The 13 Biggest Breakout Stars In The Nigerian Music Industry (202

The year 2020 was a difficult year for most people, not excluding entertainers. The situation was particularly difficult in Nigeria because during the COVID 19 pandemic, the citizens embarked on the Nationwide #endsars protest which really affected the music release schedule of the majority of recording Artistes as well as their live shows. However, a few Artistes still managed to break out and become mainstream stars in the Nigerian Music industry this year.

These are the top 13 Nigerian artistes that became mainstream stars in 2020:

1) Zinoleesky - Oniyide Azeez a.k.a Zinoleesky gained popularity with his Instagram freestyles alongside Hotkid and Lil frosh in 2019. In 2020, he got signed to Naira Marley's Record label "Marlians Music" and then released the songs "Joromi" and "Caro". He scored a hit with the release of the Trips produced "Ma pariwo", which is one of the biggest songs in 2020. Known for his sonorous voice and street appeal, his features with Emo Grae on "How Come", "Just The Way" with Aloma, among other features has cemented his place as one of our favorite mainstream stars this year.

2) Tems - Temilade Openiyi who goes by the stage name "Tems" is one of the hottest Alte Artistes we have in the country right now. With Songs like "Know Your Worth" with Davido and Khalid, "Essence" with Wizkid off his highly anticipated "Made In Lagos" album, "Trouble" with DRB lasgidi, "Decided" with Odunsi and "Soon" with Black magic, Tems has been consistent with churning out good music to listeners this year. She also released her Debut EP "For Broken Ears" in October 2020 to rave reviews and acceptance with hits like "Damages" and "Higher".

3) Alpha P - Alpha P (former member of the RNA group which consisted of himself and Mavin superstar Rema) got signed to Universal Music in 2019 where he dropped his debut EP "King Of The Wolves" and established a dedicated fan base called the "Wolves Pack". He enjoyed an impressive year with "Paloma Remix" with DJ Tunez, an unreleased song with Davido and songwriting credit on Tiwa savage's "Celia" album. He released his 2nd EP titled "Wolves and Mustangs" in Nov 2020 with hit singles like "Vibe With Me" and "Mustang".

4) Bella Shmurda - Following the release of "Vision 2020" and the remix featuring YBNL helmsman Olamide, Bella Shmurda has gone ahead to release a well received EP titled "High Tension". He also scored features with Olamide on "Triumphant" and Davido on "Fade". Bella Shmurda also released one of the bggest songs In 2020 titled "Cash App" featuring Zlatan Ibile.

5) Cheque - Akanbi Bamidele Brett popularly known as Cheque is signed to Phyno's Penthauze label. The versatile singer and rapper released his debut EP "RAZOR" in 2020 with the Monster hit single "Zoom". The video of the song was directed by TG Omori. Cheque also scored a feature with Olamide on "Warlords", off his 999 album and sleeper hits off the Razor EP like Loco and Odun.

6) CaveMen - CaveMen identifies as a Nigerian highlife music group and consists of two brothers, Kingsley and Benjamin Okorie. The duo worked on Lady Donli's "Enjoy Your Life" album which was well received by critics. They produced ten songs off the album. They released their 16 tracks debut album "ROOTs" in August 2020 to critical acclaim and went ahead to perform at the BB Naija Lockdown Edition Finale. With refreshing music reminiscent of the 1960s, the CaveMen have been touted to be the next biggest music duo from Nigeria.

7) Ajebo Hustlers - Ajebo Hustlers is a Nigerian music duo consisting of Piego (Previous Dandenson) and Knowledge (George Dandenson). The portharcourt duo started their career in Portharcourt and released an EP titled "Ideas In My Voice Note". In 2020, they broke out into the mainstream scene with songs like "Tanana" feat king perryy, the 1dabanton produced Barawo and Barawo remix featuring Davido. The duo have been enjoying continuous support and airplays ever since then.

8 ) Jamopyper - Jamopyper first gained attention with the release of omode meta featuring Zlatan and Naira marley. Following his unveiling as an artiste on Zlatan's Led Zanku Records, Jamopyper did not waste time in proving his worth . He delivered a melodious hook on the hit single "Of Lala" featuring Zlatan and rahman Jago and repeated same on "Shomo" feat. Zanku Records. His song with Mayorkun titled "If No Be You" is one of the biggest Nigerian songs of 2020.

9) Omah Lay - Stanley Omah Didia popularly known as Omah Lay is probably the Biggest Breakout Star this year. The singer signed to KeyQaad Entertainment came into the scene and took everyone by surprise. With hit singles like You, Bad Influence, Lolo, Damn, Damn Remix with 6lack, Do Not Disturb, Yeyeye, Tonight, Godly, Confessions and Can't Relate, Omah Lay proved that indeed an artiste can exist without a bad song. He also got features on some of the biggest songs in the country like Pami with Wizkid and Adekunle Gold and infinity with Olamide.

1 Olakira - U and I music signee, Sola Ebenezer Adefemi (Olakira) released songs like Love Sick and Banke in 2020, but eventually scored a big hit with the release of his single "In My Maserati". Following heavy PR, the song soon caught the Attention of DMW helmsman, Davido who jumped on a remix and a video was made. The remix further popularized the song making it one of the biggest hit singles of the year.

11) Blaqbonez - Chocolate Act, Blaqbonez captured the hearts of Nigerians by launching one of the most viral and effective music campaign strategy we have witnessed in a while. He realeased the tempoe produced single "Haba" and followed up with massive promo that resulted in the catch phrase "Stream Haba". The song achieved commercial success and pushed Blaqbonez into the mainstream scene of the Nigerian music industry. His second single "BBC" which was controversial because of the removal of Santi's verse is also a huge success.

12) BadboyTimz - "O shock won bakan". The talented act had been gathering buzz since 2019 but finally broke out into the mainstream scene in 2020. His single "Micheal Jackson" is one of the biggest songs in Nigeria this 2020. He also scored another massive hit with "Loading" off Olamide's Album "Carpe Diem" and the MJ remix version featuring Teni and the official version featuring Mayorkun.

13) Laycon - Olamilekan Moshood Agbelese popularly known as Laycon is a Nigerian rapper and winner of the Big brother naija lockdown edition , 2020. He got signed to his record label “ Fierce Nation” in 2019 and dropped the Ep “ Who is Laycon “. It was however in 2020 in the Big brother naija house that he achieved wide spread fame with the single “ Awa fierce “ featuring chinko ekun and reminisce.

These are our biggest break out stars in the Nigerian music industry in the year 2020. Any thoughts?

#nairaland