA. Album quickly went Double Platinum. In 2019 she won the European Music Moves Talent Award (Best Urban album) and she earned her first nomination at BET Awards 2019 as Best International Act.
In August 2019 she collaborates with multi-platinum rapper Lil Pump for a remix of her summer smash, ‘Pookie’. She featured Maluma on the remix for ‘Djadja’ as well.
Aya Nakamura’s ‘Djadja’ has 770,432,583 views uploaded on April 6, 2018, ‘Copines’ has 319,268,100 views uploaded on Aug 24, 2018, ‘Pookie’ has 290,660,998 views uploaded on April 10, 2019 on YouTube.
Davido ‘Fall’
Davido proved yet again that the future is Afrobeats once again after his second song ‘Fall’ reached and surpassed the 100 million views mark.
Currently, Davido just like Wizkid and Burna Boy has two songs each that have over one hundred million views on YouTube, a happy thing for Afrobeats artistes and supporters across the globe.
Fall song has over 203,644,342 views on YouTube, it was uploaded on June 2, 2017.
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Korede Bello
Korede Bello is one of the successful music stories by Mavin Record’s own Don Jazzy.
The duo has been working together for years and ever since they linked up for the very first time years ago, they have managed to release hit records after another.
Among the many records, they have worked together on is ‘Do Like That’, a song that will forever resonate with anybody plus it has stood the test of time.
The official music video for the song currently has 115,979,967 views and counting. It was uploaded on November 22, 2016.
Runtown ‘Mad Over You’
Runtown took over the world with his hit record ‘Mad Over You’ that not a lot of people saw coming.
He outdid himself on this project releasing a somewhat slow jam that helped put the Afrobeats genre to the next level.
The official music video was appreciative of the melanin, the beautiful girls of Africa and the richness of the continent, something we can boasts of as a continent.
The 121,793,717 views as uploaded on December 7, 2016.
Yemi Alade ‘Johnny’
Prior to Yemi Slade dropped her hit song ‘Johnny’ that placed her on the international music scene, she wasn’t that known.
The ‘Johnny’hit song helped her blow up and become a household name.
The song is so timeless so much so that it can easily make sense today if it were to be released anytime in the future, now that’s some timeless music.
The song has 131,769,661 views on YouTube after it was uploaded on March 3, 2014.
After watching the official music video and listening to the message on the song, you would understand why the song is one of the most streamed African songs on the planet.
Burna Boy ‘On the Low’
Burna Boy’s ‘On The Low’ is easily among the best songs from the motherland today, even the 44th US President Barack Obama cosigned it in 2019.
It even went GOLD in France and other first-world countries.
Since the African Giant became a musical African Giant, the song easily gained traction and helped him become a household name across the world.
The song currently has 202,422,283 views on YouTube after it was uploaded on November 16, 2018
Die Antwoord
Die Antwoord is a South African hip hop group formed in Cape Town in 2008.
The group comprises rappers Watkin Tudor “Ninja” Jones and Anri “Yolandi Visser” du Toit, a male/female duo, and producers HITEK5000 and Lil2Hood.
Die Antwoord has been dominant in the music industry putting South Africa on the map, actually, for the longest time period, a lot of people didn’t know the members of the group were Africans, South Africans to be precise.
The group which represents the Alternative hip hop, and electronic dance genres have a lot of songs that are over 100 million views, they have a loyal fanbase across the globe thanks to their music.
Once you become a fan of Die Antwoord, you can never go back, there’s no way you can get enough of them.
Some of their songs like; ‘Pitbull Terrier’, ‘Enter the Ninja’, ‘Rich Bxtch’, are almost clocking the 100 million views on YouTube alone.
The group has more than two hit songs that have reached 100 million views on YouTube today.
The visuals are; “I Fink U Freeky’, ‘Ugly Boy’, ‘Baby’s On Fire’, and ‘Banana Brain’ that has 165,275,286 views(released on January 31, 2012), 176,648,937 views(released on November 4,2014), 256,156,426 views(released on June 5, 2012), and 112,144,651 views(released on August 31, 2016) respectively.
GIMS: ‘Hola Señorita’ with Maluma, ‘Bella’, ‘J’me tire’, ‘Bella Ciao’, ‘Corazon’, ‘La Même’, ‘Mi Gna’, ‘Caméléon’, ‘Tout donner’, ‘Tu vas me manquer’, ‘Brisé’, ‘Sapés comme jamais’, ‘Est-ce que tu m’aimes ?’, ‘Laissez passer’, ‘Zombie’
Gims formerly known as Maître Gims real name Gandhi Bilel Djuna is an artiste from Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is known for his tremendous contribution to Hip hop and Afropop.
Just like Aya Nakamura from Mali, he is currently living in France only Gims also fancies living in Morocco as well.
The Congolese singer, rapper, and composer who grew up in France has a lot of songs under his belt that have easily topped the 100 million views mark on YouTube.
He is arguably the first African musicians to ever have such numbers before every other artistes from Africa years before Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy even Diamond Platnumz were hitting those numbers on YouTube.
Most of his songs are usually performed in Français.
Since he became a professional, GIMS has released over 5 studio albums in his illustrious music career working with the likes of Lil Wayne, and Maluma, just to mention a few artistes he’s worked with.
GIMS is the only one on this list that has more than 10 songs that have over 100 million views and counting.
He’s also the only one whose numbers keep on growing exponentially per day from his music videos that go back to 2014.
His 2014 hit song ‘Zombie’ keeps on garnering views on YouTube at an alarming rate.
Gims has songs like ‘Hola Señorita’, ‘Bella’, ‘J’me tire’, ‘Bella Ciao’, ‘Corazon’, ‘La Même’, ‘Mi Gna’, ‘Caméléon’, ‘Tout donner’, ‘Tu vas me manquer’, ‘Brisé’, ‘Sapés comme jamais’, ‘Est-ce que tu m’aimes ?’, ‘Laissez passer’, ‘Zombie’ that has over 100 million views on YouTube.
Clearly, GIMS is the ultimate King of African musicians who have streams that easily surpass 2 billion views. I bet you didn’t know about GIMS who has been representing Africa on such a global scale before reading this article.
Throughout his career, Gims has maintained and became even more proud of his African roots.
Cumulatively, he has 5,144,104,138 views on his YouTube account having joined on May 11, 2017.
Innoss’B ‘Yope Remix’ featuring Diamond Platnumz
Diamond Platnumz jumping on the remix of ‘Yope’ gave it some push that it needed to reach the heights that it did that the original composition couldn’t reach.
Diamond Platnumz also helped Innoss’B get fans from Africa since the Bongo Flava musician is an African magnet when it comes to his music. Diamond really invested in this project so much so that he even uploaded the song on his YouTube account despite the song not being his.
Well, his uploading the song on his own YouTube channel did some wonders because currently, the song has over 150 million views on Youtube, to be precise, it has 151,578,141 views after it was uploaded on September 7, 2019.
The ‘Yope Remix’ becomes the first East African song to surpass the 100 million views on YouTube.
Another video of Diamond Platnumz dubbed ‘Waah’ is on its way to having over 100 million views in under 3 months to come.
