A South African YouTuber, Hlulani The Tsonga, has claimed Nigerian music and Nollywood rely on South Africans for their global success in a bold statement that is built on falsehoods and envy.
Let’s start with the numbers he seems to have missed. Nigerian artists generated $44 million on Spotify in 2025 alone—thirty billion streams and 1.6 billion listening hours. Burna Boy sits at 59.5 million monthly listeners. Tems has 36.2 million. Rema, 26.8 million. None of those figures is propped up by Johannesburg.
The infrastructure argument collapses on contact with reality. Nigeria built its own lanes. Audiomack found 15.3 million monthly active users in Nigeria, not South Africa. Port Harcourt-based InterSpace Distribution now serves over 15,000 artists and 100 labels across five countries—self-funded, no venture capital, built on its own technology stack.
Nollywood didn’t wait for anyone either. eTheater launched a direct-to-audience pipeline where filmmakers keep 100% of their rights and earn 80% of revenue. YouTube became a direct monetisation avenue, bypassing gatekeepers entirely.
So where does this claim come from? The same place as the double standard Nigerians know too well. When Nigerian artists sell out arenas, critics rush to call it a “pan-African win.” When Nigerian films break records, they demand proof. But let corruption or fraud make headlines, and suddenly Nigeria is the problem.
Hlulani wants to claim Nigeria’s success as dependent on South Africa. He doesn’t want to claim the country. That’s not critique. That’s clout-chasing dressed as analysis.
