The African pop music scene made significant strides in the US market with Tyla's Grammy win in 2024 for best African music performance. This milestone marked a new era for the genre, with Tyla emerging as a shining beacon of the synergy between South Africa's amapiano and Nigeria's Afrobeats. Her win cast her as a weather vane for the music's sound and status, and she has since returned with her follow-up album A*Pop. Tyla's music embodies her vision of African pop, which she believes should be tailored to her style, not the other way around.
The growth of Afro-pop in the US market began to take shape in the mid-2010s, with artists like Wizkid, Davido, Tiwa Savage, Burna Boy, and Olamide pulling an aesthetic into focus. This period saw significant stylistic innovation, modernizing earlier iterations of pop music from West Africa and plugging those diasporic connections into Western pop. The result was an improved sonic network that caught the attention of American labels. Davido signed with Sony in 2016, while Wizkid and Burna Boy went to RCA and Atlantic in 2017, marking the beginning of a gold rush in the industry.
Industry recognition coincided with commercial breakthroughs, including Wizkid's slow-burning pandemic hit "Essence" with singer Tems, which reached the Top 10 of the Hot 100. The song set a record as the first to spend an entire year in the Top 10 of the R&B/Hip-Hop airplay chart, showing the extent of its American reach. However, the song's success also highlighted the limits of Afro-pop's crossover appeal, as it was shoehorned into established "urban" formats. In response, Billboard launched the U.S. Afrobeats chart to better track the genre's progress.
The next generation of Afro-pop stars, including Rema, has made significant strides in the US market. Rema's 2023 hit "Calm Down" with Selena Gomez landed at No. 3 on the Hot 100, becoming the continent's longest-charting song ever and its first to reach a billion U.S. streams on Spotify. According to Tega Oghenejobo, Rema's label COO, the goal is now to put in the work to properly represent the culture and connect with more listeners in the US. This shift towards greater cultural representation and connection is crucial for the long-term success of Afro-pop.
Tyla's subsequent success, including her hit single "Water," which made her the first South African to crack the Hot 100 since Hugh Masekela in 1968, seemed to pave the way for further growth. Universal Music Group's purchase of a major stake in Mavin Records and Tyla's joining of a wider wave of women taking charge of the movement and making inroads into American culture marked a significant turning point. However, despite these successes, the Afro-pop takeover of the American market has not fully manifested, at least not to the same extent as K-pop.
The current state of Afro-pop in the US market is marked by a cooling off of its initial momentum. Afro-pop songs have largely been crowded out of the Top 40 in recent years, and the U.S. Afrobeats chart has grown static. On its 2025 year-end list, only a few Afro-pop songs, including Tyla's "Water" and "Push 2 Start," and Rema's "Calm Down," were still hanging around the upper reaches. This stagnation raises questions about the genre's long-term prospects and its ability to sustain momentum in the US market.
Despite these challenges, Afro-pop stars like Tems continue to ascend, with Tems becoming the first Nigerian to win multiple Grammys in 2025 and scoring a U.K. chart-topper with her Dave collaboration "Raindance." Tyla's "Push 2 Start" went platinum, and her A*Pop single "Chanel" went gold. As the genre continues to evolve, it is clear that Afro-pop has made significant strides in the US market, but its future success will depend on its ability to adapt and overcome the challenges it faces.
Key points
- The Afro-pop takeover of the American market never fully manifested, despite initial success.
- The genre's growth has been hindered by colorism and xenophobia, which amplify economic disparities.
- Afro-pop stars like Tyla and Tems continue to achieve success, but the genre's long-term prospects remain uncertain.
