Afropop Locally and Globally: Top Artists, Countries and Microgenres

Afropop is a metagenre that has grown over 550 percent on Spotify since 2017. Its manifestation in a specific market, including affinity towards artists, varies greatly. Based primarily on Spotify data, we found that (1) local country markets within Africa differ in their Afropop tastes more than countries on other continents, and (2) the microgenre Afrobeats is leading Afropop’s growth. All these considerations should play a role in how metagenre, microgenre, and a user’s geographic location factor into recommendations of contemporary African music and may be relevant to other regions with emerging recording industries.