The battle for song of the year: South Africa's festive music scene
R&B musician Lordkez remix of 'Aweh', featuring Cassper Nyovest is one of the hottest songs this summer season.
Image: File
December is officially in swing, and while temperatures are still catching up to summer, the tunes are coming in hot.
In South Africa, music during the festive season becomes a thing and an even bigger deal than the rest of the year.
The battle for Song of the Year heats up with contenders coming out in full force. Once upon a time, music groups like Big Nuz ruled the summer season with their chart-topping tunes that would be on repeat all summer long.
Times have, however, changed, and the Durban group isn't serving hits, but other artists are keeping the tradition alive.
Lordkez
Musician Lordkez is showing that R&B still has the power to connect people. The remix of her song “Aweh,” featuring Cassper Nyovest, is blasting the airwaves and racking up streaming numbers.
The song has 19.0 million impacts across radio stations nationwide and has amassed over six million streams on Spotify and eight million views on YouTube.
Lordkez has been performing the song across South Africa, with audiences singing along word for word.
Drake
December sees the rise of Christmas songs and who doesn't love a good remix? A mashup of Canadian rapper Drake's “Money in the Grave” and Wham!'s “Last Christmas” has gone viral on TikTok.
While the song is not an official release, it is proving to be a hit among music lovers, with the video amassing over three million views on TikTok.
Lekompo music has taken over the country. Lekompo is a popular and emerging dance music sub-genre that originated in the Limpopo province of South Africa.
This unique genre dates back to the early 2000s and was inspired by people working at the farms who would play Isaac “Spencerman” Madibana’s music.
Artists such as Shandesh, Kharishma and Shebeshxt are dominating in the genre and have fans listening to their music on repeat.
Shebeshxt may also be embattled in controversy that has him behind bars and in court room but his music is on high rotation with 1.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify. His most recent song, “Rato Laka” featuring Naqua SA, Zee Nxumalo, and Slidoo Man, has over 12 million streams on Spotify.
Karishma may have gotten in an accident last month, but her music is still going strong, with fans supporting her by streaming their favourite songs. Her song “Wa Inama” has over six million streams on Spotify.
Musician Umafikizolo's highly successful song "Uyocengwa Ngunyoko" is a very strong contender to be the song many will be crossing over into 2026 with.
On Spotify, the song has amassed 14 million streams and on YouTube, the song has 18 million views since its release three months ago.