Top 10 Hottest Nigerian Musicians of 2019

2019 was definitely a great year for the Nigerian entertainment industry, in fact, the music industry to be specific. New feats were achieved by some of our artists and Nigerian music gained more recognition around the world.

Some Nigerian artists have taken it upon themselves to make Nigeria/African music a big deal around the world as they have resorted to just making good quality music whenever they hit the studio.

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Rosbena.com comes through with a list of Nigerian musicians that held it down for the music industry in the year 2019. Check out the top ten Nigerian singers for the year 2019.

Top Ten Nigerian Musicians in 2019

(1) Burna Boy

If songs had to get a visa to travel around the world, then Burna Boy would definitely be in custody by now for violating immigration laws. The songs of this man were literally all over the place this year. World-class celebrities have been seen on different occasions vibing to his songs.

The singer graced stages which no other Nigerian artist has been able to. He performed his single ‘Anybody’ at Jimmy Kimmel Live, he also performed Collateral Damage & Anybody Medley at the Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show, Burna Boy was also interviewed at Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show where he also performed a Ye and Anybody Medley, performed at the 2019 Coachella (the event which led to the name of his album ‘African Giant’), was interviewed on Big Boy Neighborhood and also featured in a Wall Street Journal Article. These are platforms that you don’t get to see Nigerian artists regularly on.

Sometime this year, Rihanna had to order her driver to play Burna Boy’s Ye, even Neymar had a training session with Ye playing in the background. Cardi B also made her interest and love for the song known when she came to Nigeria for the Livespot X Festival.

Burna Boy emerged the winner as the best international act at the 2019 BET award. In 2019, he became the first African artist to sell out the Wembley SSE Arena, he was also a part of ‘The Lion King: The Gift by Beyoncé’ album and had a track of his own with no feature titled ‘JA ARA E‘.

And the utmost success of his in 2019 was a Grammy Nomination for his album ‘African Giant‘ which is the holy grail in the career of every musician. The album secured a nomination spot for ‘World Music Album’ and Nigerians are not yet done with celebrating this milestone.

Below is a pictorial summary of Burna Boy’s major achievements in 2019

(2) Davido

The DMW & 30 BG leader, Davido started the year on a very good note as he became the first solo Nigerian artist to sell out the O2 Arena on the 27th of January 2019.

After pulling off a stellar performance at his concert at the 02 Arena, the singer got deeply involved in the political affairs of the country and publicly showed support for PDP (People’s Democratic Party), the party that housed his Uncle Ademola Adeleke. In late 2018 & early 2019, his 2017 hit single ‘Fall’ starting skyrocketing at the USA top 100 Billboard chart and the singer never failed to share the progress of the song with his fans on Instagram. The song has made Davido a force to be reckoned with worldwide and he is seen as the face of Afro-beat by big superstars around the world. He went on a radio tour in major U.S radio stations during this period.

Even tho the singer’s shelf might be already filled up with awards he has won in his past years in music, he still got more to add to the shelf this year. At the 2019 Soundcity MVP awards, he emerged as the winner of the ‘Best Pop’, he also won the ‘Crossing Boundaries with Music Award’ at the 2019 African Muzik Magazine Awards, he also got nominated for Favourite Global Star at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards 2019 but lost to Taylor Swift.

The year was busy for the singer as he performed at the Tycoon pool party, Buju Banton Long Walk to Freedom Tour, he was also at the comedy central roast of AKA, Roots Picnic, Dreamville Festival, Summer Jam 2019, Wild ‘n out Oh my Music Festival in June alongside Meek Mill, Trey Songz and many others.

After going a long time without releasing a single, Davido came in hard with the single ‘Blow my Mind‘ featuring Chris Brown, the song and the music video were a masterpiece. He followed that up with another massive record ‘Risky’ and finally wrapped off the year with his sophomore album ‘A Good Time’ which got the 2nd place on the top ten Nigerian albums in 2019.

(3) Wizkid

It is quite worthy to note that Wizkid has been quite reserved these days unlike the Wizkid of the EME days who wasn’t ready to slow down his pace of churning out good songs. But regardless of that, the Starboy Entertainment CEO continues to bask on his past glory, recent collaborations with other artists, and the few songs of his that get released.

He took to Twitter on the 3rd of January to announce that he will be off social media till March and his fans couldn’t bear the news. With his abstinence from social media, one would expect his relevancy to drop during this period but that wasn’t the case as his fans continually find a way to make him trend and be the topic of discussion during his time away. The year started on a good note as his 2018 hit single ‘Soco’ won the award for the Best Collaboration at the 2019 SoundCity MVP Awards.

In April 2019, he shared the same stage with Canadian rapper, singer, and songwriter Drake at Drake’s Assassination Vacation tour which was held at the O2 Arena (O3). His first musical appearance for the year 2019 was on the single ‘Low’ by Larry Gaaga featuring him and the single went on to colonize the top spots in various Nigerian music charts.

Wizkid was amongst the headliners at the 2019 Ends Festival which took place on the 1st of June 2019. He was also among the headliners at the Couleur Café 2019, Pal Mundo 2019, and he also performed at the Summer Jam Festival 2019. He secured a deal with Pan African bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) (details of the deal isn’t public knowledge), and also partnered with Amsterdam based menswear and womenswear fashion brand ‘Daily Paper’ on a limited edition collection of apparel and accessories.

Wizkid fans joy knew no bound when ‘The Lion King: The Gift’ album by Beyoncé was released and Wizkid was on the 15th track on the album ‘Brown Skin Girl’, and his vocals, lyrics, and delivery on the record were top notch. The song was a global hit record and went on to win the Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award at the Soul Train Awards.

He released his own first single for 2019 ‘Ghetto Love’ on the 12th of September and the song triggered mixed reactions from music lovers as many were of the opinion that Wizkid has lost his Midas touch but he came back stronger and harder with the song ‘Joro’ and proved that he still got it in him. Even tho ‘Joro’ was released late 2019, it ended up as the most searched song on Google in Nigeria for 2019.

He kick-started his Starboy fest on the 18th of October in Manchester and on the 19th he returned to the O2 Arena and became the second solo Nigerian artist to fill up the O2 Arena. At the fest, Wizkid delivered an electrifying performance to his fans alongside his colleagues like Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Naira Marley, Reekado Banks, Fireboy DML, Olamide, Oxlade, Runtown and a host of others.

He wrapped up the year with an EP titled ‘Soundman Vol. 1’ which contained 7 songs and featured Kel P, DJ Tunez, Chronixx, Blaq Jerzee, and London.

(4) Rema

Rema was unveiled as a member of the Mavin Record/Jonzing World in the month of March 2019 and as expected, the expectations from music fans in Nigeria were high due to the record label in which he was signed to, a label that has never failed to drive every one of her artists to success.

Rema made his debut in the record label with his first body of work, an EP titled ‘Rema – EP’. The EP contained four songs, ‘Iron Man’, ‘Why’, ‘Dumebi’, and ‘Corny’, and we can all agree that the project wasn’t a mediocre project as songs on the album went on to own top spots in various music charts. Dumebi was a national hit song and ‘Iron Man’ also made the ‘Summer Playlist 2019’ of the former president of the United States Of America, Barack Obama. He also took home the award for the ‘Next Rated’ at the 2019 Headies award. Just at the end of the year, he was featured in The FADER magazine.

On looking at Rema’s story, one would quickly jump into conclusion and write it off as an overnight success but that was definitely not the case. Before being signed to Mavin Record/Jonzing world, Rema has been putting in work and releasing songs at the age of 15. He also formed a music group with singer, Emmanuel Princewill who is professionally known as Alpha P and they went on to release songs like Mercy.

In case you didn’t know, Rema and also Crayon has been with Mavin records one year before there were officially unveiled as members of the record label. During the one year period, they underwent training that prepared them for their careers.

(5) Naira Marley

Even tho he isn’t recognized by awarding bodies in Nigeria or securing ambassadorial deals from top brands, we can all agree that Naira Marley got street credibility which is one factor that determines or is used to measure the success or popularity of a public figure.

Unlike every other celebrity who got fans, Naira Marley doesn’t just have fans he has a movement, a group of people who refer to themselves as Marlians.

Some common traits which they exhibit include, no wearing of belts (The marlians do not wear a belt and they are also called NBG [No belt Gang]), they’ve got Zero manners ([NM] No Mannaz).

Even fellow celebrities have identified with this movement and are a part of it. Wizkid, after his O2 Arena show publicly declared himself and his last son as Marlians, DJ Cuppy also took to her Instagram story to state that she is a Marlian, Zlatan, Kemi Olunloyo, Olamide, Toke Makinwa are also fans and supporters of this movement.

Naira Marley began to gain traction in 2017 when he released the hit song ‘Issa Goal’ featuring Olamide and Lil Kesh. The song went on to top music charts in Nigeria and was also in massive rotation during the 2018 Fifa World Cup.

He got a huge chunk of the people’s attention once again in 2019 after he took to Instagram to justify cybercrime, stating that it’s a punishment to the whites for the slavery of our forefathers and his stance generated mixed reactions from Nigerians. While this post was making round on the internet, Naira Marley teamed up with Zlatan for the song ‘Am I A Yahoo Boy’, a song which we can all agree that was a hit song. Shortly after the song was released, he was arrested on his birthday for alleged credit fraud. He was released afterward on bail and many expected the singer to be calm after his release but the reverse was the case as he was still on his No Manners altitude and went on to release the song ‘Soapy’.

The song came alongside a dance step and many wrote off and criticized the dance step stating that it was immoral and shouldn’t be socially accepted. But the young man didn’t bow down to pressure and with time the crowd danced to his tune and the initial hatred and criticism turned to pure love. Naira Marley emerged as the most searched person on Google in Nigeria for the year 2019 and he wrapped up the year with an impressive body of work ‘LOL (Lord Of Lamba) EP.

(6) Zlatan Ibile

During the Shaku Shaku dance era, it seemed as tho the dance step has come to stay and wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon, but Zlatan wasn’t buying that idea as he had a plan to make the popular dance step ‘Shaku Shaku’ a thing of the past. Zlatan single-handedly changed the trend and introduced the notorious Zanku dance which purged the streets and dance floors of the ‘Shaku Shaku’ dance entirely.

The year started off pretty well for the Alleluyah Boys Entertainment singer as he was still ripping the benefits of his late 2018 collaborations with Burna Boy on ‘Killin’ Them’ and his nationwide hit collaboration on ‘Able God’ with Chinko Ekun and Lil Kesh.

He wrapped up the year 2019 being the most featured artist of the year as the singer was a hot commodity and everyone wanted to work with him. He worked with the likes of DJ Xclusive, Cuppy, Peruzzi, Naira Marley, Rexxie, Teni, Tiwa Savage, Candy Bleakz, Brainee, Harrysong, MC Galaxy, Tekno, and the list goes on.

His hard work throughout the year earned him accolades as he was nominated at the 2019 Headies for the Next Rated Category (Which he lost to Rema), won the ‘Best New Act’ and best collaboration at the Afrima awards 2019 and secured his first endorsement deal with Lotto 9ja and also emerged as the most searched artist on Google in Nigeria for 2019. Zlatan and Naira Marley had the streets on lock all year round and kept on giving fans a reason to rock the dance floor with back-to-back hit singles. At the later end of the year, Zlatan introduced yet another dance step called ‘Gbeku’ and it is slowly beginning to gain traction and becoming a trend.

His long-time dream and ambition to own a studio album of his own became a reality as he released his debut album ‘Zanku’ on the 1st of November 2019.

(7) Olamide

When there is a conversation about hard work and how rewarding it is, Olamide is qualified to speak on that topic as he isn’t just as a preacher of hard work but also a practitioner.

From the year 2011, Olamide puts out a studio album annually, even tho 2019 was an exception, he still didn’t drift from his hard work ethic as he delivered some high-quality singles in the year 2019.

Olamide started the year 2019 with an amazing hit single ‘Woske‘ and he accompanied the song with an official music video and instead of just putting out a music video he decided to kill two birds with one stone. YBNL Nation recording artist – Fireboy DML was part of the YBNL Mafia Family album which was released in 2018 and his song ‘Jealous’ was the 5th song on the album. The song didn’t gain the attention which it deserved until Olamide inserted the song in the intro and outro of the video for the single ‘Woske’ and this was when the song started gaining traction.

Super confident in his ability, Olamide never seizes to promote and work with upcoming artists even the ones that make his type of music and he never sees them as competition. In his abundance of lyrics, he decided to share some of his lyrics with his fellow artist and wrote the singles ’49-99′ and ‘Owo Mi Da’ for Tiwa Savage. He released the single ‘Pawon’ and got the Instagram feed of so many Nigerians filled with thirst trap videos by sexy ladies in the country.

It is worthy to note that in 2019, excluding features, Olamide released 7 songs (Woske, Buga, Spirit, Oil & Gas, Totori, Pawon, and Choko Milo) and 3 out of the 7 songs (Pawon, Woske, Oil & Gas) were among the top ten most searched songs on Google in Nigeria for 2019 and that for sure is a great conversion rate.

(8) Teni

In a male-dominated industry, the Dr. Dolor Entertainment songstress, Teni banked solely on her music prowess and her unique style and never had to dress sensually or chase clout online to become a force to reckon with in the music industry.

She had an amazing 2018 and delivered hit records like ‘Case’, ‘Uyo Meyo’, ‘Askamaya’ and she entered 2019 with the goal of doing better and experimenting and she did just that.

The year was up to a good start for her as she bagged her first award on the 5th of January 2019 for the best new artiste at the SoundCity MVP Awards 2019 and her song ‘Askamaya’ also got nominated for ‘Listener’s choice’ at that same award ceremony.

Teni embarked on her first World tour on the 15th of February in which she got to perform in cities like Birmingham, Manchester, London, Vancouver, and others. While she was still on tour, she got recognized by YouTube as YouTube’s “Trending Artist On The Rise”. Teni also got nominated at the 2019 BET award for the ‘Best New International Act’ which she lost to South African rapper – Sho Madjozi. Teni stole the show at the 2019 headies award as she went home that night with 4 awards out of 6 nominations.

In 2019, she released her first body of work ‘Billionaire EP’ which had 6 songs and the lead single on the project ‘Billionaire’ was a big hit record in the country and it was assisted by a befitting music video which can also go down as one of the best Nigerian music videos for 2019.

Teni also got recognized by big Nigerian brands who were ready to associate themselves with her as she secured endorsement deals with TomTom, Wema Bank, Pepsi, and Tecno.

(9) Joeboy

Talented Nigerian singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur, Oluwatosin Ajibade who is well known as Mr. Eazi launched a program called ‘emPawa Africa‘ to support independent artists and Joeboy is one of the beneficiaries of the program and we can all agree that among all the beneficiaries, he is the most successful.

Joeboy sure knows how to keep his songs short, catchy, and melodious, and from the lyrics of his song, one can describe him or take him as a sucker for love.

All his singles which he released in 2019 were all hit songs. He started the year with the single ‘Baby’ which was released on the 1st of March 2019 and the song spread like wildfire. The single didn’t just top music charts in Nigeria but also went on to dominate in other African countries. As his manner is, he released a visualizer alongside the music video, and people seemed to prefer it to the music video. The visualizer has garnered over 18 million views already on YouTube. Joeboy wasn’t ready to allow his early success to get into his head as he returned to the studio again still hungry for more hit records. He followed up ‘Baby’ with yet another impressive single ‘Beginning’ produced by Killertunes and once again Joeboy found his way at the top on major music charts in Nigeria.

In his third single ‘Don’t Call Me Back’ featuring, he switched from the ‘sucker for love’ guy to a nonchalant guy who isn’t ready to beg for love. His hard work for the year didn’t go unrecognized by Nigerian awarding bodies as he secured three nominations (Next rated, Song of the year [Baby], and Best Pop single (Baby) at the 2019 Headies award, and won the award for “best artist in African pop category “ at the AFRIMA 2019.

He wrapped up the year with his debut music project ‘Love & Light’ which contained 5 songs. You can listen to the EP here.

(10) Tiwa Savage

In 2019 her 7-year long deal and partnership with one of Nigeria’s most successful record labels – Mavin Records came to an end and she left the label ceremoniously. After departing the label she took another step forward in the ladder of success as she inked a deal with American global music corporation – Universal Music Group in May 2019 and also got signed to Island Records, a division of Universal Music Group (UMG).

The Uber-talented Nigerian songstress has grown and built her fan base in such a way that she doesn’t necessarily need to keep releasing songs to remain relevant and play shows as she released only three singles (49-99, Owo Mi Da, and ‘Attention’) in 2019 but still made the list of the top ten Nigerian artists in 2019.

The diva got to perform at the 2019 Wireless Festival, was also on the ‘The Lion King: The Gift’ album by Beyoncé where she delivered like a pro on the record ‘Keys To The Kingdom’, was on the remix of the hit song ‘My Type’ by Saweetie, and also got featured in Vogue’s magazine.

She won the ‘Best Female West Africa’ at the AFRIMA 2019 and also got nominated at the 2019 Headies award for ‘Artist of the Year’ but lost Burna Boy, ‘Best Collaboration’ on Like by Reekado Banks featuring her but lost to ‘Killin Dem’ by Burna Boy feat. Zlatan, and also for ‘Best Performer’ but lost to Yemi Alade.

See Top Ten Hottest Nigerian Artists in 2020 Here!

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