Jan 27, 2018: African musicians have no doubt recorded huge success from their music craft.
Success in form of “Good Name”, “Fame” and most essentially, “Money”.
Meanwhile, American top business magazine, Forbes Magazine has released a list of top 10 richest African musicians in 2017. The list featured Nigerian artistes like Davido, Wizkid, Don Jazzy and other artistes from other African countries.
The list was compiled considering factors like endorsement, popularity, show rates, sales, awards, YouTube views, appearance in newspapers, investment, social media presence, influence and others.
Below is 2017 Forbes’ list of top 10 richest African musicians;
1. AKON
With over 35 million albums sold all over the world, Akon 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
He is a multi-award-winning artist’s with real name. 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. So far his music journey has been financially smooth and he’s ranked second on the list of Africa’s richest artiste by Forbes.
3. HUGH MASEKELA, SOUTH AFRICA
Third on this list is Hugh who 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
From Ojuelegba to the world, Wizkid is arguably the most sort after African artiste all over the world. Grammy Award-winning artist, Alicia Keys and husband Swizz Beatz, vibed 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. In 2017, Wizkid held a sold out show at the Iconic Royal Albert hall making history as the first African artiste to attain that height. The starboy is currently ranked 7th on Forbes list of richest African artistes.
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”.
The “IF” crooner who recently announced 500 million proceeds from his 30Billion concert is ranked 8th of 2017 Forbes’ list of richest musicians in Africa.
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 his ranked 10th richest musician in Africa. – 360nobs