The beats grow louder: The rise of Afrobeats

The rise of Afrobeats has been extraordinary in recent years, with talent from Africa headlining festivals around the world and selling out stadia throughout Europe. But with such success driving unrealistic artist expectations, Tochi Louis investigates how the professionals helping African acts export their talent are reassessing their strategies in an effort to maintain momentum.

Afrobeats has taken the global stage by storm. Its boisterous beats and celebratory spirit have pulled diverse crowds across major markets worldwide. What was once tucked away in the world music niche is now selling out stadiums and arenas, competing with Western genres for top billing.

Once confined to intimate clubs and halls, Afrobeats has ascended – arena by arena, stadium by stadium – onto the world’s grandest stages. In 2023, Burna Boy shattered expectations, becoming the first African artist to sell out London’s 80,000-capacity Olympic stadium – a feat made possible by the foresight of Ropo Akin, the mastermind behind Whytelion, who has also played a role in shaping the live profiles of Afrobeats juggernauts like Adekunle Gold, Flavour, and Fireboy DML. His belief in what once seemed impossible has helped carve a new chapter in Afrobeats’ global conquest.

When Burna Boy faced a travel ban early in his career, Akin fought in court to secure his visa, confident about exportability of the then 23-year-old’s talent abroad. What began as a leap of faith in 2014 – booking Burna for four-figure-capacity shows – has since evolved into an unprecedented reign as the most successful live act in Afrobeats history. “We weren’t just trying to show up – we needed to make a statement,” Akin recalls. “And that meant going all out with the vision, so that people could take African music seriously.”

Since then, Afrobeats’ global takeover has unfolded with a string of record-breaking tours, none more lucrative than Burna Boy’s I Told Them tour, which grossed $15.5m across 15 shows – the highest-grossing Afrobeats tour ever, according to Touring Data.

Meanwhile, artists like Wizkid and Davido have also packed iconic venues such as Madison Square Garden, Accor Arena in Paris, The O2 in London, and more – each sold-out night asserting that Afrobeats is no longer knocking on the door of global music but has kicked it wide open.

“It was a fight to get Africa out of the world-music pigeonhole and into mainstream pop areas”

Stronger
Major moments in Afrobeats’ live business are becoming more frequent, and the time gap it takes for an artist to move from breakout to selling out iconic venues keeps shrinking. While Wizkid needed 11 years, and both Davido and Burna Boy took eight each, Rema filled The O2 just four years after his breakout, and Asake achieved the same in just one year – a testament to how fast the genre and its audience is growing.

Robomagic founder Rob Hallett, who began promoting African artists in the 1990s, working with legends like Youssou N’Dour, King Sunny Adé, and Papa Wemba, recalls the stark contrast between then and now. “It was a fight to get Africa out of the world-music pigeonhole and into mainstream pop areas,” he reminisces.

Afrobeats’ ascent may seem like an overnight success, but Hallett notes, “We spent many years until the Nigerian scene started happening.”

In the 2000s, the rise of Afrobeats – distinct from Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat but undeniably influenced by it – ushered in a new era of global reception. Where Afrobeat (without the ‘s’) carried activism at its core, Afrobeats embraced life, love, and hedonism. This found its watershed moment in 2017 when Wizkid became the first Afrobeats artist to sell out London’s Royal Albert Hall.

That historic night opened the floodgates for Nigerian artists on international stages.

In the same year, Yemi Alade sold out Le Trianon in Paris, while Wizkid topped off the year headlining the UK’s Wireless Festival. By 2018, Tiwa Savage became the first African female artist to sell out London’s Indigo at The O2. These moments weren’t isolated triumphs; they were milestones that pushed the genre into mainstream consciousness and saw artists like Ayra Starr and Burna Boy play The Pyramid stage at Glastonbury in 2024.

“Whenever we approached festivals, Afrobeats artists were often turned away”

The rise of Afrobeats has also led to Afro-leaning festivals and concerts, such as Afro Nation, Oh My Fest in Amsterdam, DLT Brunch in Malta, Jerk X Jollof in Detroit, and others with a heavy lineup of Afrobeats artists.

“Whenever we approached festivals, Afrobeats artists were often turned away,” recalls Josh Koram of Afro Nation. Originally debuted in Portugal, Afro Nation is now in its fifth year, spanning three continents, with recent editions in Detroit, Miami, Ghana, and more on the horizon. Others include Oh My! Festival in Amsterdam, DLT Brunch in Malta, Jerk & Jollof in Detroit, and festivals featuring Afrobeats-heavy lineups, such as Promiseland in Australia.

However, this global boom has fostered a culture of hype that often outpaces reality. The genre’s live business has grappled with signs of stagnation over the past year, as the initial surge in success starts to plateau. As Hallett puts it, “It’s stalling,” explaining, among other things, that a lack of collaboration among top-tier artists is a critical barrier to the sustained growth of Afrobeats. “Everyone wants to be king,” he explains. This mentality – while celebrating individual success – has stifled the movement’s collective progress.

In parallel, Clementine Bunel at Wasserman Music admits, “There were so many different success stories happening at once, then artists began replicating each other’s success – choosing the same venues: Brixton, then the O2, then Wembley, etc.” While this was a testament to the talent pool, it led to predictability, which unfortunately dulled demand.

Bunel agrees that Afrobeats’ live business has reached a ceiling and must rethink fresh approaches to re-excite audiences.

Andy Anderson, head of North America at Mavin Records, echoes those sentiments, citing inflated expectations as a major threat to the Afrobeats live business. He notes it’s a costly misconception to assume that streaming success directly translates into packed arenas. “You have to build touring brick by brick,” he cautions, while also emphasising the economic strain on concertgoers. “A $40 ticket isn’t just $40,” he explains. “There’s parking, drinks, babysitting – and then it becomes a $150 night out.”

“It’s about finding a sustainable rhythm. It’s not a downturn – it’s reality. And that’s a good thing”

Bunel believes that solutions may lie in diversifying live performance opportunities. “We have to cross over into festival circuits,” she explains. Festivals expose artists to new audiences beyond their core fans, and breaking through this plateau requires embracing crossover opportunities that build new audiences.

“Touring is about economies of scale,” Anderson comments. “Doing one-off arena shows costs too much unless you’re selling out every seat. Yet many artists are diving into venues they can’t fill.” Beyond the toll these missteps take on profitability, they also erode momentum.

For Koram, however, the slowdown in the Afrobeats scene isn’t a crisis but rather a necessary correction. “There was too much being thrown at it,” he reflects. “Now, it’s about finding a sustainable rhythm. It’s not a downturn – it’s reality. And that’s a good thing.”

Indeed, Koram sees this moment as another coming-of-age for Afrobeats, noting, “These artists built themselves without a full industry infrastructure. Now we know the limits. From here, we grow naturally and sustainably.”

He adds, “Where we go from here depends on the continent. It’s about infrastructure – venues.” Sam Gill from Earth Agency echoes this perspective, emphasising the need for quality control to sustain hype. “Artists like Burna Boy are setting the standard with full bands and high production values. Others are learning how to evolve from club gigs to arena stages,” he says.

“You can’t hop on a tour bus and play multiple cities across Africa or Nigeria. It’s not possible… yet”

Rush
The dearth of proper performance venues in Lagos, Nigeria – the epicentre of Afrobeats – illustrates the paradox of Afrobeats artists headlining arenas and stadiums across Europe and America, while the home base is lacking. “The top venue in Lagos is Eko Hotel,” Koram points out. “It’s a banqueting hall. Beautiful but not exactly built for live music. Most artists never experience proper venues until they tour abroad.”

Without these foundational infrastructures, many artists are thrust into high-profile tours before they’ve had the chance to develop the stagecraft to match their growing fame. “When an Afrobeats artist first tours Europe, they might already be selling 2,000 to 3,000 tickets. But back home, they’ve never had the chance to build expertise, so you have an issue where the artist’s profile doesn’t match the experience,” Koram explains. The lack of a domestic touring circuit only exacerbates the issue: “You can’t hop on a tour bus and play multiple cities across Africa or Nigeria. It’s not possible… yet.”

Koram continues, “Artists need venues where they can hone their craft. That’s how you build experience to match the hype. For the young artists we work with, we often start by sending them to smaller venues and clubs to learn the trade.”

However, the absence of a requisite live infrastructure back home means that these artists don’t get the same level of seasonal experience that they do in the studio. Touring, after all, is a completely different beast.

This slow-burn approach to development is something Bunel is working around firsthand with The Cavemen.

“We’ve gone back to basics,” she says, “playing small venues, working festivals, doing the right support shows, and gradually stepping up.”

“You need to make sure the fans are on that journey with you”

She recalls a particularly memorable performance in South London, where the crowd had never heard The Cavemen’s music. “The audience circled them, and it was electric,” Clementine recalls. That show proved to be a turning point, where word-of-mouth spread, and soon after, other festival organisers were reaching out to book the band. “That’s the magic of organic growth,” she reflects, “and it’s incredibly rewarding to see the audience build itself.”

Gill corroborates this, having also witnessed how building an audience organically is proving to be an effective business model. “Joshua Baraka’s first show sold out a 250-cap venue in 2024,” he recalls, noting that the artist is now aiming for a 600-cap venue later this year.

“Every show builds upon the last,” continues Gill. This same principle has been applied to artists like Omah Lay, whom Gill worked with from his first 500-capacity show to now playing 5,000-capacity venues across Europe. “You need to make sure the fans are on that journey with you,” he notes, underscoring the importance of delivering a show that justifies the ticket price as the artist’s fan base grows.

African queen
One shining example of strategic and steady growth is Tems. “She’s crushing it, playing rooms that match her strength,” Anderson says. Koram adds, “She’s going to be a fantastic touring artist.”

In a similar vein, Hallett draws attention to the success of Francophone acts like Fally Ipupa, whose recent streak of sold-out concerts is a testament to the increasing global appeal of African music beyond Afrobeats.

Hallett recounts Ipupa selling out the 40,000-capacity Paris La Défense Arena, followed by 10,000 tickets sold in London, 5,000 in Amsterdam, and even more in cities like Dusseldorf and Berlin. “It was hard to get French-language music accepted in international markets. Now people are accepting it,” he says, emphasising how the landscape for African music is widening.

“One thing we have to remember is that Africa is not a country. We don’t box European music in the same way as we talk about African music”

“One thing we have to remember is that Africa is not a country,” Hallett continues. “We don’t box European music in the same way as we talk about African music.”

Gill expands on this point, by underscoring the rise of Afropop acts like Sauti Sol, Bien, Joshua Baraka, etc. “I wouldn’t class any of those as Afrobeats,” he says, noting that their shows attract a different crowd than traditional Afrobeats fans.

For Gill, the growing global acceptance of African music is opening doors for a variety of styles to thrive. He also observes a stark difference in audience dynamics: “I find that there’s quite a wide difference between a Ghanaian audience and a Nigerian audience within the UK, in terms of who’s going to come out to those shows.”

This nuanced understanding of the audience is important when marketing concerts and festivals. Gill states, “We still put up flyers at barbershops with a high footfall of Nigerians or Ghanaian takeout places.” He notes that Afrobeats is a community-driven genre, and marketing efforts must meet the community where they gather.

However, Hallett counters, “We still need more mainstream media appearances to fully break in,” stressing that while community-driven marketing is effective, broader exposure is still necessary for full-scale success.

Nevertheless, Gill promotes the importance of artistic input in these strategies. “The artist has to be engaging,” he says, as fans want to feel a personal connection with the artists they support. This view is complemented by Anderson, who highlights the triangle of trust that exists between artists, promoters, and fans. “The fans are connected to the artist first, while they [fans] are also connected to the promoter,” he explains. This web of connections is what drives the success of African music globally, allowing it to move beyond niche circles into the mainstream. Everyone has an important role to play.

“My biggest challenge is convincing artists and their managers to do the buildup work”

Calm down
Afro Nation’s Koram tables a crucial concern in navigating Afrobeats’ live business: representation. “When you’re dealing with newer acts, sometimes they don’t even have an agent, and the finer details of a deal are missed,” he says. This issue,
which often stems from inexperience or miscommunication, means that once the deal is finalised, important modalities like tax implications, hotels, and other logistical considerations may be overlooked, which has led to many missed opportunities.

Koram also sheds light on the issue of trust that often arises in the early stages of working with Afrobeats artists. “When an artist first gets to know us, this makes them always think we’re trying to rip them off,” he says, shedding light on the issue of trust that often arises in the early stages of working with Afrobeat artists. This scepticism, though rooted in a lack of experience in the international touring scene, also reflects the broader challenge of navigating the complexities of Afrobeats in global markets. “It’s difficult at the start, but we’ve learned to be thick-skinned about it,” Koram adds.

Ropo Akin advises that the high costs associated with international touring – flights, visas, and other logistics – require a deep understanding of the global market, something that many Afrobeats artists are still adjusting to. For him, “It’s important not to take these things personally but to see them as an opportunity to learn how to balance cultural expectations with the logistical realities of touring.”

Gill’s concerns also involve expectations. “I’ve seen it time and again – artists thinking they can suddenly sell thousands of tickets just because they’re part of a successful genre like Afrobeats,” he says. He warns of the risk and potential ripple effect of overpricing tickets or booking too large a venue too soon. “You lose bets with the promoters and the venue, which makes it hard to secure subsequent festival opportunities. So the approach has to be sensible,” Gill advises.

Bunel also acknowledges the issue of managing artists’ ambitions versus their market readiness.

“My biggest challenge is convincing artists and their managers to do the buildup work,” she says.

“If an artist’s first show doesn’t sell out, it can be hard to convince festivals to book them”

In her experience, there’s a delicate balance between playing too small a venue and overestimating one’s appeal with a larger, overpriced venue. “I’m not a fan of going straight to a big venue at a high ticket price for the first show,” she comments. Instead, she prefers finding the “sweet spot” – a venue that is manageable but has the potential to sell out and create an event that people will talk about. She believes that this approach is vital for gaining the trust of promoters and festival organisers. “If an artist’s first show doesn’t sell out, it can be hard to convince festivals to book them because they’ll see the numbers and know the show wasn’t a success, which makes our job as booking agents tougher” she explains.

Addressing venue choice, Anderson has a pragmatic perspective. “You do arenas when you can tour and do 30 arenas,” he says, underscoring the economics of scale that reduce production costs when spread across multiple shows. He contrasts this with the common misstep of Afrobeats artists attempting a one-off arena show without the draw to fill it. “You still have to build out an arena-sized stage and sound for just the lower bowl,” he explains, highlighting that even a partially filled arena requires full production investment.

The consequences are clear: if ticket sales fall short, promoters quickly peg the artist’s market value, often to their detriment. Anderson cites an example of Ken Carson playing four sold-out nights at Terminal 5 in New York – an approach that saw him sell 12,000 tickets across multiple intimate high-demand events. By generating buzz and selling out quickly, Carson captured the attention of festival promoters.

Ultimately, Anderson warns, “promoters are always watching ticket sales.” They prioritise artists who can drive early-bird purchases and strong presales, which fuel cash flow for major festivals.

As a result, the ability of African artists to match venue size with realistic demand isn’t just about profitability – it directly influences future opportunities and their credibility within the live music circuit.

Get it right
In addition to managing expectations around venue choices and ticket pricing, Bunel highlights the challenge of securing the right partnerships in different territories.

“I’ve found that some promoters can be reluctant to co-promote, especially when they feel they have ownership of the scene,” she reveals. This adds another layer of complexity, as artists’ ambitions may clash with the realities of a brutally competitive scene. “There’s a lot of pride in this business,” she notes. “And sometimes, it feels like the bigger agencies are seen as the ‘bad guys’ who don’t really get the scene.”

“There’s clearly a rise in popularity in particular markets such as Japan – which has large Amapiano dance communities and events”

This tension depicts the fine line between ambition and the need for collaboration, especially when navigating a global market that is still catching up to the growth of African music.

Such growth opportunities were drilled into by Koram who focussed on regions often overlooked in mainstream discourse. “I always thought Asia would be the toughest,” he admits, noting Tyla’s current form in that market as an exception.

Tyla’s agent is Ishsha Bourguet at UTA. “There’s clearly a rise in popularity in particular markets such as Japan – which has large Amapiano dance communities and events, and a new festival called Afrojam that showcases a range of acts,” she says.

In addition to naming Australia and the UAE as markets where the diaspora sees Afrobeats demand growing, Bourguet cites, “India as another huge market, with acts such as CKay earning a platinum certificate, and even South Korea, where Burna Boy went viral, Tyla headlined a festival in 2024, and where K-pop artists are taking inspiration from the genre for their music and styling.”

But for Koram, the Middle East presents a more immediate and dynamic opportunity.

Indeed, with recent visa policy shifts easing entry for African artists, Koram sees a resurgence on the horizon. “I think it’s going to really explode again in the next few years,” he predicts. And his long-term vision extends to South America where significant Black populations create a strong case for Afrobeats.

“Latin people often feel marginalised, but Black Latin communities experience an added layer of invisibility”

He also draws attention to the layered cultural dynamics, “Latin people often feel marginalised, but Black Latin communities experience an added layer of invisibility,” says Koram. Connecting Afrobeats to this diaspora, he argues, will help to unlock both the potential of Latin markets and, by extension, deeper penetration into America, where Latin culture exerts massive influence already. “That’s the key to us unlocking America,” he asserts, pointing to collaborations like Asake’s track with Brazilian star Ludmilla as early signs of what’s possible. He also believes Ayra Starr’s successful festival debut at C6 Fest in São Paulo, Brazil in 2024, is a sign of growing appetite.

Elsewhere, Anderson regards Europe as a particularly favourable terrain for Afrobeats due to its ease of travel and interconnected Schengen countries, which simplify logistics and reduce costs. He notes the growing influence of Paris as the impending global capital of Afrobeats.

Meanwhile, Hallett doubles down on Fally Ipupa’s sold-out streak across multiple French cities like Bordeaux, Marseille, Nantes, and Lille. And he also cites Burna Boy’s upcoming headline concert promoted by Robomagic at the 80,000-capacity Stade de France this Easter, in partnership with Akin’s Whytelion/Cokobar.

Bunel flags rising costs, driven by post-Covid touring dynamics, that have made many artists, especially emerging ones, less enthusiastic about playing live. For up-and-coming talent like The Cavemen, her strategy has been to prioritise exposure over immediate profit.

Early on, she opted to bypass promoters and booked shows directly with venues. This allowed the act to fill rooms and generate buzz before working bigger venues with promoters.

Anderson states that it’s not just about strategy – timing, connections, and a bit of luck also play a role. He gives the example of Ayra Starr, who toured with Coldplay for the Australia and New Zealand leg of their Music of the Spheres World Tour. However, beyond the crowds and the prestige, there’s a simple but often overlooked principle: professionalism matters. Being easy to work with, reliable, and adaptable can turn a one-time opportunity into a series of tour dates across continents. And Starr’s initial engagement with Coldplay has since blossomed into more opportunities, with the band’s UK and US tour legs now included in her schedule.

“Africa is going to keep producing the talent. We’ve got such a young, vibrant population”

Ahead of the beat
On Afrobeats’ future, Gill is optimistic, particularly regarding the increasing presence of Afrobeats artists in major European festivals.

“What we’re beginning to see, especially with top-tier artists, is their crossover into major festivals across different countries,” he says. “There are limited slots on these stages, but the reality is that some of the biggest festivals in Europe are now booking some of the biggest Afrobeats stars, and that’s really exciting to see.”

In 2024, events like Wireless and Roskilde booked several major Afrobeats artists, with other events now adding more Afrobeats talent to their lineups, depicting a broader acceptance and integration of Afrobeats into the global music scene.

According to Koram, “Africa is going to keep producing the talent. We’ve got such a young, vibrant population,” he says. But while talent abounds, Akin highlights the importance of building the right infrastructure to support this growing wave of artists. “We need to provide domestic infrastructure. That is the key,” he stresses. “Talent is there, but without the infrastructure, progress may be slow.”

Koram is similarly optimistic and highlights Odumodublvck’s linkup with footballer Declan Rice that gave Afrobeats an interesting facelift. “You’ve got Declan Rice, a white guy, singing that song word for word. Those clips go viral […] and then it’s a big thing,” he says.

“We just need to strengthen the core”

Such virality demonstrates the power of Afrobeats to transcend cultural and language barriers, something Koram has also experienced with artists like Asake, whose music resonates with people across different cultures. “I have my friends from different cultures singing in Yoruba, word for word. I’m looking at them like, ‘You don’t even understand what this guy is saying.’ But it feels good; it sounds good,” he says.

However, both Koram and Akin contend that the future success of Afrobeats requires more than just talent and a passionate fanbase. It also needs a solid framework for artist development.

Koram draws inspiration from the infrastructure seen in other global music machinery like K-pop and Disney, both of which have structured systems for nurturing talent. “We might not need to replicate Disney Club, but we need a structured pipeline where there are people in front of the artist in an actual show environment,” he states, envisioning a model that allows artists to grow gradually, performing in a range of venues from small clubs to massive arenas.

“In London, I know there’s a venue for 500, a venue for 1,500, for 3,000, a venue for 5,000, 10,000 to 15,000, and then there’s stadiums,” he says. “That’s how you build an artist, that’s the process, and we’ve got that in every city, in every country.”

Koram concludes that Afro Nation has already taken steps to establish the infrastructure needed for sustained growth. “We have secured partnerships that will enable us replicate such a solid structure locally” he reports. “And as my colleague, Obi Asika, co-founder of Afro Nation, would say, we just need to strengthen the core.”

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