Libianca’s Hit 'People' Garner 1 Billion Streams on Spotify

Cameroonian-American singer Libianca’s breakout hit “People”, including its high-profile remix featuring Nigerian stars Ayra Starr and Omah Lay, has become another marker of the growing international reach of Afrobeats and African popular music.

According to Spotify stream counters,the song has surpassed the one-billion-stream mark globally when its original recording and released versions are considered collectively, underlining the ability of African-rooted music to attract audiences far beyond the continent.

Spotify currently lists the original “People” at more than 880 million streams, while the version featuring Ayra Starr and Omah Lay has accumulated more than 166 million streams.

Released in 2022, “People” became Libianca’s breakthrough international record, combining an emotionally driven performance with Afrobeats and soul influences.

The remix, released in 2023, brought together Libianca with Ayra Starr and Omah Lay, two of Nigeria’s prominent contemporary voices.

The collaboration also demonstrated the increasingly borderless nature of African music, with artists from different African markets collaborating to reach audiences across Europe, North America and other parts of the world.

“People” has previously made significant chart gains internationally, including reaching the top of the UK Afrobeats chart and spending weeks at the top of the ranking. It also entered the US Billboard Hot 100, giving Libianca a major breakthrough in the American market.

Afrobeats goes global

The milestone comes as streaming data continues to show a dramatic expansion of Afrobeats beyond its traditional West African base.

Spotify said Afrobeats streams on its platform increased 349-fold between 2014 and 2025, making it one of the fastest-growing genres on the service outside its countries of origin. The platform also reported that more than half of Spotify streams in 2026 came from listeners outside an artist’s home country.

In 2023, Spotify reported that Afrobeats generated more than 15 billion streams, compared with about two billion in 2017. The platform has increasingly highlighted the genre through dedicated editorial initiatives designed to track its international growth.

The genre’s global rise has been powered by artists including Burna Boy, Wizkid, Davido, Tems, Rema, Ayra Starr and Omah Lay, whose music has increasingly appeared on international charts, playlists and collaborations with major Western artists.

Rema’s “Calm Down”, featuring Selena Gomez, became the first Nigerian artist-led Afrobeats song to reach one billion streams on Spotify in 2023, according to Spotify.

The growing international audience is also reflected in the geographic spread of Afrobeats consumption. Spotify has previously identified cities including London, Paris, Nairobi, Amsterdam and Accra among major streaming centres for the genre outside Lagos.

For Libianca, whose “People” transformed a deeply personal song into a global hit, the achievement represents more than an individual streaming milestone.