Senegalese rapper Akon and Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah are the two most followed Africans on the social media channels Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, according to the African Social Media Power Report: Top 50 Footballers and Entertainers released on Friday, January 26, 2018.
The Power 50 has a combined following of almost 400million, a number that is more than half the population of Europe and twice the population of Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country.
The Power 50, which weighs the social media influence of African pop culture stars and football personalities, was compiled by Lagos-based sports communication company, CampsBay Media.
“In a world where social media continues to play a big role, the influence of African entertainers and footballers, the crème of popular culture on our continent, continues to fascinate and that is why we have compiled this list,” said Lolade Adewuyi, chief strategist at CampsBay Media.
“We have tried as much as possible to gather the top African pop and sport stars into the list in order to show their influence across the three key social media platforms of Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. We hope that the Power Report will be an annual ranking to gauge their growing impact as well as enable market planners and researchers to see the possibilities inherent in their influence.”
Personalities from 12 countries are represented on the list with the top 10 places filled by Akon, Salah, footballer Didier Drogba, Moroccan stand-up comedian Gad el Maleh, South African comedian and TV show host Trevor Noah, Cameroonian footballer Samuel Eto’o, Moroccan actor Jamel Debbouze, Nigerian singer Davido and South African actress Charlize Theron.
On the African Social Media Power Report: Top 50 are 13 actors/actresses, 14 singers, nine rappers, eight footballers, four comedians and two music producers/DJs.
The report also includes a list of the top 50 African footballers and top 50 African entertainers on the three social media platforms in the full report that can be downloaded here.