The “40 Best Afropop Songs of 2023” is a year-end editorial selection attributed to Rolling Stone, reproduced by The Culture Newspaper on January 4, 2024. The available excerpts confirm several songs, but not all 40 entries or their complete order. You can still use the list as a starting point for exploring the year’s varied African and diaspora pop sounds.
What is the 40-song list?
It is a critics’ selection, not a chart ranked by sales or streams. The Culture Newspaper’s January 4, 2024 reproduction attributes the year-end list to Rolling Stone. The accessible excerpt confirms WurlD’s “Shake” at No. 40 and Aya Nakamura featuring SDM’s “Daddy” at No. 39. The associated Spotify playlist includes other songs named below, but its sequence has not been independently verified against the editorial ranking. Read the reproduced list at The Culture Newspaper.
Which songs can be confirmed?
The accessible article excerpt and playlist result identify these entries. Only the two songs with stated positions are shown with a ranking number; the remaining titles are not presented as a complete or ordered list.
| Position in the excerpt | Song | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| No. 40 | “Shake” | WurlD |
| No. 39 | “Daddy” | Aya Nakamura featuring SDM |
| Not stated | “Water” | Tyla |
| Not stated | “UNAVAILABLE” | Davido and Musa Keys |
| Not stated | “Princess Going Digital” | Amaarae |
| Not stated | “People” | Libianca |
| Not stated | “Sability” | Ayra Starr |
“Not stated” means the accessible material does not establish a position for that song; it does not indicate that the song was unranked. Open the associated Spotify playlist. Playlist order should not be taken as the ranking order.
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What does “Afropop” mean in this selection?
The list’s framing uses Afropop broadly rather than as a strict, universal genre label. It includes music by artists who primarily live or work on the African continent as well as diaspora artists, and points to musical elements associated with African traditions. Examples include Swahili and West African pidgin, South African amapiano log-drum programming, and Congolese-style guitar. These are possible markers, not a checklist that every song must meet.
That breadth matters: the selection is best read as an editorial invitation across sounds and scenes, not as a definitive boundary around who or what counts as Afropop.
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How does the list relate to charts and streaming?
An editorial ranking reflects critics’ choices; chart positions measure performance under a particular chart’s rules. For example, the UK Official Afrobeats Chart is a weekly chart based on sales and streams. In the week beginning December 31, 2023, Tems’ “Me & U” was No. 1. That UK chart is separate from the Rolling Stone year-end selection and does not explain how its 40 songs were chosen. See the Official Charts Company’s Afrobeats Chart.
Streaming figures offer another, narrower kind of context. Spotify reported that Afrobeats streams on its platform had grown 550% since 2017, and that Rema’s “Calm Down” became the first Afrobeats artist-led track to reach one billion Spotify streams in 2023. These are Spotify-specific figures, not measures of all listening worldwide. Spotify also said its 2023 Wrapped toplists reflected listening by more than 574 million people globally; that figure describes the report’s audience, not the number who listened to Afropop. Read Spotify’s 2023 Wrapped report.
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Where can you listen?
Start with the associated Spotify playlist, then search for individual tracks on the service you use. Availability can vary by country and platform. Treat the playlist as a listening route, not proof of the full ranking or its exact order.
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- Product Type: ABIS_MUSIC
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