Spotify’s ‘100 Greatest Pop Songs of the Streaming Era’ is out. See why Wizkid, Rema, and Tyla secured high rankings on this list of global hits.
Spotify just made it official. The platform’s editorial team, a cross-disciplinary group of editors and curators, has released its ranked list of the 100 Greatest Pop Songs of the Streaming Era, covering music from 2015 to the present.

Landing in the top ten is no small thing on a list this competitive, and Drake, Wizkid, and Kyla’s 2016 collaboration ‘One Dance’ earns its place. Drake had already been paying close attention to Afrobeats; his unofficial remix of Wizkid’s ‘Ojuelegba’ signalled as much, but ‘One Dance’ was the moment that brought the sound to a truly global audience.

Built on Afrobeats and dancehall rhythms, the track gave Drake his first Billboard Hot 100 number one as a lead artist and became the first song in Spotify history to reach one billion streams. But its significance goes well beyond the numbers. ‘One Dance’ was a blueprint and proof that Afrobeats could anchor a mainstream pop record without diluting itself, and became the door swung wide open for the artists who came after.

Rema’s ‘Calm Down’ was already a certified hit before Selena Gomez joined it, however, with her on the track, it became something else entirely. The track is warm and infectious, the remix pairing Rema’s mischievous energy with Gomez’s confidence.

The result crossed every boundary a song can cross. It became the most successful Afrobeats single in Billboard chart history and the first African artist-led track to reach one billion streams on Spotify. More than a commercial milestone, ‘Calm Down’ rewrote the playbook on what a global remix can accomplish without watering down, but instead, amplifying the sound.

Tyla’s inclusion at number 50 marks something equally significant, just from a different direction.

‘Water’ introduced Amapiano, the South African genre defined by its log drum and hypnotic groove, to listeners who had never encountered it before. It did so without sacrificing any of what makes the sound distinctive. The song won the inaugural Grammy for Best African Music Performance and made Tyla the first South African solo artist to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 in 55 years. Its placement on this list confirms what the chart history suggested, that Amapiano is no longer a regional sound. It’s pop.

The fact that these are staff picks matters. Spotify’s editors aren’t rewarding streams alone, but also making a curatorial argument about what has genuinely shaped pop music in this era. Their argument includes Afrobeats and Amapiano sitting comfortably alongside Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and The Weeknd. African artists are no longer appearing on these lists as novelties or outliers and that is worthy of note.

INEC has announced the kick-off date for the 2027 national elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the dates for the 2027 national elections. This was made known to the public in a press conference by the commission’s chairman, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN.

INEC, following the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and Section 28(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, which requires the commission to publish notice of elections not later than 360 days before the appointed date, has announced February and March as dates for national elections in 2027.

Speaking at the press conference Prof Amupitan stated that the tenure of the President, Vice-President, Governors, and Deputy Governors, except in Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, and Ondo States, will lapse on 28 May 2027. Membership of the National and State Assemblies will dissolve on 8 June 2027.

The presidential and national elections will take place on February 20, 2027, while the governorship and state House of Assembly elections will take place on March 6, 2027.

INEC will be having another busy year as Nigerians will be heading to the polls to choose new leaders across the national and state political positions.

Next year, the commission will be led by Professor Joash Amupitan SAN, who was sworn in by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on October 23, 2025, on a 5-year tenure after the end of the two terms of Professor Yakubu Mahmood.

INEC is again under heavy public scrutiny, especially the position of its chairman, who has come under fire from different Islamic organisations who have called for his resignation over his previous statement alleged made against the muslim population.

The commission will be conducting the national elections on a budget of ₦873 billion. From the huge budget, ₦379.75 billion will cater to operating costs, ₦92.32 billion for adminstrative cost, while ₦209.21 billion will go to financing the technological costs. Other costs include Election capital costs, which will gulp ₦154.91billion while ₦42.61 billion will cover miscellaneous expenses.

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Tuesday broke his silence on his rift with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, disclosing that their fallout stemmed from Wike’s alleged declaration to “hold down” the Peoples Democratic Party for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.

Wike and Makinde were prominent members of the G-5 governors who opposed the PDP’s choice of Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate and Iyorchia Ayu as national chairman ahead of the 2023 general election, because both positions were occupied by politicians from the North.

Speaking during a media chat in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Makinde said the relationship collapsed after Wike made what he described as a “shocking” declaration during a meeting with President Tinubu, which he said the President neither requested nor endorsed.

Makinde said, “The real issue was that I was in a meeting with the President. Wike, the President’s Chief of Staff and two others were also at that meeting. And Wike said to the President, ‘I will hold the PDP for you against 2027.’

“I was in shock. So we got to the veranda, and I said, ‘Wike, did we agree to this?’ The real issue is that Wike would like to support the President for 2027 – that is fine; it is within his right to do that.

But also some of us who want to ensure that democracy survive and we don’t drift into a one-party state, and we want to ensure that the PDP survive, he should also allow us to do our own thing. That is just the issue between Wike and me.”

But, the minister’s media aide, Lere Olayinka, slammed Makinde, describing the Oyo State governor as selfish in his political dealings.

Olayinka, in a post via his official X handle, accused Makinde of lacking loyalty to any individual or political party, insisting that the governor was driven solely by personal ambition.

Giving what he described as a rundown of Makinde’s political trajectory, Olayinka alleged that the Oyo governor joined the G-5 governors only to secure his re-election in 2023.

He further claimed that Makinde would, as he had allegedly done in the past, dump the PDP for another platform after the 2027 election.

Olayinka wrote, “Ibadan Gomina General has never been loyal to anyone or any political party; he is only about himself.

“In 2007, he left PDP for ANPP because he failed to get a senatorial ticket. In 2015, he left PDP for SDP because he failed to get the governorship ticket. In 2019, if not for the fact that he got the PDP ticket for governorship, he would have decamped to another party.

“In 2023, he joined the PDP G-5 governors to ensure his re-election. He is Governor Seyi Makinde, and surely, after 2027, he will be in another party.”

He also accused Makinde of working against Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, during the 2022 governorship election in a bid to remain the only PDP governor in the South-West.