General News
From Streams to Streets: Spotify Wrapped 2025 Takes Africa on a Real-World Road Trip
Spotify
This year, Spotify is bringing back the fan-favourite features people already love, while adding new experiences that spotlight how listeners across Africa moved, prayed, worked, partied and rested with audio. Wrapped Party invites fans to dive into their stories with friends and family, and 50 fan destinations worldwide give listeners a place to come together, celebrate their year in music and feel part of something truly global.
From design to in-person experiences and data stories rooted in local listening, this is how the 2025 Wrapped campaign comes to life across Africa.
A modern visual mixtape for Africa
Before streaming, mixtapes and burned CDs were the original playlists: handpicked, decorated and passed between friends, cousins and neighbours as deeply personal gifts. The 2025 Wrapped design builds on that tradition, turning a year of listening into a bold, dynamic visual mixtape for more than 700 million fans around the world – including millions across Africa.
Every gradient and texture reflects that unpredictable mix of emotion and rhythm that makes listening so personal. With a reduced colour palette, bold imagery and a blend of analogue and digital aesthetics, 2025 becomes the most expressive and modern-feeling Wrapped yet. From amapiano dance circles in Johannesburg to late-night studio sessions in Lagos and road-trip singalongs in Nairobi, the look and feel of Wrapped mirrors how African fans actually experience music – loud, layered and full of feeling.
Immersive real-world experiences – and an amagwinya road trip
The Wrapped creative campaign is live in more than 30 markets globally as Spotify moves beyond traditional billboards to create immersive experiences that celebrate the artists who defined 2025. Across Africa, installations and pop-ups bring Wrapped digital storytelling into the real world with artist integrations, interactive photo moments and live performances for top listeners.
In South Africa, Wrapped quite literally hits the road. Inspired by the heartbreak of reaching the front of the line only to hear the gwinyas are finished – and the way Darwin Rev turned that moment into a national mood with Amagwinya Aphelile – the Where Are the Gwinyas? fan destination sends a Wrapped-branded amagwinya kombi on a multi-city road trip.
The truck travels through Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria, serving up gwinya with a Wrapped twist – from fish fillet to bunny-chow-inspired curry fillings and classic snoek, atchar and polony. At each stop, fans turn up their favourite Wrapped anthems, transforming the kombi from simple food truck into rolling street party.
“Wrapped has always been about reflecting fans’ stories back to them, and this year those stories from Sub-Saharan Africa are literally spilling into the streets. From the amagwinya road trip in South Africa to the data stories coming out of Nigeria and Kenya, we’re showing that the numbers behind Wrapped are really about how people here live, move and connect through music,” says Spotify’s Head of Marketing for Africa, Sithabile Kachisa.
How Africa listened in 2025
Wrapped is ultimately about turning listening data into stories fans can see themselves in – and nowhere is that more vivid than in Africa.
In South Africa, early mornings belonged to Ciza’s Isaka, with more than 46,000 fans pressing play at exactly 6:00 a.m., turning sunrise into a shared soundtrack. Mafikizolo’s Uyoncengwa Unyoko passed 14 million plays, proving some songs are built for repeat on both the dancefloor and in the taxi rank.
In Nigeria, Fido’s Joy is Coming found its way onto more than 700 playlists tagged as sad, as listeners reached for hope even when the mood was low. Davido’s With You amassed over 42 million streams, underlining the staying power of one of the country’s most beloved hitmakers.
In Kenya, Extra Pressure was added to fans’ gym playlists, turning workouts into high-stakes training montages, while Njerae’s Aki Sioni crossed 3.2 million streams, transforming vulnerability into a chart-ready strength.
Across the continent, these moments show how Wrapped transforms numbers into narratives. The stats reveal not just what Africa listened to in 2025, but how, when and why it mattered – from perfectly timed play buttons and weekday rituals to songs that travelled through communities as gifts, prayers, jokes and declarations. Wrapped gathers all of that energy and hands it back to fans as a story only they could have written.
Police in Abuja have uncovered a criminal group making fake diplomatic and government number plates.
Ahmed Sanusi, commissioner of Police FCT, stated this during a press briefing on Friday.
He explained that criminals use these fake plates to dodge security checks and enter restricted areas.
The investigation started soon after Sanusi took office.
He noticed too many unauthorized cars driving around with official government and diplomatic tags.
“I immediately ordered a comprehensive investigation into this disturbing trend,” Sanusi said. He noted that these individuals use the plates as a cover to commit crimes and avoid arrest.
The police have already arrested several people caught using the fake plates.
They have also figured out who is making them.
The manufacturers operate outside Abuja, and police are actively hunting them down.
Sanusi kept their names secret so they would not flee.
He stressed that this is a highly profitable illegal business.
Buyers pay between N500,000 and N1.7 million for a single fake plate.
“This will tell you that they are making such huge expenditure because they have an agenda,” Sanusi explained.
“Now they will face punishment that is bigger than both the cost they incur and the agenda they are planning.”
The commissioner urged residents to report any cars with suspicious diplomatic plates.
He reminded the public that real diplomatic tags follow a very specific format.
A diplomatic number plate in Nigeria is a special vehicle identification tag issued to foreign embassies, high commissions, and accredited international diplomats.
Gavi has approved $500 million to strengthen Nigeria’s immunisation programme, primary healthcare services and long-term vaccine financing.
The move followed high-level discussions between Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, coordinating minister of Health and Social Welfare, ]and Dr. Sania Nishtar, chief executive officer, Gavi in Abuja.
The funding, approved under the Gavi 6.0 programme, will support Nigeria’s efforts to accelerate routine immunisation, sustain polio eradication, expand HPV vaccination, strengthen primary healthcare services, and improve long-term vaccine financing.
Speaking during the meeting, Pate said Nigeria was strengthening its partnership with Gavi to accelerate immunisation, expand primary healthcare services, and ensure sustainable financing for vaccines.
He welcomed Gavi’s country-focused reforms, including the introduction of a predictable five-year funding envelope.
Pate said the US$500 million allocation will enable Nigeria to plan more effectively and deliver life-saving vaccines to more children and vulnerable populations.
The minister also revealed that quarterly visits to primary healthcare centreshad increased from about 10 million in 2023 to more than 45 million, reflecting significant progress in revitalising the country’s primary healthcare system.
Pate welcomed the announcement of a US$600 million pledge by the United States government to Gavi, describing it as a strong endorsement of the alliance’s leadership and the global value of vaccines.
He also commended Nishtar for prioritising Nigeria and praised the closer coordination among Gavi, World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, World Bank, Gates Foundation, and other development partners, describing it as a model that has improved efficiency and aligned support with Nigeria’s health sector reforms.
The minister expressed appreciation to Gavi and its partners for their continued technical and financial support, while calling on state governments to invest more in healthcare and immunisation to complement federal efforts.
For many women, financial independence means the freedom to provide for their families and build a better future. Yet, this remains out of reach due to limited access to opportunities, business support, and secure payment solutions.
Like millions of women in Nigeria determined to be financially independent, Pricillia started with a single PalmPay POS terminal, and as an agent, every successful transaction provided a commission which brought her one step closer to achieving her dream.
Through consistency, discipline, and support from the payment platform, she reinvested her earnings and eventually opened her own provision store.
“I started as just a PalmPay agent with one POS. The consistency of the platform gave me the confidence to expand. With the income I earned, I was able to open my own provision shop.” Priscilla said.
For Priscilla, PalmPay was more than a payment platform. Its secure payment infrastructure gave her the confidence to serve her customers, build trust, and grow her income.
Today, Pricillia has joined the statistics of SMEs powering Nigeria’s economy and PalmPay continues to support her daily operations, helping her receive payments, as she works towards her next business milestone. Her journey is a reminder that when women have access to secure financial tools and opportunities, they can build lasting economic independence.
Speaking on Pricillia’s journey, Femi Hanson, Head of Marketing, PalmPay said: “Providing a secure platform that users can trust, whether for everyday payments or high-value transactions, is central to our vision of advancing financial inclusion. Priscilla’s story reflects our commitment to supporting the ambitions of Nigerians by providing a platform they can rely on to grow their finances. After all, seamless banking begins with security, and every successful transaction reinforces the trust our users place in us.”
Priscilla stands among thousands of PalmPay agents nationwide who are helping to expand financial access across Nigeria while earning commissions to create sustainable sources of income for themselves.
Every payment tells a story. It begins with trust, the confidence that your money is secure and that financial services are accessible. And when that opportunity reaches women, it creates ripple effects that transform families, strengthen communities, and drive economic growth.
Police Uncover Fake Diplomatic Number Plate Syndicate in Abuja
Davido Shares Past Suicidal Thoughts, Drops Oriadé Album
Gavi Okays $500m for Vaccines, PHCs in Nigeria
82% of Organizations Concerned about AI Risks Even as Adoption Accelerates – Survey Reveals
The Journey to Financial Freedom: Priscilla, a PalmPay Agent Now Owns a Store
NRC, Ponzi Scheme Collapses Resulting Loss of Billions of Naira
EFCC Busts NIS Visa Overstay Racket, Uncovers N700m in an Account
From Scarcity to Scale: What Africa Can Learn from India’s Agricultural Transformation
Tokenization, Blockchain Technology will Transform Financial Institutions – IMF
BON Establishes Six Ad Hoc Committees to Modernize Broadcasting
E-Financial2 days agoAccess Bank Debunks Shutdown Report, Vows Action against Perpetrators
E-Business2 days agoKaspersky Uncovers Cyber Threats Defining the First Half of 2026 in Nigeria, Others
General News2 days agoMENXTT TECH NG Offers Affordable Dell Laptops with Flexible Payment Plans
Telecom2 days agoATU Summit Ends in Abuja with Landmark Declaration to Eradicate Continental Digital Divide
Telecom2 days agoHon. Minister Dr. Kingsley T. Udeh and ASUS To Unveil First of a Kind Flagship Store in West Africa
E-Financial2 days ago$40Bn Net Reserves, Record Wealth, Relentless Poverty: Who Is Nigeria’s Economy Serving Today?
General News2 days agoEFCC Arraigns 4 over Alleged $5.3m Fraud Scheme
E-Financial2 days agoCBN Orders N19Bn Refunds to Customers as Complaints Rise