Following Uk Album Chart Success With ‘I Told Them…’
Grammy-winning Afrobeats star Burna Boy has been named as the No.1 most-streamed Nigerian artist of all time on Apple Music.
The music streaming platform shared the news as part of its ‘Oshe Naija’ campaign to highlight “Nigerian music’s rich history”, and coincides with the country’s 63rd year of independence.
Released on August 25, Burna Boy’s latest album I Told Them... broke the record for first-week streams by an African album on Apple Music. He also topped Apple Music’s albums chart in 69 countries simultaneously worldwide, which, according to Apple Music, was a new record for the Afrobeats genre.
Meanwhile, Wizkid (Apple‘s second most-streamed Nigerian artist) holds the record for the most-streamed African song of all time with Essence (feat. Tems), which reached the Daily Top 100 in more than 100 countries worldwide, and continues to chart three years after its release.
At No.3 is Davido, following the success of his 2022 album Timeless. Rounding out the top five is Asake, who has seen 11 songs reach the Global Daily Top 100 on Apple Music.
Also on Apple Music’s list of most-streamed Nigerian artists of all time is Superstar Rema (at No.4), who has had one of the biggest songs of the summer on Apple Music worldwide with the Afrobeats hit Calm Down, which now holds the record for the African single with the longest run in the Top 15 of the Global Daily Top 100 on Apple Music.
Rema also recently joined the ‘Billions Club’ on Spotify with his hit Calm Down, featuring Selena Gomez. According to Spotify, Rema’s milestone marked the first time an African artist–led track has racked up a billion streams on its platform.
Spotify reported that its data shows that the highest number of streams of Calm Down are coming from the US, India, Mexico, Brazil, and the UK, which it added was “proof that the song truly transcends borders”.
-MBW
