The Nigerian music industry has been dominated by four male music artistes in the last half decade and they cannot be overlooked. Burna Boy, Davido, Wizkid and now Rema has been a recurring decimal in the music industry and particularly the secular genre which accounts for more than sixty-five percent of the klieg lights, controversies and the revenue being generated in the industry. Rema who joined the pack of the formidable trio on account of his global influence, laurels and wealth amassed in the last few years. Yemi Alade who has the highest female instagram followers leads the pack among the female and others are Tems, Ayrr Starr, and acclaimed African Bad Gal, Tiwa Savage who cannot be overlooked, as the four female top musicians have global appeal and followers, Ayrr Starr being the latest entrant.
Tems and Ayra Starr emerged at the top of the Global Impact List unveiled by popular streaming platform Spotify for the first half of 2024.
The following artistes should be watched out for in 2025 having had a sterling career in 2024:
Ayo Maff
Ayorinde Mafoluku Ayodele, known as Ayo Maff is a prodigy who has shown talent and honed his skills to emerge one of the artistes to blow in 2025 having distinguished himself over the years.
The 19-year-old musician gained industry recognition for his single Dealer featuring Fireboy DML. He released another, ‘Are You There’ which got him co-signed by Industry giants.
Ayo Maff grew up in Bariga a suburb in Lagos State where he began rapping and writing his first songs at a young age. He found an early advocate in regional music plugger, Olaitan Salaudeen who helped Maff get his music released and promoted.
Associated with YBNL artistes, the singer who feature with Fireboy DML in Lil Kesh’s ‘Vex For U’ has had the opportunity to perform at O2 Arena (Asake’s tour) and has been featured by artistes like Blaqbones and Lil Kesh.
The young talent with potential to stand out in the industry recently did a remix of his song ‘Are You There’ featuring Ayra Starr and is set to drop in 2025.
Qing Madi
Chimamanda Pearl Chukwuma popularly known as Qing Madi is one of the fast rising musician who shone in 2024. She is a singer, songwriter, dancer and entertainer who blends Afrobeats, pop, soul, and R&B.
In the music world where female musicians are working and hustling twice what the male counterparts are doing, Qing Madi is showcasing her talent and standing up to be counted among the would-be stars of Nigerian music, just like what the likes of Omawumi, Seyi Shay, Yemi Alade, Simi and Tems have done.
Qing Madi is indeed an artiste to explore in 2025. She gained recognition with her music, ‘See Finish’ released in 2022 and followed it with ‘Ole’ featuring BNXN. The songs made a hit ranking in categories on Spotify and Apple Music aside tiktok. To cement her talent and music relevance, she was featured by American singer, Chloe Bailey (Vision) and Joeboy.
Born in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria on July 1, 2006, Qing Madi who hails from Delta State launched her career at the age of 7 and released her debut EP titled ‘Qing Madi’ in 2023. She has collaborated with Victony and Bnxn and her dream collaborations include Wizkid, Fave, Wande Coal, Simi and Burna Boy. She is inspired by Kendrick Lamar’s artistry
Qing Madi who is reportedly signed to Jton Music has her anticipated debut album for release in 2025.
Fola
The singer is signed to Bella Shmurda’s Dangbana Records and got a hit with his song Alone featuring Badboi DML. He also did a remix of the song featuring sensational singer BNXN.
Both songs have crossed over 20 million streams on Spotify. Aside from his distinct voice, Fola stands out for his penmanship. He recently dropped his EP featuring his boss Bella Shmurda in one of its tracks. The future looks bright for Fola.
Pheelz
The year 2024, aside from unending albums, saw impressive international collaborations like Usher working with Pheelz on Ruin, while Chris Brown joining forces with Davido and Lojay on Grammy-nominated Sensational track.
Conclusion
With albums of music stars being anticipated in 2025, the year holds a lot of promise even with global music record companies like Sony and indigenous ones like Mavin, YBNL making defining signees into the music scene. Already, Davido is set to release a new album titled ‘5ive’, Burnaboy to release ‘No Sign Of Weakness’, talented Omah Lay set to release his new album, ‘Clarity Of Mind’ and fast rising singer and one to watch out for this year, Qing Madi to release her debut album making the year one to look forward to with zest.
Others like Falz, Timaya, may just make a bold come back with undeniable hits in 2025.
