When you listen to most Afrobeats, most of their musical structure is pop music to fit the radio format. It's a combination of Hip Hop, Dancehall and Nigerian sounds.
The Afrobeats songs that made an impact were those with distinct samples, percussion and rhythm changes. The difference between Afrobeat and Afrobeats is Fela Kuti adapted Funk, Soul and traditional Nigerian music into the African sound to form Afrobeats.
Congolese Rumba from the 1960's up to the 2000's will the dominant dance music of Africa. It wasn't until Koffi took that criticism of Tabu Ley to the heart that he decided to lessen the number of sebenes. The trend of adding ballad rumbas start to take head in the mid 2000's and now it's the norm.
Notably, there are many forms of rumbas. The common form of rhumba-sebene is verse-refrain-chorus (nkumba is the slow part of the rumba), then the song will do 2 or 3 rhythm changes before the musicians jump into the sebene. This was the formula that made Congolese Music successful for years!
The other forms of rumba is rumba odemba (OK Jazz school-Franco), Rumba-Fiesta (Tabu Ley African Fiesta, African Jazz Grand Kalle, Bantous de la Capitale), rumba sukuma (Wendo Kolosy - Marie Louise) - Rumba Sukuma is the main format of ballad rumbas. Then, you also have Rumba Disco, Rumba Soukous, Rumba Soum Djoum of Tabu Ley, Rumba Rock of Clan Viva la Musica and Folklore Rumba of traditional ethnic groups like Muyene, Batandu, etc
In 2004, Coupe Decale of Ivory Coast started to dominate the dance charts with artists such as the late DJ Arafat, Douk Saga, Kedjevara, the late Erickson Le Zulu, Serge Beynaud etc.
Mind you, Coupe Decale is just a faster tempo of Ndombolo.
Coupe Decale was the dominant dance music of West Africa until the early 2010's. Nigerian artists such as Tiwa Savage, Davido, Wizkid, Yemi Alade and countless others start to launch the airwaves.
The banning of Congolese artists touring in West Africa led to the downfall of Congolese Music. In the 70's, 80's, and 90's, artists/bands such as Pepe Kalle, Aurlus Mabele, Koffi Olomide, General Defao, Zaiko Langa Langa, Extra Musica, Wenges would sell out stadiums, halls and arenas.
Sonically, most Afrobeats songs don't have a sebene. Most Afrobeats songs sound more raw and energetic with a live band versus on studio. So why Afrobeats is popular?
Afrobeats is popular due to the dominance of Nigerians promoting their sound, the English language, videos launched on MTV, BET and on Youtube, plus the consistency of marketing. The importance of marketing is makes listeners aware of the sound, keeps music listeners engaged and creates demand, relevance, reputation and competition.
Can the same marketing strategies help Congolese Rumba of today? Or is the potential dead? If Koffi didn't start the ballad rumba trend, would the dynamics of Congolese Rumba still remain the dominant force as it used to be?
