The Song Planner

Afropop / Afrobeats-Pop

familyStarted 1970sPeak 2017-2025Last big hit still active

Pop built on African and diaspora rhythms: rolling Afrobeats grooves, amapiano log drums, highlife guitar filigree, warm hand percussion and shakers, talking-drum syncopation, and melodic, rhythmically slippery vocals that slide between English, pidgin, Yoruba, Zulu, French and Twi over glossy, hook-forward production.

History

Roots run from Fela Kuti's 1970s Afrobeat and West African highlife into 1990s-2000s Nigerian and Ghanaian pop. The plural "Afrobeats," coined in 2010s London, branded a Lagos-Accra wave that, via Wizkid, Davido and Burna Boy, broke globally from 2017. Amapiano's rise and Tyla's 2023 success widened the family into a worldwide pop language.

Defining artists

Essential listening

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Sources

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_(song)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essence_(Wizkid_song)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_(Tyla_song)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calm_Down_(Rema_song)