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55 albums · 1961–2024

Music of Nigeria, from apala, highlife and jùjú to Fela, fuji, Sunny Adé and the Afrobeats of today

· 2 min read · by 1001 Albums

Seun Kuti in a bright patchwork shirt playing the alto saxophone at a microphone on stage
A drummer singing as he walks, an hourglass-shaped talking drum under his arm on a woven strap, a curved stick in his handTems singing at a microphone in a studio lit in red and blue, a guitarist playing behind her
Seun Kuti with Egypt 80, Fela's last band, at the Rudolstadt festival in 2019. Photo: Schorle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · A player of the dùndún, the talking drum, in Nigeria in 2024. Photo: Tijani Taofeek Bamidele, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · Tems singing Mr Rebel on NdaniTV Sessions in 2019. Photo: NdaniTV, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Nigeria's popular music has the apala of Haruna Ishola and Ayinla Omowura, with the talking drum at its centre, the highlife of Rex Lawson, Victor Olaiya's trumpet, Celestine Ukwu, Victor Uwaifo's guitar from Benin City, Prince Nico Mbarga's Sweet Mother, the Oriental Brothers, Oliver De Coque and Stephen Osita Osadebe, the jùjú of I.K. Dairo, Ebenezer Obey, King Sunny Adé and Shina Peters, Orlando Owoh's toye, the Afrobeat that Fela Kuti and Tony Allen made in Lagos and Femi Kuti carried on, the afro rock and funk of the seventies with BLO, the Funkees, Ofege and the Lijadu Sisters, William Onyeabor's synthesisers in Enugu, Christy Essien-Igbokwe's disco and Onyeka Onwenu's pop, the reggae of Sonny Okosuns and Majek Fashek, Mike Ejeagha's stories in song, the fuji of Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, Salawa Abeni's waka and Keziah Jones's blufunk. After them come 2Face Idibia, P-Square and D'banj, Asa and Nneka, the rap of M.I Abaga and Olamide, Sinach's gospel, Brymo, the Afrobeats of Yemi Alade, Burna Boy, Wizkid, Tiwa Savage, Ayra Starr, Asake, Rema, Davido and Tems, Show Dem Camp's palmwine music, Cruel Santino's alté, the Cavemen's highlife and Etuk Ubong's trumpet. The list has 55 records from 1961 to 2024, one or two by each name and only a small part of what they made; the older highlife and jùjú are partly the collections Deezer has, dated as their LPs are, Lagbaja is missing because Deezer has none of his records, and the songs of the north with Mamman Shata's kalangu drums and Dan Maraya Jos's kuntigi, which Deezer has only as undated reissues or not at all, the sakara of Yusuf Olatunji, the gospel beyond a nod, Fela Sowande's concert music and the many cassettes of Lagos and Onitsha are left for other lists. About 44 hours of music, 5 days of a few records each.

By genre

World 29%Soul & R&B 11%Rock 3%Other 57%
  • World 29%
  • Soul & R&B 11%
  • Rock 3%
  • Other 57%

The genres named most: nigerian, highlife, afrobeats, afrobeat, r&b, jùjú.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 1 country: Nigeria 55. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

More lists

Lists of Countries first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.