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\n\tOver the last decade, Afrobeats has made significant inroads in the global music industry, from invitations to conquer the biggest stages in the world to cross-cultural collaborations with Western superstars like Beyonc\u00e9, Drake and Ed Sheeran. And it\u2019s earned institutional recognition. Billboard <\/em>launched<\/a> the U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart<\/a> in 2022 that ranks the 50 most popular Afrobeats songs in the country every week, two years after the Official Charts Company launched<\/a> the Official U.K. Afrobeats Chart<\/a> that ranks the 20 most popular Afrobeats in the nation. Last year, The Recording Academy introduced the best African music performance category<\/a> one year after the\u00a0MTV Video Music Awards<\/a> and two years after the American Music Awards presented the best Afrobeats video and favorite Afrobeats artist awards, respectively. \u00a0 \n\tEmerging in the 2000s, Afrobeats is a popular style of West African music that employs polyrhythms and syncopation and draws inspiration from hip-hop, R&B, dancehall and more while incorporating romantic, celebratory and sociopolitical lyrics sung in Yoruba, Nigerian Pidgin and English. We didn\u2019t include some popular songs that contain only some elements of Afrobeats, like Tyla\u2019s \u201cWater.\u201d (Tyla herself has acknowledged that Afrobeats has paved the way<\/a> for her international success as an African artist, but it\u2019s not the hallmark attribute of her music). And we sprinkled in some alt\u00e9 to honor Nigeria\u2019s alternative scene, as well as street-pop to represent the pivotal subgenres under the Afrobeats umbrella. \u00a0
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And to commemorate the game changers of the genre, Billboard <\/em>is ranking the 50 best Afrobeats songs of all time. This list is highlighting the foundational, influential and popular songs within Afrobeats<\/em> with an s, <\/em>not to be confused or conflated with Afrobeat, <\/em>another genre from the 1960s that Fela Kuti pioneered, which fuses West African percussive rhythms and styles like fuji and highlife with American jazz and funk as well as unabashedly political lyrics and chanted vocals. <\/p>\n
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Billboard<\/em>\u00a0staffers and contributors agreed on the following criteria: stylistic representation of the genre, local popularity, regional expansion, cultural impact and commercial success. Given the geographical makeup of this group\u00a0of journalists \u2013 ranging from the U.S. to the U.K. to Nigeria \u2013\u00a0these 50 songs represent how Afrobeats gained momentum at home before migrating and making noise in different markets, echoing the rallying cry of \u201cAfrobeats to the world!\u201d The making of this list did not go without a few debates about which songs stayed and which ones didn\u2019t. And even though a few heavy-hitters like the heralded \u201cBig 3\u201d \u2013 Wizkid, Davido and Burna Boy \u2013 have contributed numerous defining hits, the max number of songs one artist can have on the list is three, to ensure we capture the breadth of the music as best we can by making room for more artists.\u00a0\u00a0
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We\u2019re rolling out this list 10 songs at a time, continuing Tuesday (Aug. 5) with the reveal of No. 30-21. Read No. 50-21 below, and stay tuned next week for the unveiling of No. 20-11.<\/p>\n