Music, film and the business of fame — streams, deals and records checked against the charts and the filings, not the hype.
7 stories · 3 regions · all of them, from everywhere — your saved place never narrows a desk.
Nigeria's cinemas took a record N11.58 billion in 2024, up from N7.3 billion in 2023, according to FilmOne's box office report using Comscore data for CEAN. The year also produced the first Nollywood film to cross N1 billion within a calendar year.
A monumental gilt-bronze Anyanwu by Ben Enwonwu — conceived in 1954-55 as a symbol of a rising Nigeria — sold for £602,100 at Bonhams in London on 21 October 2026, the top lot in a £3.35 million Modern and Contemporary African Art sale. It was the work's first appearance at public auction.
Ayra Starr has announced a 20-city world tour for her third album, Starrgirl — opening in Cologne on 20 January 2027, reaching London on 2 February and crossing North America from Houston to San Francisco in the spring. The announcement landed a day after she headlined the halftime show at the NFL's London game.
Hannah O'Leary, who co-founded Bonhams' African art auctions in 2006 and built Sotheby's African art department from 2016, has launched her own firm, HOLFA, for private sales and advice — debuting at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London with works by seven modernists from across the continent.
In September 2023, Rema and Selena Gomez's Calm Down became the first track led by an African artist to reach one billion streams on Spotify. Spotify Africa announced the milestone, and the song had already peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
South African singer Tyla won the first-ever Grammy for Best African Music Performance in February 2024 with Water, an amapiano-infused pop song. The track peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the highest-charting African female solo musician in Billboard history, according to the Recording Academy.
Olamide has announced his next album, Time and Space, for 16 November 2026 — and, a day earlier, the biggest concert booking of his career: a headline show at London's O2 Arena on 25 March 2027, following last year's sold-out night at the smaller OVO Arena Wembley.
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Enwonwu's Anyanwu sold for £602,100 at Bonhams' Modern and Contemporary African Art sale in London on 21 October 2026, the sale's top lot.
From: Enwonwu's Anyanwu rises againThe price is a new auction record for a sculpture by Enwonwu.
From: Enwonwu's Anyanwu rises againThe work is a gilt bronze of about 2.2 metres, conceived in 1954-55, and Bonhams describes it as one of only three known versions of this scale.
From: Enwonwu's Anyanwu rises againThe sale totalled £3,347,050 and set seven artist records, with Yusuf Grillo's One Man Band making £461,300 and a Uzo Egonu canvas £198,900.
From: Enwonwu's Anyanwu rises againNigeria presented a full-scale version of Anyanwu to the United Nations Headquarters in New York in the 1960s.
From: Enwonwu's Anyanwu rises againAyra Starr announced a 20-city Starrgirl World Tour on 12 October 2026, opening 20 January 2027 in Cologne and closing 14 April 2027 in San Francisco.
From: Ayra Starr takes Starrgirl on the roadThe European leg includes Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, Zurich, Brussels and London (2 February); the North American leg starts in Houston on 18 March and includes Dallas, Atlanta, Silver Spring, Boston, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Minneapolis and Denver.
From: Ayra Starr takes Starrgirl on the roadStarrgirl, released 14 August 2026 through Mavin Records and Republic Records, is a 16-track album featuring ZAYN, Leon Thomas, Wizkid, Rema, kwn, Danny Ocean and Theodora.
From: Ayra Starr takes Starrgirl on the roadPromoter Live Nation says the album debuted at number two on Spotify's Global Top Albums chart, with 3.9 million streams in its first full day, and reached number one on Apple Music's album chart in 15 countries.
From: Ayra Starr takes Starrgirl on the roadAyra Starr will play African dates in December 2026.
From: Ayra Starr takes Starrgirl on the roadOn 11 October 2026 she performed the halftime show at the NFL International Game in London, reported as a first for an Afrobeats artist.
From: Ayra Starr takes Starrgirl on the roadOlamide announced on 20 October 2026 that his new album, Time and Space, will be released on 16 November 2026.
From: Olamide's double moveThe Grand Egyptian Museum opened beside the Giza Plateau on 1 November 2025, displaying King Tutankhamun's complete collection together for the first time. A year on, the museum is a global draw — though Egypt's own official counts of its visitors disagree with each other by millions, and ticket prices rise on 1 November 2026.
Zanzibar received 917,167 international visitors in 2025, up 24.5% on 2024 and the highest total in its history, on official statistics. December alone brought more than 100,000 arrivals. Now operators and officials are debating whether the island should chase a million visitors — or chase higher spending per visitor instead.
The Victoria Falls area received a record combined 565,083 visitors in 2024, passing the pre-pandemic 2019 total, and its airport broke the half-million passenger mark the same year. Growth continued into 2025. Conservation specialists are asking what the ceiling should be for one of the world's great waterfalls.