Top 10 Albums of 2024
Here are the Nigerian top 10 albums of 2024
What was the state of music like in 2024, or better yet, what was the state of music albums in 2024?
By early 2024, the consensus among tastemakers was that Nigerian pop (Afrobeats) was experiencing a slump. Singles flopped, and albums lacked quality craftsmanship.
However, as the year progressed, the music scene began to thaw, and artists started to release noteworthy LPs.
2024 is a few days away from wrapping up, and it is time we drop a couple of lists to highlight what a year it has been musically.
The Naija Way has a couple of lists to drop. The maiden list highlights the top ten albums of 2024. What are the criteria?
Here they are - critical acclaim, cohesiveness, musical quality (production, songwriting and innovation), artistic growth and versatility.
Sorry, Afrobeats mathematicians, streaming statistics won't be a factor.
Let the rants begin.
Madam Dearest Part 1 - Dotti the Deity
Genre: Folk
Dotti The Deity's offering of folk music harkens to the genre’s golden age. His take on the genre is not nostalgia bait but a progressive effort. His 2024 LP gives us a change of pace and taste in popular music.
12 Summers - BOJ
Genre: Alte
"I don't talk much because I have nothing to prove." Exactly. The alte OG uses his patent-smouldering vocals to create a luxurious album.
Born in the Wild - Tems
Genre: R&B/Soul
With a soulful and stirring voice, Tems presented her melancholic and brooding debut album that tethered itself to listeners yearning for soothing solutions to life's complex problems.
7. Lungu Boy - Asake
Genre: Afrobeats
You can take the boy out of the Lungu, but can't take the Lungu out of the boy. Barring a few missteps, Asake reminded us why he is Afrobeats' top hitmaker. He skillfully finessed hits that bumped our speakers.
Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head) - Seun Kuti & Egypt ‘80
Genre: Afrobeat
Backed by the most legendary music band in all of Africa, 'Egypt 80, Seun Kuti produced his finest work to date. Confident and unrelenting, the Big Bird produced an album that doubled down on his POV and pan-African philosophies.
Adedamola - Fireboy DML
Genre: Afrobeats
Who doesn't like a good rebound story? After the missteps on the confusing 'Playboy,' Fireboy DML produced a true-to-character LP that was enjoyable and refreshing. Not afraid to be the nice guy, Adedamola was vulnerable and beautiful.
The Year I Turned 21 - Ayra Starr
Genre: Afrobeats
On her sophomore album, Ayra Starr came of age in terms of brandishing her credentials of having what it takes to be a global pop star. Polished with Gen-Z sass and driven by unbridled ambition, TYIT21 was a cultural milestone for the sabi girls…and boys.
Homeless - Llona
Genre: Afrobeats
Llona was the one no one saw coming, and his surprising album was the unexpected package. With a piercing voice, Llona took us into his harrowing world that made us face our demons and exorcise them.
Stubborn - Victony
Genre: Afrobeats
Criminally overlooked, Victony's debut album is among the best this year. Brimming with elite penmanship, snug collabos, and tight concepts, Stubborn is a well-orchestrated body of work from a brilliant thinker and singer.
HEIS - Rema
Genre: Afrobeats
The gothic rage lord went into his cave and, months after, came up with a polarizing album that poked two fingers into the eyes of boredom in Nigerian pop music.
Baulked at by critics, laughed at by tastemakers, and scoffed at by gatekeepers, Rema's album quickly became an anti-establishment art piece gazed at by the populace.
Imagine the Louvre opened its doors to the hungry masses to wonder at (perhaps) Afrobeats' first mainstream brutalist LP.
The aggressive mood of the album, which sometimes feels like a bloated, over-the-top industrial theatric performance, made frustrated young Nigerians under the thumb of a tone-deaf and opulent ruling class shout, stump and yell, not in protest but in communal cathartic sub-gatherings at concerts and raves.
Channelling the anarchy that looms in his cultural heritage and DJ YK's skeletal frenzy production, Rema defied the odds and reaped the rewards for boldly switching things up.
