AKA and Black Coffee hit a million

South Africa’s most downloaded and playlisted musician, rapper AKA, has also become the first local artist to hit the elusive million follower mark on Twitter.

He narrowly pipped DJ Black Coffee, who has also just reached 1 million followers. AKA’s ex, DJ Zinhle, is just shy of the mark.

Despite being labelled a bit of a Twitter badboy – especially at the height of his rivalry with fellow rapper Cassper Nyovest ­– AKA’s fanbase has continued to grow, translating neatly to downloads and ticket sales.

The rapper told City Press that he has been deliberately restrained on Twitter, refusing to be irked.

At one stage his management advised him to leave Twitter alone because it was damaging his brand, so he took a break from his @akaworldwide account. But as he prepares for a new tour and a new album, he will be relying on his social media to drum up support.

AKA has almost double the Twitter followers of Nyovest, who in turn has 150 000 more followers than President Jacob Zuma.

DJ Fresh, who is not known as a recording artist, but a radio and club DJ and compiler, has more followers than AKA, at 1.2 million.

Black Coffee’s numbers continue to swell as he becomes a major name on the international house music scene.

Their figures show that hip-hop and house are the future sounds of Mzansi, but who are the other most followed local artists on Twitter?