As the music business gathers for Grammy Week, African music is enjoying an more and more distinguished position — not solely on the awards stage, however throughout global popular culture.
That momentum will probably be on show in Los Angeles on Saturday at Pamoja, YouTube Music’s annual African music and tradition celebration. Organizers say the theme displays the collaborative and cross-border nature of African music’s global rise.
The occasion will honor nominees in the Recording Academy’s Best African Music Performance class and acknowledge Nigerian pioneer Fela Kuti with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Pamoja can even spotlight the position of the African diaspora and worldwide collaborators who’ve helped deliver African sounds to global audiences.
The timing underscores a broader shift in the music business. African artists are not area of interest contributors in the global market — they’re re-shaping it.
Digital platforms have performed a central position in that enlargement. According to YouTube, greater than 70% of watch time for the platform’s Top 100 African artists now comes from outdoors Africa, illustrating the style’s rising worldwide viewers.
“YouTube is part of how fans everywhere discovered these artists in the early days,” stated Tuma Basa, YouTube’s director of music tradition. “A lot of the discovery happens organically. It’s borderless.”
That attain is more and more mirrored in touring patterns and global collaborations. African artists are promoting out arenas throughout Europe and North America, whereas worldwide acts are performing to giant audiences on the continent.
Basa cited Nigerian star Rema’s efficiency in India in 2024 as a turning level in how global the viewers has develop into.
“Fans didn’t wait for radio or a traditional gatekeeper to tell them who to listen to,” he stated. “They found the music themselves.”
Other digital platforms mirror related traits. In 2025, Burna Boy was the most streamed African artist on Spotify, however in January of 2026 Wizkid surpassed these streams changing into the first African to hit 10 billion streams, underscoring Afrobeats’ global pull. Nigerian artist CKay’s song “Love Nwantiti” has surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify, inserting it amongst the most consumed African tracks ever. On Apple Music, streams of African music as a complete have grown 4 instances quicker than the total platform streams, with Wizkid once more surpassing 10 billion global streams.
Industry leaders level to the African diaspora as a key driver of that global attain, serving to translate regional sounds to worldwide audiences whereas sustaining cultural context.
“If African music is the fuel, the diaspora is the transmission,” Basa stated. “It helps carry that energy to different parts of the world.”
That change, he added, works in each instructions, with global artists more and more participating African audiences instantly.
Pamoja has develop into recognized for its casual, unscripted environment — a deliberate selection, in response to organizers.
“For us, authenticity isn’t a curated aesthetic — it’s the foundation,” stated Addy Awofisayo, head of music for sub-Saharan Africa at YouTube.
“When you look at previous Pamoja events, the impact didn’t come from a script,” she stated. “It came from people feeling seen and represented.”
Awofisayo stated that strategy is particularly vital for African music and tradition, which have usually been framed via exterior views.
“Pamoja creates a space where the music and the culture can exist on their own terms,” she stated.
The occasion attracts tons of of artists, executives and cultural leaders and is thought for spontaneous moments each onstage and in the viewers.
“When the energy is real, it builds trust and belonging,” Awofisayo stated. “That’s when culture actually moves forward.”
Organizers say Pamoja is designed to spark lasting outcomes, not only a single evening of celebration.
“With that many decision-makers in one room, the goal is to move past surface-level networking,” Awofisayo stated. “We want collaborations, partnerships and long-term strategies to come out of it.”
The Grammys and recognition
This yr’s Grammy Awards mirror Africa’s rising presence, from the Best African Music Performance class, launched in 2024, to Kuti’s posthumous honor. South African-born host Trevor Noah continues to deliver African illustration to certainly one of music’s largest global phases.
Basa cautioned in opposition to viewing the second as a sudden breakthrough.
“It’s not a beginning or a turning point,” he stated. “It’s a continuation of music that has all the time existed and is lastly being acknowledged at this stage.
“This is overdue recognition, not a trend.”
Industry leaders say African music’s subsequent chapter will probably be outlined by range moderately than a single dominant sound.
“There’s still much more to come,” Awofisayo stated, pointing to the progress of Amapiano — a preferred South African hybrid style of digital dance music — African hip-hop, R&B and pop past Afrobeats.
She stated YouTube will proceed to perform as a global equalizer, permitting artists to achieve worldwide audiences with out counting on conventional business gatekeepers.
“A young artist in Johannesburg can build an audience in New York or Tokyo,” she stated. “And African culture is about more than music — it’s visual, it’s movement, it’s identity.”
For Pamoja, organizers say the objective is evident: to mirror African music’s place in the global mainstream — not as a novelty, however as a everlasting and influential pressure.
“We’re seeing African music move from influence to infrastructure,” Basa stated. “That shift is already underway.”