16th September, 2022
The Nigerian music industry has undergone lots of changes and processes and is fast moving from being an industry of older entertainers to one dominated by young music stars.
The inclusion of young artists in the Nigerian music industry has further pushed it out to international levels.
Music star like Davido, Burna Boy, Wizkid and others are currently making the industry proud with their many music achievements, recognition and awards.
Social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram have also enhanced the songs churned out by these music stars as many Nigerian songs have made it to the international stage organically.
The great achievements recorded by these Nigerian superstars are being recorded and celebrated every day in the music industry, both locally and internationally.
In no particular order, below are six Nigerian music star whose songs are a hit and making waves internationally.
Davido
Nigerian singer David Adedeji Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, is one Nigerian music artiste that cannot be pushed to the side when it comes to his achievements in the Nigerian music industry and globally too.
Davido’s statistics according to recent statistics has over 1 billion streams on Spotify. He is also classified as one of the most streamed Nigerian artistes on Apple Music.
The DMW boss’ song “Fall”, which was his second single from second studio album “A Good Time” in late 2019 became the longest charting Nigerian pop song in Billboard history. The song was officially recorded in 2017.
Burna Boy
Grammy Award-winning Afrobeats star, Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy, is sitting proudly on this table as his music boasts effortlessly.
The self-acclaimed African Giant’s hit song, ‘Last Last’ in July 2022 debuted at number 86 on the Billboard Top 100.
‘Last Last’ is one of the songs in Burna Boy’s latest album titled “Love, Damini” which also debuted at number 13 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums.
Burna also made history at the Legendary Madison Square Garden, New York, with his “One Night in Space” concert which was sold out and also hit a million viewers on YouTube just six days after the show.
Wizkid
Grammy Award-winning Nigerian singer and songwriter, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, professionally known as Wizkid is undoubtedly one of the music stars making Nigeria proud on the music scene.
The singer’s latest song “Bad to me” has debuted on Apple music’s top 100. The song which received a lot of bashing and criticism has successfully pushed Asake’s ‘Organise’ down to number 2, as it takes the number 1 spot.
His fourth album, ‘Made In Lagos’ which was released 30 October, 2020 has sold 500 thousand units in the U.S.
Since its release, it has recorded 322 million streams on Apple Music, 229 million streams on Spotify, 227 million streams on YouTube.
It also recorded over 140 million streams on Audiomack, over 40 million streams on Boomplay and over 20 million streams on Pandora, making a total of over 1 billion streams on Digital Service Providers (DSPs).
‘Made In Lagos’ was certified Silver in the U.K, in the early months of 2022, after selling over 60,000 units and is now certified Gold in the U.S for reaching 500,000 units of sales.
The album has broken a plethora of records, including the first African album to make it to the Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 and also the record holder for longest charting African album on the Billboard Hot 100, with a record 72 weeks on the charts.
Kizz Daniel
Award-winning Nigerian singer and songwriter, Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe, better known by his stage name Kizz Daniel also made the list.
His latest banger, ‘Buga’, has been rated the world’s top five Afrobeat trending globally.
Since the release of the hit song, social media has been awash with creative skits on Tik Tok, and group performances, with mesmerising jigs and twists to the rhythm.
Buga, soon became the lead song on Apple Music’s top 100 in Nigeria and top one among the top 100 on Apple in Kenya.
Kizz Daniel in July 2022 broke a record in the music industry as the most streamed artiste on Boomplay.
This achievement as announced by Boomplay was achieved with the help of his successful EP.
‘Barnabas’ was the first to hit over 100 million streams on Boomplay music.
Tems
Nigerian singer, Temilade Openiyi, who is professionally known as Tems, broke into the industry with her single, ‘’Try Me’’, in 2019. She has since released other singles like ‘’Crazy tings’’ in 2021, “Damages’’ in 2020, and ‘’Higher’’, in 2020, among others.
In 2020, she got featured on Wizkid’s “Essence”, one of the songs in his Made In Lagos album.
Tems has recorded other successful collaborations with international acts like Drake and Future.
She became the first African woman to win in the Best International Act category at the 2022 BET Awards.
Her hit collaboration “Essence” with Wizkid shot her to international prominence in 2021 and earned her the number one spot on Billboard’s Next Big Sound Chart.
Ayra Starr
Mavin Records’ latest signee Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe, popularly known as Ayra Starr also made the list.
The 20-year-old musician who started her career covering popular songs on Instagram is proof for young citizens in Africa that you can have a great global presence no matter your age.
Starr after being signed to Mavin Records she released her first album “19 & Dangerous” to positive critical responses.
19 & Dangerous was the number one album on the Nigerian iTunes and Apple Music chart at the time of its release, and her single “Away”, was listed by OkayAfrica as one of the best Nigerian songs of January 2021.