Forbes Africa has released their list of Richest African musicians. The 2017 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.
They include:
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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
