Top Songs of 2025: Nigeria

Apple Music’s end-of-year charts are based on plays between November 1, 2024, and October 31, 2025. Nigerian music in 2025 was about homing in on what has fed the spirits of the country’s stars, both as fans and as purveyors. Burna Boy’s eighth album No Sign of Weakness opens with “No Panic” and its title track, high-propulsion, percussion-heavy songs that reassert him as Afropop’s global standard-bearer. Tiwa Savage turned inward, leaning into American R&B, where her honey-toned, Brandy-adjacent voice could shine cleanly. On 5ive, Davido offered sensual duets like the Shenseea and 450 collaboration “R&B” and “Offa Me” featuring Victoria Monét. Lojay’s album XOXO stood out for crisp production and instinctual songwriting, a practice that yielded catchy hooks and nonsensical phrases rooted in an innate musicality, while DJ Spinall’s ÈKÓ GROOVE showed off a curatorial acumen that helped him successfully pair unlikely collaborators. Of the year’s notable singles, Rema’s “Baby (Is It a Crime)” channeled breathless singsong rap with expert control and a winning Sade sample. Meanwhile, Shallipopi’s “Laho”—with its menacing log drums and idiosyncratic delivery—dominated summer rotations, alongside the endlessly flirtatious energy of Chella’s “My Darling” and Ayra Starr’s “Hot Body,” both of which were essential to any successful party.