NaijaTurnUp’s Top 10 Songs of January 2018
It’s been popularly agreed upon in certain circles that January must have 50 days because the month just seems to go by at an unbelievably slow pace, especially considering the financially demanding end of year and New Year festivities (salary earners will definitely understand better) that usher the month in.
You can therefore imagine just how thankful we must be for January 2018 as the month finally comes to an end. But it’s not just for the obvious reasons that we’re thankful. We’re also particularly grateful for the quality of hits that have been churned out by our favourite artistes all across the continent this month.
The numerous masterpieces that have featured on our site this January alone only underscore the already established fact that 2018 promises to be such a defining year for music, especially in these climes. But which of these songs stood out the most for us?
It was a rather herculean task coming up with this list. However, based on a myriad of factors such as lyrical content, vocal delivery, production finesse, sheer ingenuity and general reception, these are our top 10 songs of January 2018.
The latest song dropped by ace South African Hip-Hop artiste, AKA, and second off his highly-anticipated album, ‘Touch My Blood: Greatest Hits’, ‘Sweet Fire’ got us vibing with AKA on a whole new level.
The track, which was released barely a few days ago, was produced by Tazzy & Master A Flat, and is dedicated to the memory and music of late legends such as Ray Phiri and Stimela.
On this insane joint, multi-talented Ugandan songstress, actress and dancer, Sheebah enlisted the services of Nigerian self-proclaimed Soundgod, Runtown, to create a firecracker of epic proportions.
Unarguably one of our favourite East-West collaborations in recent times, ‘Weekend’ had us many shades of impressed.
On his very first release of 2018, Spaceship Entertainment anchor-man, Burna Boy – who has just dropped his latest album, ‘Outside’ – joined efforts with uber-talented English songstress, actress and TV presenter, Lily Allen, to blow us all away with a top-notch international collaboration that’s a complete masterpiece.
The track titled ‘Heaven’s Gate’ shows us Oluwa Burna in a whole new light, and we honestly can’t mask our excitement at the amount of versatility and lyrical genius that this song so easily exudes.
Once we heard Ghanaian leading Afropop songstress, MzVee was featuring the self-proclaimed Mama Africa, Yemi Alade, on this joint, we instantly knew it was going to be a banger, and boy were we right.
Produced by Kuami Eugene and Richie Mensah, suffice it to say that ‘Come and See My Moda’ sees the two West African divas serve it like it’s sizzling hot!
Multi-award-winnning South African Disc Jockey, DJ Sliqe, teamed up with Wrecking Crew lyricist, A-Reece, and super-soulful songstress, Bhlaklyt, to give us one of our favourite joints from the south in recent times.
‘Do It For Me’ isn’t just an insanely brilliant groove, it’s also – in many more ways than one – the quintessential collaboration, and we mean every single word of that.
Drake’s commercially successful ‘KMT’ undoubtedly rocked our worlds in 2017, but when the multi-award-winning 29 year old internationally-acclaimed Tema-born Ghanaian Hip-hop frontrunner, Sarkodie, jumped on the song’s instrumental to cook up his own rap track, we honestly couldn’t contain ourselves.
Brilliantly mixed by Possigee, ‘No Coiling’ was one banger that literally left us in awe this month. How can Sarkodie bring the heat like this every single time?
Produced by Hassa Bonga and mixed by Lizer Classic, WCB Records signed Tanzanian vocalist, Lava Lava, definitely knocked it miles out of the park this month with the release of his latest song, ‘Utatulia’.
The talented singer’s vocal delivery is as superb as ever on this masterpiece, and everything else comes together almost too perfectly. It’s our love song of the month hands down.
Tinny Entertainment signed AFRIMA 2017 Best Hip-hop artiste, Ycee, got together with his previous collaborator, multi-talented UK-based Ghanaian singer and rapper, Eugy, to give us our favourite collaboration of the month.
The mid-tempo jam, ‘Say Bye Bye’, was produced by the gifted Team Salut and easily hits all the marks on our checklist – every single one of them.
When the multi-talented music producer and vocalist dropped ‘One Hit’ to celebrate his birthday earlier this month, we listened to the song over and over again and, as usual, couldn’t wrap our heads around the sheer brilliance that the visually impaired Nigerian music industry heavyweight brought to the table on this masterpiece.
From the song’s brilliant production, to the witty lyrics, to Cobhams’ unbelievably soulful vocals, everything was simply flawless. We know Cobhams is gifted, but just how gifted can one man be on one song?
Of course you already know nobody makes hits for the street like Olamide Baddo – nobody! – and that’s why the YBNL boss has earned our coveted top spot with his latest street anthem, ‘Science Student’, on this top 10 list of our favourite songs for the month of January. But you already saw this coming, didn’t you?
Produced by Baddo’s long-time multi-award-winning producer, Young John, and relative new talent, BBanks, Olamide stays with the ‘Shaku Shaku’ trend on this banger that has got virtually everybody eager to show off their latest dance skills on social media. Have you made your own video yet?
As we stated earlier, it really wasn’t an easy decision to make, because there were just too many amazing songs that us this month. However, it is what it is.
So there you have it – our top 10 songs of January 2018. Is there a song you think deserved a spot on our list that didn’t make the cut? Please let us know in the comments section below.