Words By Phil Chard

The team here at the African Hip Hop Blog are obsessed with numbers and trend analysis. To satiate our desire to figure out where urban and hip hop music is headed on the continent we have decided to start watching the charts and trying to see if we can read the tea leaves and see where consumer behaviour is trending..

We initially began #AHHBChartWatch on Twitter - where we would analyse the iTunes charts from the continent's three major markets ; South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. However we soon realised that daily updates were not necessary because the charts are pretty stagnant. For example the iTunes Nigeria album chart has been frozen for the past week.

For now we will be using Soundcharts to monitor iTunes charts and Myplaydata.com for the Nigerian radio charts. We do have plans to start collating data from Kenya and South Africa with details from other regions to follow soon after that.

SOUTH AFRICA

Singles

The South African charts are the most active charts in the region with a fair amount of churn in the top ten. As of today Monday the 30th of January 2017 - Migos train smash of a hit is number one. The song has been firmly rooted St the number one spot for a week now. The song appears on the list twice (No. 1 and 10). This is because the single version of the song and the album version of the song are now available since the release of Migos new album Culture.

The first local entry on the chart is OKMALUMKOOLKAT at  number with the Gqi taken off his highly anticipated solo debut album.

The next and final entry on the chart is AKA with The World Is Yours. Expect the video for that on February 2.

Albums

The album chart is once again dominated by Migos. Okmalumkoolkat is at number 2. Mlazi Milano has been hopping around the top 3 spots daily for the last week peaking at its current position.

Nasty C's Bad Hair Extensions is currently at three. It too has been hopping around the charts. It peaked at number 2 within the last week before falling out of the top 10 completely only to surge up to number 3 on the 25th of January.

Once again the rest of the chart is dominated by American acts. Special mention must go to Drake and J Cole who have had all three if the km their last respective projects floating in and out of the tip ten.

Nigeria

SINGLES

The Nigerian chart is a little more stagnant when compared to the South African. Missy Elliott surged to number one today with her comeback single I'm Better. The only other appearances from African artists are from P-Square with Personally at 5 (released in 2014) and Caro by Starboy, LAX and Wizkid at 7 (released 2013).

Album

As mentioned before the iTunes album chart in Nigeria has been frozen for a week. M.I's Chairman is still number despite it being over 2 years old.

Kenya

Singles

The Kenyan singles chart has been dominated by Americans, particularly Wiz Khalifa. His song See You Again has been at number 1 for a month. Darassa's Muziki has been hopping around the top 3 spots over the last week. With A.Y's Zigo at 7 still holding strong over a year after it was released.

Album

The Kenyan album chart is dominated American albums and catalog albums like 2Pac's and The Notorious B.I.G's Greatest Hits compilations.

Myplaydata

Wizkid's Daddy Yo has jumped to number 1 and is now the biggest song in Nigeria a month after it was first released just before Christmas. Dammy Krane's and Davido's collaboration Izzue comes in at 2 while Runtown's Mad Over You has dropped from number 1 to 3. Tekno's Pana has now spent 27 weeks on the chart and jumped back into the top 5.