K-pop Continues To Rise On Nigerian Music Charts

Years after its gradual entry into Nigeria, South Korean music reached a point of significant stability in the country by 2024. What began with a few Nigerians individuals discovering and listening to Korean music has evolved into a thriving community.

This transformation led to people finding others who shared their passion for K-pop, resulting in a connected scene. This community, which initially gathered in WhatsApp and Facebook groups, has expanded into live events including the Korean Culture Festival organized by K-Vibe Nigeria and radio shows such as Jaese’s Kpop Hitlist.

This growth has also been reflected on music charts, starting with the iTunes Charts, which saw EXO set the pace in 2017. In 2022, Spotify revealed that Nigeria was the third-largest market for K-pop in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Seven years after EXO made Nigerian chart history on iTunes, K-pop acts continue to secure strong positions on various Nigerian charts, including Spotify, YouTube, and TurnTable Charts, one of Nigeria’s most prestigious chart systems.

In 2024, the premier chart team, in collaboration with Jaese—a collective-turned-agency dedicated to promoting K-pop in Africa—unveiled the K-pop acts and songs that held spots across various TurnTable Charts. “Based on other charts we’ve studied in previous years, Africans tend to like the same K-pop songs in a year, ” Joella Nuer of Jaese noted, connecting the K-pop representation in Nigeria to African K-pop trends. “So if the chart was from another country, it would have been similar with slight differences in ranking and artists,” she added.

Here are the highlights:

K-pop acts accounted for just 1% on the Official Artiste Top 100, 2% on the Official Streaming Songs, 2% on the Official Radio Songs charts, 3% on the Official Nigeria Top 100, and 16% on the Official Top 100 Albums.

BLACKPINK member ROSÉ emerged as the top charting K-pop artist in Nigeria in 2024. Her song “APT,” featuring American singer Bruno Mars, made the most chart appearances (4), recorded the biggest gains across three categories, and received the highest radio play.

Armageddon The 1st Album by SM Entertainment’s aespa held the title of the most-streamed K-pop album in Nigeria. It spent 20 weeks on the Top Albums chart, the longest for any K-pop group in 2024, and peaked at No. 34, the highest position achieved by any K-pop album in Nigeria.

Women continued to dominate the charts with DAY6, Jimin, and Stray Kids being the only male acts. Other notable highlights were K-bands DAY6 and QWER making an appearance on the Album chart for the first time. Additionally, Thai group PiXXiE earned a spot on the album chart, with their 2023 rain EP.

Among the TurnTable-charting albums, LE SSERAFIM and IVE were the only K-pop groups with African sound-inspired tracks, “Smart” and “RESET,” respectively. “With over 18 K-Afro songs released this year, it’s quite surprising that only two made it to the charts,” Ella Okunmwendia of Jaese stated. “However, it’s quite similar to 2022, when ‘BTBT’ by B.I and ‘ZOO’ by NCT x aespa’s Giselle were the only songs with African influences that charted,” she revealed.

Check out the full chart below:

SOURCE: TurnTable Charts + Jaese Productions