Nigerian artists Asake and Wizkid continue to show the commercial strength of Afrobeats through new activity that points to fresh releases. Their moves highlight strategies for extending album revenue, building fan engagement, and expanding into international markets via streaming platforms and live events.
Asake performed his album M$NEY in full for the first time on 21 June at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The invite-only event, held in partnership with Spotify, included a live orchestra and four unreleased songs. This marks Asake’s first full live outing of the project since its May release.
Fans in attendance and on social media interpreted the new material as preparation for a deluxe version of the album, released on 1 May. A full concert film from the show is expected on Spotify soon.
M$NEY set the record for the biggest first-week streams by an African album on Spotify, with 55.98 million global streams. It surpassed Wizkid’s previous mark with Morayo (52.8 million). In Nigeria alone, it recorded 42.2 million streams in its first week, breaking the prior record. The project has since passed 200 million Spotify streams and achieved strong positions on Apple Music charts in the UK and Nigeria.
