African streaming service Boomplay has had a massive year that has seen it’s growth boom as it approaches Apple Music’s numbers.

Music streaming in Africa is seeing a boom. In the past year giant services like Spotify and YouTube Music have launched for listeners in Africa. Africa’s own music streaming services are seeing enormous growth as well.

Boomplay have had an incredible year that has seen them grow over 50% in nine months. In April they announced that their user-base had grown to 42 million. Later this year in August they’d already gained over 10 million more users and they’ve now revealed that they have 62 million total users.

Boomplay announced a licensing deal with Merlin alongside the user numbers. Their new deal with the indie agency will increase their music offerings which already include global major record labels and a host of African music from local labels and artists.

Boomplay’s head of marketing for Africa, Tosin Sorinalo said: “Boomplay’s vision is to build the largest and most reliable music ecosystem in Africa, and working with Merlin brings us significantly closer to that goal.”

With $20 million of new funding given to Boomplay this year they look set to make a big mark in the global music streaming arena.