Burna Boy GTA 6 radio: what AfroBank FM is and why it matters for African music

Rockstar Games has confirmed that Burna Boy will co-host AfroBank FM, the African music station in Grand Theft Auto VI. The Burna Boy GTA 6 role was revealed on Thursday 8 October, when Rockstar named the first six radio stations and their hosts. He shares the microphone with the DJ and producer Palms Trax, and the game is due out on 19 November. Here is what the station is, who else is on the dial, and why a video game radio slot may matter more for African music than it first sounds.

By Editorial Team

What we know

• The station (FACT). Rockstar’s music page for the game lists AfroBank FM as one of six stations available to preview now. Its description promises “the best in African music, from 20th-century classics and undiscovered gems to contemporary sounds like amapiano, 3-step and more”.
• The hosts (FACT). Burna Boy and Palms Trax present the station under the in-game names “Burna” and “Palmsy”, as reported by Pitchfork, Complex and DJ Mag from Rockstar’s announcement.
• The release date (FACT). Grand Theft Auto VI is due on 19 November 2026, about six weeks after the reveal.
• Early tracks (REPORTED). Music Verdict reports that the first confirmed songs include Asake’s “Joha”, “Gye Wani” by the Ghanaian highlife pairing of Pat Thomas and Ebo Taylor, and “Shay’sana” by DJ Lag and Robot Boii with Kamo Mphela. We have not seen a full playlist from Rockstar, so treat this as an early list.
• More to come (FACT). Rockstar says more stations are on the way, covering classic rock, blues, electronic music and talk radio.

Who else has a station

AfroBank FM sits among some very big names. Bad Bunny and the Puerto Rican singer RaiNao host Cocoteo FM, a modern Latin station. Morgan Wallen and Lana Del Rey front the country station Back Country Radio, with Del Rey’s husband Jeremy Dufrene playing a roving reporter. Robyn and the model Alex Consani run the pop station Flash FM. Slayer’s Kerry King and Tom Araya present the metal station The Chamber 106.6, and Trick Daddy and Trina host Dirty South Classics.

That line-up matters: African music sits next to Latin, country and pop as one of the core sounds of the game’s world.

Rockstar has also confirmed on-demand podcasts, a first for the series, and in-game headphones so the music continues on foot.

Why the Burna Boy GTA 6 slot matters

GTA radio has long shaped what players listen to. People spend hundreds of hours driving around these games, and the songs stay with them.

That is why this booking is different from a festival slot or a stadium show. A concert reaches the people in the room. A radio station in one of the most anticipated games of the decade will play to players who may never have searched for amapiano, highlife or Afrobeats. They will hear it simply by getting into a car.

The reported early tracks also point to a station that looks beyond Lagos. A current Nigerian hit, a pairing of two Ghanaian highlife veterans and a South African dance track show a pan-African selection rather than a playlist of only the biggest Nigerian names. If you need a refresher on how those sounds differ, our guide to Afrobeats, Afrobeat, Afropop and amapiano explains it.

Rockstar has not said how music on the stations is licensed or paid for. The bigger value is probably discovery: new listeners who go on to stream the songs, which is where the royalties described in our explainer on how Spotify royalties work come in.

A busy month for Burna Boy

The game announcement lands in the middle of a crowded schedule. Burna Boy is due to headline the halftime show at the NFL’s Paris game on 25 October, which we covered alongside his London show in our report on his Apple Music Hall date and the Paris booking.

He is not the only Nigerian star crossing into new spaces this month. Ayra Starr headlines halftime at the NFL London game on Sunday, as we set out in our guide to how to watch. The games industry is also reaching deeper into film and TV, as our report on the Cyberpunk 2077 movie and Xbox’s new screen division showed.

What we do not know yet

Rockstar has not published the full AfroBank FM playlist, and we have not seen a statement from Burna Boy about the role. We do not know how many songs the station will carry, whether any of his own music will be on it, or whether more African artists will appear on other stations.

What happens next

• Now: the six station previews, including AfroBank FM, are live on the music section of Rockstar’s official Grand Theft Auto VI site.
• Before 19 November: Rockstar says more stations and more singles from the soundtrack album will be revealed.
• 25 October: Burna Boy headlines halftime at the NFL Paris game.
• 19 November: Grand Theft Auto VI is released, and players can hear the full station.

More Afrobeats news: Afrobeats.

Photo credits: Featured image: Burna Boy performing at Untold Festival, Cluj-Napoca, 2024. Photo: Nuță Lucian from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). Source. In-article image: Burna Boy performing at the Nativeland concert in Lagos, 2016. Photo: Catherine Omeresan Sutherland, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Source.

Sources

• Pitchfork: GTA VI radio stations to be hosted by Lana Del Rey, Bad Bunny, Robyn (8 Oct 2026)
• Complex: Grand Theft Auto VI radio stations feature Bad Bunny, Burna Boy, Lana Del Rey and more (8 Oct 2026)
• DJ Mag: GTA 6 radio stations to be hosted by Robyn, Palms Trax, Bad Bunny, more (9 Oct 2026)
• indy100: Rockstar reveals first GTA 6 radio stations and hosts (station descriptions)
• Music Verdict: Burna Boy hosts AfroBank FM in GTA 6 with Palms Trax (early track list)