Asake has been booked and busy throughout 2026, building one of the most active runs of the year in Nigerian music. While the singer has been promoting his latest album, M$NEY, he has also appeared on a steady stream of collaborations, working with some of the biggest names in the Nigerian and African music scene.
For an artist whose own album could easily have taken up most of the year, Asake has remained unusually visible on other people’s records. Instead of weakening interest in his own work, the collaborations have helped keep his name in circulation while M$NEY continues to attract listeners. The album has now surpassed 400 million streams on Spotify, adding another major achievement to an already busy year.
Asake has increasingly become the kind of artist other musicians want on their records. His presence can bring a different energy to a song, particularly when paired with artists whose styles are very different from his own. In 2026, that demand has been evident in the number and range of collaborations he has taken on.
Blaqbonez has arguably benefited the most from the collaboration run. The two artists first joined forces on Chanel, a song that quickly became one of the year’s biggest talking points. The track arrived at an important moment for Blaqbonez, who was involved in a public feud with another artist, and its reception helped give the song even greater attention.
The chemistry between the two artists was strong enough for them to work together again. Blaqbonez later brought Asake onto Ikebe 3000, a track from his forthcoming album. Their second collaboration reinforced the appeal of the first and showed that Chanel was not simply a one-off meeting between two artists.
Asake also teamed up with BNXN on Eja Meja, another pairing that initially seemed unexpected. BNXN is known for his songwriting and distinctive approach to Nigerian pop music, while Asake has built his identity around a very different sound and performance style. On Eja Meja, those differences became part of the song’s appeal, with both artists bringing their own character to the record.
The collaborations continued with Darkoo, who featured Asake on That Girl. The track added another name and another sound to a growing list of artists who have worked with the singer during the year.
Then came the collaboration that had arguably been anticipated for much longer: Asake and Wizkid’s joint EP. The two artists had already appeared on each other’s albums, with Wizkid featuring on Asake’s Lungu Boy and Asake appearing on Wizkid’s Morayo. That history made a full project between them a natural progression, although few expected it to happen quite the way it did.
The EP had originally been promised for release in 2025 but arrived in 2026 instead, without the artists publicly explaining the delay. When it eventually came out, however, the focus quickly shifted from the wait to the music itself. The project gave fans an extended meeting between two artists who had already shown strong chemistry on individual songs.
While the collaborations have kept Asake busy, the centrepiece of his year remains M$NEY, his fourth album and a significant project in his career. The album also represents a change in his position within the music business. His first three albums were released during his time with YBNL, but Asake has since established his own label, Giran Republic.
Releasing M$NEY therefore served as more than another album campaign. It marked the beginning of a new chapter for Asake as an artist operating through his own label. The album has since taken him on tour across North America and other parts of the world, with performances providing another indication of its international reach.
Asake also expanded the M$NEY campaign beyond the standard album release. In July, he released M$NEY Live in London (Spotify Live), a concert film accompanied by a live audio album, exclusively on Spotify. According to the original account, the release made Asake the first artist in the world to launch a full live concert film on the platform.
The live project also gave the songs a different setting. Rather than simply reproducing the studio versions, the performances offered fans another interpretation of the M$NEY material. Asake also included unreleased songs, giving the project an additional reason for existing beyond simply documenting the London performance.
Taken together, the album, international touring, live project and string of high-profile collaborations have made 2026 an unusually productive period for Asake. His own music has continued to perform strongly while his appearances on other artists’ records have kept him at the centre of conversations around Nigerian music.
For an artist already established as one of Nigeria’s biggest contemporary music acts, the significance of the year is not simply the number of songs he has appeared on. It is the way Asake has managed to remain a major presence across different projects without allowing his own album to disappear behind the collaborations. M$NEY continues to accumulate streams, while his feature run has made him one of the most sought-after names for artists looking to add something distinctive to a record.
