Pulse Picks: Top 10 Ghanaian artistes of the year 2020

The coronavirus outbreak and partial lockdown, rather saw most artistes finding new ways to keep their crafts selling whilst entertaining their fans.

Release of new singles or projects, shows, either virtual shows or shows with few audiences, awards, among other body of works have seen some acts taking firm control of their careers, hence, some artistes have shown up as top acts in the country for the year 2020.

Accordingly, pulse.com.gh has put this list of top 10 Ghanaian artistes of year. Kindly note this list is in no particular order.

1.  Sarkodie

The rapper in the first quarter of the year appeared to have been slow, obviously due to his his family being locked down abroad. However, he has wonderfully recovered to end 2020 on a very strong footing.

Sarkodie during his lockdown time abroad managed to drop freestyles including 'Sub Zero' which stirred controversies and made him a very relevant topic across the media space because some fans believe he took a jab at Ball J and Asem who replied his freestyle too.

The rapper also held one of the country's most talked-about virtual shows which recorded thousands of views.

Taking advantage of the political season, King Sark also dropped his 'Happy Day' song featuring Kuami Eugene with a line to endorse Nana Addo's re-election in the song that caught wide attention across Ghana.

2.  Stonebwoy

Stonebwoy has been almost everywhere this year because the pandemic did not stop the reggae/dancehall artiste from continuing his business to stay relevant.

He faced off Shatta Wale in a soundclash which becomes one of the major highlights for the dancehall fraternity in 2020. His 'Putuu' track is also one of the biggest jams Ghana has had this year.

Stonebwoy as well released a 15-track album 'Anloga Junction' which features Kojo Antwi, Nasty C, Keri Hilson, Diamond Platnumz, Zlatan, Chivv, Spanker with production credit from other top-notch producers.

3.  Medikal

The year 2020 saw Medikal cementing his spot in the list of top Ghanaian musicians. The 'Omo Ada' rapper came into 2020 with the title as 2019's VGMA rapper of the year. Though he couldn't retain the title, Medikal after multiple attempts got a monster hit "La Hustle" which extended his relevance in 2020.

Proving he is a hot cake in 2020, the AMG rapper landed features on songs of a lot of Ghanaian singers/rappers. He featured on MzVee's 'Hallelujah' track, appeared on the remix of Dead Peepol's "Otan Hun' which is one monster hits in 2020.

The rapper who got married this year to Fella Makafui after which the couple welcomed their first child, also entertained his fans with freestyles like 'EL Chapo', 'Nonsense' among others.

4.  Kwesi Arthur

Since announcing himself in the Ghana music industry somewhere in 2017, Kwesi Arthur has not looked back at all.

Though the Tema based rapper appears to have a laid approach to doing music, he has a cult following that never lets him sleep for long and keep pushing him up.

After going silent for a while, fans mounted pressure on Kwesi Arthur and he dropped a body of work in September. According to him, it's not an E.P nor album but just a collection of 3 songs. He titled it "This Is Not The Tape, Sorry For The Wait" on audiomack and it has gathered over 4 million streams.

The 'Grind Day' rapper was also nominated this year for the 2021 MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) in the Best Hip Hop Act category.

5.  Wendy Shay

Wendy Shay is always entangled in controversy. Nevertheless, she comes off been as one of the most hard-working musicians in the country. The RuffTown Records signee is currently the most sought after Female Artiste, gracing shows and inking brands ambassadorial deals.

This year, Wendy has churned out songs like Odo, Emergency, H.I.T which have all received encouraging streams and airtime plays. Her 'Emergency' song featuring Bosom Pyung became a TikTok hit as it was used for a challenge that went viral.

Wendy Shay in 2020 also had features with Shatta Wale, Eno Barony, Strongman, Kuami Eugene among others. Contributing her part to Ghana's stability in the electioneering period, the Shay Gang leader also headlined a peace walk and concert in Nima.

6.  MzVee

After a long break in the music space, MzVee returned to the music scene in 2019 and she has been working hard to catch up to where she has left off.

This saw the former Lynx Entertainment signed act dropping 4 singles 'Sheriff', 'Who Are You', 'Baddest Boss' and 'Baby' within a short time of about 4 months.

She eventually dropped her fourth studio album titled ‘Inveencible’ album in December, with the likes of Sarkodie, Medikal, Kelvyn Boy, Eddy Kenzo, Efya, Falz, Kojo Funds and others featuring on it.

At the time of this publication, MzVee doubled her work with dropping 5 music videos to her songs. With this effort, the 28-year-old, can certainly not miss this list of top 10 artistes of 2020.

7.  Kuami Eugene

The Rockstar currently holds the title as the Artiste of The Year from the 2020 VGMAs and per his work, it safe to predict that he'll be nominated again in the same category in next year's VGMAs.

Three monster hit tracks that cruised through 2020 has a Kuami Eugene effect. That is from his 'Open Gate' song to his feature on Keche's 'No Dullin' song and his work with Sarkodie on the 'Happy Day' track.

The Lynx Entertainment signed act also dropped his second album ' Son Of Africa', which is a 14 track masterpiece.

8.  Eno Barony

The Ghanaian female rapper has been in the game for years but achieved wider attention this year following her beef with Sista Afia and Medikal.

She dropped freestyles 'Rap Goddess' and 'Argument Done' which came off diss tracks that stirred controversy. Regardless, Eno's lyrical craft was appreciated more and that unarguably cemented her relevance.

The 'Queen Of Kings' rapper later dropped some singles and recently won Best Female Rap Act in Africa at the 2020 African Muzik Magazine Awards (AFRIMMA).

9.  Bosom Pyung

The Ghanaian rapper broke into the scene earlier this year with his 'Atta Adwoa' hit track. the song became a viral trend that gave Bosom Pyung prominence in the Ghanaian music space.

The University of Ghana graduate, who studied Political Science and Information Studies, later dropped a 7-track album titled 'Acheapong Boys' and got features with the likes of Medikal, Kwesi Arthur among others.

The project has gathered over 358,000 streams on audiomack.

10. Larruso

Larruso is one of the newbies in the Ghanaian music industry. The Ghanaian Reggae/Dancehall and Afrobeats artist started making waves in 2019 after releasing his debut single “Killy Killy”.

He got Stonebwoy to feature on the remix of the song and later, managed to work with Shatta Wale and Samini on his 'Gi Dem' remix.

This year, Larruso performed at the ‘From Milan With Love: Next Gen’ virtual concert and he was introduced by DJ Khaled who praised him for his craft.