Afrobeats to the world!
The last decade has seen Afrobeats explode into a worldwide phenomenon and the Americans are loving and embracing it. It is for this reason that Billboard has partnered with music festival and global Afrobeats brand Afro Nation to launch the first-ever United States chart for Afrobeats music.
The Afrobeats Songs chart will go live on Billboard.com on March 29. The chart will rank the 50 most popular Afrobeats songs in the country based on a weighted formula incorporating official streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of leading audio and video music services, plus download sales from top music retailers.
“There is still so much more potential within the (Afrobeats) scene and the community that has grown around it and I believe it is vital that with Billboard we now have a U.S. chart that reflects this growth and provides a platform for emerging artists from every continent to showcase their talent to new audiences.” Afro Nations founder Obi Asika said.
Afrobeats sounds and influences have grown in the U.S. market throughout the 2010s, through artists such as Beyoncé and Drake, and now, the genre has yielded some of the biggest success stories of the young decade — including songs like Wizkid‘s ‘Essence‘ featuring Tems, CKay’s “Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah)” and Fireboy DML‘s ‘Peru‘.
