Singer-songwriter Ayra Starr has become the first African female artist to exceed five million followers on Spotify.
The milestone, confirmed this week by Spotify data, marks a new record for African acts on the global streaming service and underlines her growing international audience.
Despite her recent surge in followers, Ayra Starr remains behind fellow Nigerian artist Tems in total streams.
According to Spotify figures, Starr’s catalogue has accumulated 2.7 billion streams across all her credits, compared with Tems’s 3.8 billion.
Starr’s festive single “Santa” leads her output with more than 707 million plays, while her breakthrough track “Rush” has attracted over 474 million streams to date.
Since her debut in early 2021, Ayra Starr has released a self-titled extended play and two studio albums. Her first EP, issued through Mavin Records, featured the top-five Nigerian hit “Away” and her debut album 19 & Dangerous spawned the chart-topping single “Bloody Samaritan”.
READ ALSO: Ayra Starr clocks a billion views on YouTube
In May 2024, she unveiled The Year I Turned 21, an album that explored themes of self-discovery and featured collaborations with Seyi Vibez and Giveon.
Starr’s work has earned favourable reviews and a nomination for Best African Music Performance at the 66th Grammy Awards.
In addition to her solo projects, Ayra Starr has collaborated with international artists including Chris Brown, Stormzy, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, cementing her place as a global Afrobeats ambassador.
She also appears in the upcoming fantasy film Children of Blood and Bone, starring alongside Idris Elba, Viola Davis and Cynthia Erivo.
Despite her success, the article highlights an ongoing gender gap: few African female artists reach such milestones. Notably, even Grammy-nominated Tems has yet to hit five million followers on the platform.
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