As the music industry gathers for Grammy Week, African music is playing an increasingly important role not only on the awards stage, but across global pop culture.
That momentum will be on display at YouTube Music’s annual African music and culture festival Pamoja in Los Angeles on Saturday. Organizers say the theme reflects the collaborative and transnational nature of African music’s rise globally.
The event will recognize nominees for the Recording Academy’s Best African Music Performance category and present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Nigerian pioneer Fela Kuti. Pamoja will also highlight the role of the African diaspora and international collaborators who have helped bring African sounds to audiences around the world.
The timing highlights broader changes in the music industry. African artists are no longer niche participants in the global market, they are reshaping it.
Digital platforms play a central role in that expansion. According to YouTube, more than 70% of the watch time for the platform’s top 100 African artists comes from outside Africa, indicating the genre’s growing international audience.
“YouTube is part of how fans around the world discovered these artists in the early days,” said Tuma Basa, director of music and culture at YouTube. “Most discoveries happen organically. There are no borders.”
That range is increasingly reflected in touring patterns and global collaborations. African artists are filling arenas in Europe and North America, and international artists are performing to large audiences across the continent.
Basa cited Nigerian star Rema’s performance in India in 2024 as a turning point in the globalization of audiences.
“Fans weren’t waiting for radio or traditional gatekeepers to tell them who to listen to,” he says. “They found the music on their own.”
Other digital platforms reflect similar trends. In 2025, Burna Boy was the most streamed African artist on Spotify, but in January 2026, Wizkid surpassed those streams, becoming the first African artist to reach 10 billion streams, underscoring Afrobeats’ global traction. Nigerian artist CKay’s song “Love Nwantiti” has been streamed over 1 billion times on Spotify, making it one of the most consumed African tracks of all time. On Apple Music, overall African music streams are growing four times faster than streams across the platform, and Wizkid’s global streams once again exceed 10 billion.
Industry leaders point to the African diaspora as a key driver of its global reach, helping to convey the region’s sounds to a global audience while preserving its cultural context.
“If African music is energy, diaspora is transmission,” Basa said. “It helps transport that energy to different parts of the world.”
This exchange works both ways, he added, with global artists increasingly engaging directly with African audiences.
Pamoja has become known for its informal, unscripted atmosphere, a choice organizers say was intentional.
“For us, authenticity is a foundation, not a cherry-picked aesthetic,” said Adi Awofisayo, head of music for sub-Saharan Africa at YouTube.
“If you look at previous Pamoha events, the influence didn’t come from the script,” she says. “It comes from people feeling seen and represented.”
Awofisayo said this approach is particularly important because African music and culture is often framed through an outside perspective.
“Pamoja creates a space where music and culture can exist on their own terms,” she said.
The event brings together hundreds of artists, executives, and cultural leaders and is known for spontaneous moments both on stage and in the audience.
“When that energy is authentic, it increases trust and a sense of belonging,” Awofisayo said. “That’s when the culture really moves forward.”
Organizers say Pamoja is designed to have lasting results, not just a one-night celebration.
“With so many decision-makers in one room, the goal is to go beyond surface-level networks,” Awofisayo says. “We want to create collaborations, partnerships and long-term strategies out of this.”
Grammy Awards and their evaluation
This year’s Grammy Awards reflect Africa’s growing presence, from the Best African Music Performance category introduced in 2024 to Kuti’s posthumous honor. South African-born presenter Trevor Noah continues to bring African representation to one of music’s biggest global stages.
Basa cautioned against viewing this moment as a sudden breakthrough.
“This is not a beginning or a turning point,” he said. “This is a continuation of music that has always existed and is finally being recognized on this level.
“This is an outdated perception, not a trend.”
Industry leaders say the next chapter of African music will be defined by diversity rather than a single dominant sound.
“There’s still a long way to go,” Awofisayo said, pointing to the growth of amapiano (a hybrid genre of electronic dance music popular in South Africa), and pointing out African hip-hop, R&B, and pop that have surpassed Afrobeats.
She said YouTube will continue to act as a global equalizer, allowing artists to reach audiences around the world without relying on traditional industry gatekeepers.
“Young artists from Johannesburg can find an audience in New York or Tokyo,” she says. “And African culture is more than music. It’s vision, it’s movement, it’s identity.”
In the case of Pamoja, organizers say the goal is clear: to reflect the place of African music in the global mainstream, not as something novel, but as something lasting and influential.
“We are seeing African music move from influence to infrastructure,” Basa said. “That change has already begun.”
