African music is everywhere. You hear it in Jamaican reggae rhythms, Brazilian salsa songs, and in Atlanta trap tracks. It's on the streets, in the clubs, and climbing the charts. We're celebrating the continent's expressive and diverse music culture in one dedicated space-our new Afro Hub.
Launched late last year, the hub shares the eclectic sounds of Africa and the African diaspora. And there's something for everyone, whether you're discovering Nigerian-British R&B singer Jacob Banks, or falling back in love with favorites you may not know are African-born, like Sade. With the hub, people can access amazing music, from traditional African sounds to electrifying party anthems to compelling podcasts.
We sat down with Spotify Global Lead of African Music & Culture Tunde Ogundipe to learn more about the origins of the Afro Hub, what listeners can expect, and where it's headed next.
What's the inspiration behind the Afro Hub?
The idea for the Afro Hub is to be an educational portal, not just for Africans, and not just for the African diaspora, but for everyone-people who are familiar with this type of music and for those who want to discover more.
So the goal of the Afro Hub is to bring all of these different cultures and communities together from the diaspora, especially from the continent of Africa. The hub organizes the sounds of these cultures and communities, making them easy for people to discover in one place.
How is the Afro Hub organized and what types of playlists can people look forward to discovering within it?
The flagship playlist is called African Heat. It's like our RapCaviar, where people can listen to our top hits. It's a way for us to show the rest of the world that, hey, there's music coming out of Africa that, while they're all amazing, is not only your traditional Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ang lique Kidjo, or Fela Kuti. There's this whole burgeoning pop scene that's happening in Africa that you guys need to be hip to.
With Spotify leading the way and creating the Afro Hub, and especially with the playlist African Heat, it's no longer just mainstream music from West Africa available for discovery. It's now trending music and regional playlists from the West, East, Central, and South Africa. It's a much wider and more inclusive net, an amalgamation of all the different areas of the continent represented equally, providing more balance than before.
Some other playlists to check out on the hub are We Everywhere, with top Afro bashment, fusion, and crossover hits; Peppeh, featuring fresh discoveries and early bets on new music; and Gold Mine, full of Afrowave hits and nostalgic classics.
How do you incorporate podcasts into the Afro Hub, and what kinds of podcasts can people discover there?
The big challenge was finding podcasts that are interesting and varied enough for the African diaspora. We reached out to a bunch of influencers in Africa, and asked what podcasts they listened to that spoke to African culture. Each one sent us a list of fifty or so podcasts.
A few really stood out right away, including Jesus and Jollof, which has a really fun and interesting vibe. It features cohosts Luvvie Ajayi, an award-winning author and speaker, and Yvonne Orji, (who stars on HBO's Insecure.) They're two powerful Nigerian women talking about things they love, their personal stories, and life in general. Rants & Randomness is another Luvvie Ajayi podcast that was a no-brainer to include. She brings on all-star guests and talks about all things pop culture and society in her own funny yet hold-nothing-back way. There's also Flagrant 2: No Easy Buckets, a sports podcast hosted by Akaash Singh, Kazeem Famuyide, and Andrew Schulz. It's a salty, super-entertaining show filled with all kinds of hot takes.
We also have a cooking podcast in the hub that highlights different cuisines across Africa, and there are news- and entrepreneurship-focused podcasts that follow the top general and business news in different regions of the continent.
What makes the Afro Hub so enticing?
People gravitate toward this music, even when they aren't really familiar with it. They come to the hub because the sound has always attracted people-the same people who like dancehall music, people who love Latin pop music, world music, and Afro pop. It's the same source with the same energy. People might not even understand the lyrics, but they can vibe to it anyway and keep coming back. That's why this is so successful.
Ready to give the Afro Hub a spin? Get started with our flagship playlist, African Heat, below.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
African music is everywhere. You hear it in Jamaican reggae rhythms, Brazilian salsa songs, and in Atlanta trap tracks. It's on the streets, in the clubs, and climbing the charts. We're celebrating the continent's expressive and diverse music culture in one dedicated space-our new Afro Hub. 
