Afro Soul
Afro soul combines the warm vocals and feeling of American soul and R&B with African rhythms, languages and melodies.
Songs are usually slow or mid-tempo and led by an expressive singer, backed by guitar, drums and gentle percussion, with lyrics in English or in African languages such as Xhosa. South African singer Miriam Makeba brought soul-influenced African music to wide notice in the 1950s and 1960s, and the name Afro soul became common later for singers across the continent. It is more centered on the voice than Afrobeats, and less tied to current R&B production than Afro R&B.
Artists it is known for: Simphiwe Dana, Zahara.
- Family
- African
- On Spotify
- A current genre
- What it is
- A genre
- From
- South Africa and across Africa
- Also called
- Afro-soul
- Trackify listeners who play it
- 2%
About 1,500 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have afro soul among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.
Afro Soul artists
Fireboy DML
Victony
BNXN
OMAH LAY
mikeeysmind
FOLA
Kabza De Small
Adekunle Gold
Kelvin Momo
DJ MaphorisaThe afro soul artists most Trackify listeners have in their top fifty. Each opens on Spotify.
Sources
The definition is written for this site from open sources, and was checked against them on 13 November 2026.