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”. 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 a range of international artists. She has recorded tracks alongside R&B star Chris Brown, UK rapper Stormzy and Little Mix member Leigh-Anne Pinnock, expanding her reach beyond Afrobeats circles and reinforcing her status as a versatile partner for global names in pop and R&B.
Starr has embarked on a career in acting. She appears in the forthcoming film Children of Blood and Bone, an adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s fantasy novel, sharing the screen with Idris Elba, Viola Davis and Cynthia Erivo. In interviews, she has described the transition from recording studios to film sets as a demanding yet formative experience, one that has deepened her appreciation for the craft of acting.
Despite her feat, a gender gap persists. Female African artists remain under-represented on streaming platforms and in global charts. Ayra Starr’s achievement stands out against peers: for example, Grammy-nominated Nigerian singer Tems has yet to reach the five-million-follower mark on Spotify.
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