Most Awarded African Artist, First to Hit 1bn Streams on Spotify: 5 Guinness Records Held by Wizkid
- Love or hate him, it is undeniable that Wizkid is one of the most talented artists ever to grace Africa's music industry
- The Afrobeats singer recently celebrated the thirteenth anniversary of his debut album "Superstar" across his social media pages
- In lieu of the celebration of Wizkid's 13th anniversary, Legit.ng has highlighted five world records held by the Nigerian singer
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The success of the genre Afrobeats cannot be written without a page or more dedicated to the Nigerian singer Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, better known as Wizkid.
There have been many super-talented singers before Wizkid, and there will be many more after him, but there will never be another like him.
Source: Instagram
Much of the global prominence accrued to the Nigerian music genre, be it "Afrobeats or Afrofusion", wouldn't have been without Wizkid's contribution.
The Essence singer is credited by many as the first artist who successful crossover from being just a Nigerian singer to being recognized as an international artist.
Wizkid's crossover wasn't on the grounds of sounding American or British instead he made the jump as an Afrobeats singer and a Nigerian entertainer who became a global superstar.
On June 12, 2011 Wizkid dropped his debut album "Superstar" and since then he never looked back.
The singer recently celebrated the 13th anniversary of his debut album and in the light of that Legit.ng in this article has highlight five insane records that many people don't know are held by Wizkid.
1. Most awarded African artist
The Nigerian-born music superstar is one of the most awarded artists on the surface of the earth. In Africa, no other artist has won more musical awards than him. Apart from being the most nominated artist in Africa for the BET awards, he is also the singer with the most gongs from the Black Entertainment TV ceremony.
Wizkid is the first African artist to win an award at the BET outside of the International Act category. His nomination in 2023 made him the most nominated artist, with nine mentions.
The Ojuelgeba crooner has won over 90 internationally recognised awards, including BET, Grammy, Headies, MOBO, Billboard, and many more.
2. First African artist to hit 1billion streams
Another massive international recognition that Wizkid's exploits achieved was hitting one billion streams. Earlier this year, Legit.ng recalls reporting that Wizkid's song with Drake One Dance had hit three billion streams.
Before Rema's Calm Down and Ckay's Love Nwantiti, Wizkid's One Dance was the first African song to hit over one stream on Spotify and other music streaming platforms.
To date, Wizkid still holds the record as the African artist with the most streams for one song.
3. First African to debut on Spotify's global album chart
In 2020, Wizkid became the first African artist to debut on the Spotify global album music chart.
His fifth studio album, "Made In Lagos", roared its way into the top 10 global album chart. He achieved this within one week after the album was released.
The fantastic body of work stayed on the chart for over five weeks. Others have achieved this feat, but Big Wiz was the first to do it, paving the way for others.
4. Longest charting African album on top 100 Billboard
This record held by Wizkid is a two-in-one. Apart from holding the record for the longest-charting African album on the Top 100 Billboard chart, Big Wiz is the first Nigerian artist to be nominated for the Billboard award.
In 2017, he picked up seven different nominations for his song with Drake One Dance. While in 2022, he got three more nominations for his song Essence.
5. African artist with highest platinum certification
Apart from being the first Afrobeats artist to make it to the top 10 on the World Billboard 100, Wizkid is also the African artist with the highest platinum certification in the US.
Since becoming a global sensation, Wizkid has bagged three platinum certifications with 3 different songs.
Wizkid is the African artist with the highest number of platinum certifications by the RIAA in the US of all time.
Wizkid describes his new kind of music
Legit.ng recalls reporting how Wizkid expressed his anger about being boxed and the kind of music he makes.
During the rant, the Nigerian singer noted that he was no longer an Afrobeats singer, and revealed the type of music he was into.
Proofread by Kola Muhammed, journalist and copyeditor at Legit.ng
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Source: Legit.ng
