Are true Nigerian hit songs harder to create?

A third of 2016 is almost up and Nigerian music industry has kept at producing music for the country, the continent and by extension, the world. With some of the biggest stars on the continent, Nigeria continues to lead the industry via the release of more music, and the investment in marketing and promotion.

2016 has been a year which has been uninterrupted by any major national activity, unlike the year before, where the general elections took center stage for long periods, and all but crippled the activity of major stars who were actively engaged, touring the country and states, campaigning for politicians. This year, we have had smooth sailing, although we can factor in the disruptive effects of unstable economic situation, the foreign exchange unavailability, and the scarcity of petrol on the creative and promotion process.

So far this year, there has been no strong, breakout single. Last year, there was an abundance of these, with Kiss Daniel’s ‘Woju’ peaking as early as January, and Patoranking’s ‘My woman, my everything’ rounding off the year. In between those great moments, Iyanya dropped ‘Collabo’, Olamide rode high with ‘Bobo’, Harrysong created an anthem in ‘Reggae Blues’, Tekno became dominant with ‘Duro’, and Wizkid held his corner with ‘Final (Baba nla)’.

This we have had notable contenders, as Korede Bello’s ‘Mungo Park’ is beginning to defy critiquing logic, Tiwa Savage’s ‘Standing ovation’, Reekado Banks’ ‘Oluwa Ni’ and more recently Koker’s ‘Kolewerk’ are on a roll. But none have successfully commanded the mass attention of last year’s hits. We have also had the gimmick of Humblesmith’s ‘Osinachi’ remix with Davido come through, but none is king yet.

Albums in 2016 are taking their time. This year, we have had only three artistes release mainstream albums, with the fourth one not targeted at Nigeria. Yemi Alade’s second coming has been packaged in the album, J Martins’ journeyman status was reflected in the divergent LP, Lil Kesh tasted victory with “Y.A.G.I” release, and Jaywon recently made “Oba Orin” taste the sunlight. Of all these albums none can boast of a 2016 hit song. None.

Why has this prevailed? No one knows. The almighty formula for promoting a single still remains the same: online blogging and distribution, promotion via multiple Alaba mixtapes, radio plug-ins and rotation, and TV spots for the video. For the extra mile, promoters target ads on Facebook and Twitter to give an air of ubiquity and force individuals to download. The rest is up to history. Instagram competitions only help to target a select number of fans, and has no mass penetration.

These dissemination systems are currently working without hindrance, but no song has become a true hit. Is it harder to make hit songs now in Nigeria? Or has there been a drop in the quality of our music? The music still stays the same. Heavy drumming, synths, immersive percussion and genre-fusion still exist. Trap Music, has also been on the rise this year within the county. No one knows the answer to this. Perhaps it’s market saturation, or the law of diminishing marginal utility coming to play, perhaps aliens have ruined our brains, or the market is on a lag phase.

No one knows. Sadly.