While the music industry continues to suffer from the COVID-19 setback, some local artists took advantage of the situation by feeding their fans with good musical vibes since they had ample time to listen and watch the music from their favorite artistes at home during the pandemic.
A number of songs were released and new talents were discovered through their finest music productions.
In a mini survey conducted by The New Times, we came up with the top 10 hit songs dominated playlists this year, in no particular order.
Poupette by King James
He might be busy doing business, but King James never disappoints when he uses his spare time in the studio.
‘Poupette’, a production of Producer Knox Beat directed by celebrated video director Meddy Saleh, is arguably his song of the year and a gift to his supporters who were enjoying his music from home.
Hundreds of videos by the singer’s supporters on social media singing and dancing his song which has so far gathered over 1,500,000 views on YouTube.
We don’t care by Meddy ft Rayvanny and RJ The DJ
The US-based singer had a busy year building relationships with popular musicians in East Africa and it worked for him as two of his successful music projects were collaborations with Kenyan musician Otile Brown and Tanzanian duo Rayvanny and Rommy Jones, the official DJ of Diamond Platnumz.
His song ‘We Don’t Care’ which was recorded by Producer Madebeats is already a hit in Rwanda and in Tanzania. Through Wasafi TV, Rayvanny and Rommy Jones who both feature in the song helped the singer to promote it and over 3, 000, 000 viewers have visited its video on YouTube since he released it in August.
Meddy, who recently engaged his long-term girlfriend Mimi Mehfira, is also still in close contact with Diamond and is expected to drop a collaboration sooner or later next year.
Ndaryohewe by Empire Records ft All Stars
It’s unusual to see upcoming artistes featuring in an all-star song and become a hit. But the talent shown in ‘Ndaryohewe’ proved music fans otherwise.
The song, which is a project of Ladies Empire label by female rapper Odda Paccy, features ten young artistes namely Alto, Kevin Skaa, Joel Ruti, France, Ariel Wayz, Victor Rukotana, Milly Umutoni, Yvanny Mpano, Mozy Yembaboy, and Calvin Mbanda.
Their ‘impressive’ vocal combination in the song left people speechless and renderedthem Rwanda’s fast rising talents with a great future.
People fell in love with the song since its release back in May and so far over one million viewers have watched it on YouTube.
Do me by Queen Cha ft Marina
Doing music under the same management at The Mane Record Label, makes it easy for the duo to work on the same music project. And that’s how they ended up recording ‘Do Me’, a collaboration which appeared in nearly all countdowns of different top radio and TV stations in town since they dropped it in late May.
The song has now gathered over 990, 000 views on YouTube. Producer Madebeats was behind the audio project of the song.
Sabrina by Mike Kayihura ft Kivumbi
Probably the reason behind Kayihura’s nomination in this year’s Prix Decouverte RFI edition. Just hours since its release in May, ‘Sabrina’ was already a social media affair although the two artistes are not given the recognition they deserve.
Produced by Danny Beats the song has so far been watched 794, 289 times on YouTube.
Solid by Juno Kizigenza
One of the best hits from one of Rwanda’s fast-rising artists. Under the tutelage of Bruce Melodie, Juno Kizigenza felt he was in good hands and took advantage of that.
While many thought that ‘Mpa Formula’ was the best song he could deliver in 2020, the 20-year-old already had a club banger in his store. That was ‘Solid’, a production of producer Element which now has 377, 888 views on YouTube.
The song was a statement that his early release didn’t become a hit by accident and is already looking to bring more surprises to cement his name on the local music scene.
Ikanisa by The Mane all star
An all-star song that features The Mane Record Label’s artists Queen Cha, Marina and Calvin Mbanda, alongside their boss Bad Rama.
The artistes have been under the same management for quite long and are often in the same music projects. Their latest, ‘Ikanisa’, could arguably be their best collaboration given the days they spent on radio and TV top charts as well as social media trends.
Produced by Producer Element, the song so far counts a total of 1, 347, 773 views on YouTube.
Micro by Davis D
‘Micro’ has made headlines ever since Davis D released it. Had clubs not been banned from operating, it would be a club banger for weeks.
This however, did not stop people showing love for the song whose touch was already a familiar attribution of Producer Element.
Davis D.
One of the few local artists who had a public performance this year when he graced Kigali Jazz Junction in February alongside Nigerian singer Joe Boy, Davis D made a statement that he is one of the fastest rising artistes to reckon with.
Igare by Mico The Best
The song sent people’s tongues wagging since its release. The Afrobeat singer will be pleased to finish 2020 on a high note thanks to the song which already has 1, 926, 921 views on YouTube.
Mico The best.
‘Igare’, loosely translated as ‘Bike’, is a record of Producer Madebeat and was directed by Fayzo Pro. Its beat, lyrics and scenes in the video have left people naming it among the best productions of the year.
Saa Moya by Bruce Melodie
Promoters, radio and TV presenters and DJs have unanimously named ‘Saa Moya’ the song of the year!
Producer Element, who records a big number of productions on this top ten, was also behind this song whose popularity saw a big boost when it coincided with Rwanda’s revised curfew hours following the spike in coronavirus cases in the country.
With the song, whose video was shot and directed by Meddy Saleh, Bruce Melodie proved to be by far the most hardworking artiste of 2020 giving his fans no break to enjoy his music while staying at home by outing hit after hit.
The song now has 2, 566, 588 views on YouTube.