Forbes Africa has released its list of Richest African musicians.The list was put
together using factors such as endorsement value, popularity, show
rates, sales, awards, YouTube views, appearance in newspapers,
investment, social media presence, influence and others. Our Nigerian
artistes like Don Jazzy, Wizkid and Davido, made the list of the top ten
richest African musicians.
The top 10 are;
1. AKON– Akon
has over 35 million albums sold worldwide. He has won numerous awards
including five Grammy Award nominations and has 45 Billboard Hot 100
songs under his belt. He tops the list according to Forbes Africa.
2. BLACK COFFEE,
SOUTH AFRICA– The multi-award-winning artist’s real name is Nkosinathi
Maphumulo. He was born in South Africa’s house music province,
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and raised in the Eastern Cape province, where
Nelson Mandela hailed from, before moving back to KZN to study music.
3. HUGH
MASEKELA, SOUTH AFRICA– Hugh was born in Witbank, east of Johannesburg.
He has released more than 43 albums and performed with Marvin Gaye,
Dizzy Gillespie, The Byrds, Fela Kuti, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and
Miriam Makeba.
4. DON JAZZY, NIGERIA– Don Jazzy is
ranked fourth richest in Africa and also first in Nigeria. Like many
artists, his real name is Michael Collins Ajereh, and he started playing
music as a child in church before moving to the UK to pursue his
career.
5. TINASHE,
ZIMBABWE-AMERICAN– Tinashe was a child model by the age of three. The
twenty-four-year-old sang before she could talk and made her first
appearance in 2000 in the film Cora Unashamed. Her voice also starred in
the cartoon feature film The Polar Express alongside Oscar-winning
actor, Tom Hanks.
6. JIDENNA,
NIGERIAN-AMERICAN– By the age of 10, Jidenna Theodore Mobisson knew he
wanted to do music but was afraid to tell his father who wanted him to
be an engineer. He is ranked sixth according to Forbes Africa.
7. WIZKID,
NIGERIA— Wizkid is arguably currently the uncrowned king of African
music. Grammy Award-winning artist, Alicia Keys and husband Swizz Beatz,
danced to his songs Ojuelegba and Caro, with Keys posting a video on
her Instagram account with the caption, “This song makes me happy”.
Kylie Jenner also posted a video of herself dancing to Wizkid’s music on
Snapchat.
8. DAVIDO,
NIGERIA– Davido has claimed a high status in just five years. He said
it was people like P-Square and D’Banj who made him believe this was
possible. He became famous for his widely acclaimed 2012 debut album
“Omo Baba Olowo”.
9. SARKODIE, GHANA– Michael Owusu Addo
started out as an underground rapper and through the help of Duncan
Williams, his former manager, his career was launched. Staying true to
his identity, he is a big advocate of Azonto, a Ghanaian genre that is
said to have been born out of Kpanlogo, a traditional dance. His first
single off his fourth album, Mewu, sold almost 4,000 copies on the first
day of its release in Ghana. He was also the first Ghanaian to win a
BET award.
10. OLIVER MTUKUDZI, ZIMBABWE— Oliver Tuku
Mtukudzi has 65 albums under his belt, more than the legendary Michael
Jackson and Whitney Houston. It’s a remarkable career stretching back 41
years with songs that have enlivened parties all over the world. He is
ranked 10th richest musician in Africa.
–ForbesAfrica