The Top Senegalese Songs of All-Time - Starting Eleven

I asked my Senegalese friends to name their top 5 songs ever, from Senegal. I do not have a Senegalese alter-ego yet, but I have met Gelongal and Youssou Ndour and I led Museke. I also asked Google Gemini (yes, not Meta AI, Chat GPT, Grok, Deepseek, or POE - because, I asked it through Google Sheets). You know it is my friend these days right? I also contributed my top 5.

My first time in Senegal was in 2016. But prior to that, since 2002, I had been learning about Senegalese music from my African friends, all around the USA, while at MIT. I got to know more about this when me, Edward Mabonga, Phelele Fakudze  and others started Museke in 2006. It was great to see some of my friends suggest songs that we were jamming to back in the day.

I wanted to do a list of top 5, but there are too many songs. So I have aggregated 11, to represent Senegal in the World Cup of #MusicWeDeyFeel. The starting eleven. Drop your opinions, props, suggestions in the comments section. Here we go, in no particular order, you can suggest who plays centre forward, sweeper, maestro, left wing back or goalkeeper in the comments. 

Birima - Youssou Ndour (2000)

You would lose a debate if you say this is not the most popular song ever from Senegal. The likes of Phelele Fakudze, Tumi Diseko, Jacqueline Mbus, etc would debate you to a tee. Youssou Ndour is probably 1 of the 5 best people from Senegal all-time. This is a man who people were saying should be the president of Africa if we united. 

Unique - Djelykaba Bintou (2025)

I didn't know about this lady until I ran my survey. Unique is like its name and 1 of the Senegalese 

songs with the most YouTube views. Mia Guisse is the new lady on the block. This song was released this year and is already moving up on the charts and hearts of the Senegalais people.

Tajabone - Ismael Lo (1992)

I have heard of Ismael Lo before but I was not familiar with his music. There have been many Senegalese basketball players in the NBA. I doubt Shaq has heard of Ismael, maybe even Hakeem Olajuwon hasn't, but I am confident Dikembe Mutombo knew about him, as well as the likes of Desagana Diop. Let me go and ask what this song means and revert, d'accord?

Bul Ma Miin - Orchestra Baobab (1981)
Oldie but goldie! I had never heard of these folks, which is really bad. Their votes came in.

7 Seconds - Youssou Ndour

The Pheonix Suns of 2005-2006 were led by Steve Nash who pipped Shaq to an MVP award. I know Nash's teammate Boris Diaw knows Ismael Lo, just like he knows Youssou Ndour. He would agree with me that Youssou is way too big and he deserves a second song on this list. It is longer than 7 seconds, I promise. This song features Neneh Cherry.

Je t'aime - Wally B. Seck (2025)

Yes, another 2025 song. It is not only the GenZ folks who love this man's music. Wally B. Seck is 1 of the all-time greats of Senegalese music and this song is 1 that many around the world would appreciate. "I Love You". 

Bayi yoon - Daara J Family (2010)

Daara J Family is 1 of the best hip hop groups ever, worldwide. The rap culture has been huge in Senegal for decades, causing revolutions, helping drive elections, democracy, etc. When this song was released, it was during the height of the Museke days.

Champion - Viviane Chidid (2010)

There are many songs from Viviane to choose, but we have to pick the trophy winner. She won female African artiste of the year at the Afrotainment Museke Online Africa Music Awards in 2011. After winning and performing at the awards ceremony in New York City, USA, she was greeted with a heroine's welcome in Dakar.

Bounia - Thione Seck (2002)

Thione is one of the most popular musicians from Senegal. He emerged from Orchestra Baobab as well. He started his own band called Raam Daan. 

Yela - Baaba Maal (1992)

For the Ghanaians, this person is a he wae? Baaba Maal is a legend just like Youssou, playing to audiences all over the world. This is 1 of his all-time great songs.

Cey Love - Adiouza (2012)

I got to know about Adiouza when we were working on Museke. She was the top female musician in Senegal for some time and she continues to be very relevant. I was at a Senegalese restaurant (Koite Grill) in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA earlier this year and it was great seeing a rotation of her music videos being played.

Many thanks to those who contributed, like Karim Sy, Aminata Kane, Elisabeth Ndour, Matar Faye , Dadja Bassou, Nattyseydi Ndiaye, Cedric Labih and Papa Ousmane Ngom. Have more #MusicWeDeyFeel to contribute? Drop a comment.

Check out this playlist of songs that were nominated, etc on YouTube.

PS: Erm, no. Akon did not make this list. I did not really consider the Diaspora folks, so we would give them honorable mentions here.