by Dominic Alonge.
It’s been quite a year for Nigerian music, as we have slowly graduated from just intercontinental champions to international world-beaters. The intensity of how the Nigerian music industry has pushed afrobeats to the world in recent years makes other internationals wonder if it’s the Jollof-rice or pounded yam we eat that brings out the talent we possess. It’s been a long time coming, but the world has finally heard and is accepting the revolutionary movement in world music, which is Afrobeats. The year started off with a bang, as our own African giant won a Grammy for his record-breaking album “Twice as tall”, while in the same night, Wizkid brought home another Grammy for his involvement in Brown Skin Girl; never happened before in the Nigerian music history. Subsequently, we’ve seen Essence by Wizkid and Tems voraciously disturb the charts in America and worldwide, dubbed the “Song of the Summer” by Justin Beiber and other music lovers, while Ckay holds the record for the most shazamed song in the world. It’s definitely WTMG season in the hearts of West-Africa.
This article would highlight some of the notable achievements and feats some Nigerian artistes have attained this year, and how big this is for the future of afrobeat.
BurnaBoy –
Burnaboy achieved GOAT status earlier on in the year, starting the year the right way for Afrobeats enthusiasts by clinching Nigeria’s first ever Grammy award in a song category. His album “Twice as tall” was nominated in the global album awards category at the 67th Grammy award show, where he made history for being recognized at the highest-rated music awards in the world. As it is the tradition, the Nigerian based producers who worked on the album like Telz, Leriq amongst others were also given Grammy recognition certificates for their contribution to the success of the album.
Burnaboy also sold out the O2 arena at his show in the UK, adding his name to an illustrious list of sold-out artists at this iconic venue.
Ckay –
Ckay yo yo spoke his expansive relevance in modern-day Afrobeats into existence, as he has been in the shadows grinding for a long time. His hit song from 2019 “Love Nwantiti” which gained massive airplay when it dropped, has reentered the charts; just that this time, he is charting internationally. Ckay broke the record of being the most shazamed African artiste of all time, as Love Nwantiti (Remix Ft Dj Yo!) is the number 1 most shazamed song in the world. Yes, you read rightly, the entire world. Ckay is also the Nigerian and African with the most monthly listeners on Spotify, surpassing Tems and Wizkid in just two months with over 25M+Spotify listeners: becoming the first African artiste to smash the 20M+ Spotify monthly listeners barrier in Africa’s history. His hit song has also debuted on the Billboard charts and is getting massive airplay in the US, UK and plenty of other countries. One of the huge successes Ckay would record this year is the trending of his hit song on tiktok and reels, as millions of people participate in dance challenges/routines on those apps. These feats don’t come as a surprise to most, as the song in question is one of the catchiest songs ever, so it was easy for the world to latch onto the vibe the song emits. Ckay is also topping the charts in lots of countries around the world which emphasizes the global success the song amassed.
Korede Bello –
The Mavin soldier was recently recognized in the UK for joining an exclusive list of artistes who have been certified gold by the RIAA. His hit song “Do like that” has sold over 500k units in the UK and is the artiste’s most successful song till date.
Tems –
The rise to superstardom of Tems is a true story of hard-work, perseverance, consistency, and not giving up which should be studied in school. In comparison to where she was last year and a few years ago, Tems could be said to have skipped years and years of “blowing” to reach the stage she currently is where she is being featured on a Drake’s album, and hanging out with Rihanna and Adele. Tems is currently the most listened to female Artiste in Africa (with the second highest monthly listeners in Africa), with over 10m+ daily listeners; the first Nigerian woman to achieve this feat in all of Africa and Nigeria. She significantly gained the world’s attention with her excellent feature on Wizkid’s “Essence” off the Made in Lagos album (and deluxe), which was so good, Justin Beiber had to jump on it. She is also on the exclusive list of artistes who have attained gold status in the UK and USA as a feature artiste for the song “Essence”, and will soon be the first female artiste in Africa to be certified platinum in the USA, once the record label files with the RIAA, after it was confirmed that Essence has sold over 1million units in the USA.
With the year coming to a close, we might still report a few more records this icon would be smashing, as she keeps gracefully doing what she knows how to do best.
Wizkid –
Starboy’s influence on contemporary afrobeats cannot be overemphasized. He was recently dubbed by GQ magazine as the “King of Afrobeats”, and this is a label he can be said to have earned on merit. His “Made in Lagos” album which was released last year is still charting till date, ravaging airways in the USA, UK, and all over the world. The standout anthem off the album “Essence”, which features another spotlight artiste Tems, reached a landmark certification of platinum (1 million units sold) in the USA; the first African song to ever reach this height in the history of music data recording. Essence is also certified gold in the UK, joining a list of great African songs to reach this feat. Machala has featured on the Billboard Top 10 as a feature artiste for Drake’s One Dance and Beyonce’s Brown Skin Girl, but has recently broken the record with Essence Remix Featuring Tems & Justin Beiber, as the first ever African lead artiste and Afrobeats song to enter the Billboard Top 10 (currently number 10) in the history of the Billboard recording such data; extremely enormous for African music! The MIL album has also attained the highest position ever for a Nigerian album on Billboard Top 200, peaking at number 28. MIL is also the longest charting Afrobeats/African album on the Billboard global albums, maintaining the number 1 spot for weeks now. One of the biggest records the MIL album attained and surpassed is the longstanding record that afrobeats legend Fela has held for years, for the most weeks on the billboard charts, which Wizkid has successfully surpassed in recent weeks. He also got certified recently as the first African artiste to surpass 300 million streams for one album on Audiomack.
With all the records Wizkid broke this year with Essence and MIL, none would be as iconic as selling the O2 THREE TIMES OVER!!! So iconic that he set the record for the fastest time to ever sell out the O2 by an African artiste, with his first show selling out in 2 minutes. King of Afrobeats isn’t just by word of mouth, it partially involves turning O2 into O3.
With the curtains drawing on the year, we should still get more significant updates on more record breaking feats by more Nigerian artistes. The focus however should not be lost, as these artistes are embodiments of hard-work and consistency, which is why they are getting their flowers for their contribution in making the world another Afrobeats hub. A big congratulations to all the artistes mentioned in this article, and a bigger congratulations to all afrobeats pioneers, artistes, producers, promoters amongst others; this is our set time, AFROBEATS TO THE WORLD!
