Wizkid Leads, Davido 5th as 10 Top Nigerian Music Artists Earn Over N17.94bn Selling their Music On Spotify
- The list of highest earners on popular music app, spotify has been revealed with over N17.94 billion earned by 10 top Nigerian music artists
- The money was earned based on the number of streams they were able to get from music lovers around the world
- While the figures could be an estimate, it provides insight into how important the entertainment industry has become for the Nigerian economy
The Nigerian entertainment industry has now gone fully-fledged digital, with more artists choosing to release their music on big Digital Service providers (DSP) like Spotify.
In April, an infographic from tooxclusiv.com showed the top 10 Nigerian artists surpassed a billion streams on Spotify.
Wizkid topped the chart and knocked off other artists with a total of 4.4 billion streams. Burna Boy followed next with 2.7 billion streams. Mr. Eazi found himself in the third spot with 1.3 billion streams and the Love Nwanatiti crooner, Ckay has 1 billion streams.
Source: Instagram
Davido found himself on the 5th spot with 909 million streams, Maleek Berry is chilling with his 516 million streams. Essence co-star, Tems is number 7 with 412 million streams. Rema overtakes Fireboy with his 356 million streams while Fireboy DML occupies number 9th position with 300 million streams.
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African bad gal, Tiwa Savage rounded up the top 10 list with 270 million streams.
How Much was earned?
Legit.ng calculations show that the 10 artists made over N17.94 billion or ($42,779,640) from the streams using data from a number of online Spotify royalties calculators, including the Streaming Calculator
However, a report noted that only about 70 percent of the total revenue goes directly to the artist. The platform itself absorbs the other 30 percent.
In 2020, a report from Business Insider found that Spotify has paid artists as little as $.0033 per stream, which means that artists would have to have around 250 streams to earn one dollar.
It is, however, important to note that the earnings are based on the audience's location and services and do not tell the whole picture on the artist's earnings.
In a 2020 report from music distributor iGroove, reveals that UK listeners pay $0.0049 per stream, whereas listeners from the US pay $0.0035 per stream.
iGroove explains:
“Spotify keeps 30% of all revenues generated. Of the remaining 70%, a part is paid for the songwriters and composers and the rest goes via label or distribution to the rights holders of the song.
“From the remaining share it’s calculated how many streams there were in total and how high the share of each artist is. Assuming there were one million streams per month and you have achieved 1,000 streams, you will receive 0.01%”
Spotify earnings estimate for Nigerian artist based on Streaming Calculator
| Artists | Number of streams | amount earned(estimate) |
| Wizkid | 4.4 billion | N6.42bn ($15,312,000) |
| Burna Boy | 2.7 billion | N4.05bn($9,674,400) |
| Mr. Eazi | 1.3 billion | N1.94bn(4,628,400) |
| Ckay | 1 billion | N1.48bn ($3,549,600) |
| Davido | 909 million | N1.32bn($3,163,320) |
| Maleek Berry | 516 million | N753.26m($3,549,600) |
| Tems | 412 million | N601.4m($1,433,760) |
| Rema | 356 million | N519.69m($1,238,880) |
| Fireboy DML | 300 million | N437.94m($1,044,000) |
| Tiwa Savage | 270 million | N394.15m($939,600) |
Statement from Spotify
Spotify in its 2021 Wrapped report, which is an annual roundup of the top artists, album, songs and playlists of the year as streamed by users on the platform it noted that Nigerians dominated the list.
Davido, Yemi Alade beat Wizkid on Instagram top earners
In a similar report, Legit.ng reported that Davido ranked ahead of Wizkid in the top ten Nigerian Instagram earners of 2021 as the singers compete for the most influencer users
Three Nigerian female entertainers made it to the top five highest-earning Instagram users in the country, as they account for a total of eight in the top ten.
The Nollywood industry accounted for more representatives compared to the music industry, while Toke Makinwa was the only outsider.
Source: Legit.ng
