Afrobeats drum patterns.

1. 1970s

   1. 1976
      

      Landmark

      Zombie

      Fela Kuti & Africa 70

      Tony Allen's Afrobeat drumming: interlocking hi-hat, kick and snare driving a long, militant groove
   2. 1976
      

      Sweet Mother

      Prince Nico Mbarga & Rocafil Jazz

      Highlife standard; the lilting guitar-band groove that modern afrobeats inherits

2. 2010s

   1. 2011
      

      Landmark

      Oliver Twist

      D'banj

      First Nigerian song to debut on the UK Singles Chart (No. 9); bouncy programmed afropop drums go global
   2. 2013
      

      Personally

      P-Square

      Twin duo's pan-African dance hit; clean, bouncing 2010s Naija-pop drum programming
   3. 2014
      

      Landmark

      Ojuelegba

      Wizkid

      Legendury Beatz production; its Drake and Skepta remix carried the swung afrobeats groove into UK and US rap
   4. 2017
      

      If

      Davido

      Tekno-produced afrobeats and R&B blend; sparse, percussive mid-tempo groove of late-2010s Naija pop
   5. 2019
      

      On the Low

      Burna Boy

      Kel P-produced mid-tempo afrobeats with dancehall touches; Afro-fusion's loping feel
   6. 2019
      

      Love Nwantiti

      CKay

      Slow, minimal afro-R&B from CKay the First; it spread worldwide through later remixes

3. 2020s

   1. 2020
      

      Landmark

      Sponono

      Kabza De Small

      Amapiano log-drum bass and shuffling percussion with Wizkid and Burna Boy guesting; South Africa meets Nigeria
   2. 2021
      

      Ke Star (Remix)

      Focalistic & Davido

      Vigro Deep-produced amapiano hit remixed with Davido; a key Nigeria-South Africa crossover
   3. 2022
      

      Sungba

      Asake

      Fuji-style chants over amapiano log drums; Asake's Lagos take on the South African groove
   4. 2022
      

      Last Last

      Burna Boy

      Samples Toni Braxton's He Wasn't Man Enough over a relaxed afrobeats bounce; a global 2022 hit
   5. 2022
      

      Calm Down

      Rema

      Light, swung afrobeats groove that topped charts in Belgium and the Netherlands; a defining global afrobeats single
   6. 2022
      

      Tanzania

      Uncle Waffles

      Debut amapiano single that reached No. 1 in South Africa; log drums and deep, rolling percussion
   7. 2023
      

      Unavailable

      Davido feat. Musa Keys

      Nigerian afrobeats sung over amapiano drums with a South African guest; No. 1 on the UK Afrobeats chart
   8. 2023
      

      Mnike

      Tyler ICU & Tumelo_za

      South African amapiano chart-topper; punchy log drums built for the dancefloor
   9. 2023
      

      Landmark

      Water

      Tyla

      Amapiano-pop crossover that won the first Grammy for Best African Music Performance; the log-drum groove goes global

Press play to loop each record's busiest two bars. Patterns are machine-detected from the recordings, not verified transcriptions.