Here are 5 important milestones that happened in Nigerian music and Afrobeats this week
Burna Boy goes gold in France and Wizkid and Mr. Eazi hit major milestones on Spotify.
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Here are the picks of the bunch;
1.) 'One Dance' by Drake featuring Wizkid and Kyla hits one billion streams on Spotify
This comes after Wizkid became the first Nigerian artist to hit two billion streams on Spotify earlier in the year. But this time, 'One Dance' becomes the first song to hit one billion streams on the largest streaming platform in the world. The song which was released in 2016 and produced by Nigerian superproducer, Sarz was a Hot 100 No. 1 hit song.
2.) Burna Boy hits Gold in Canada
A few days ago, it was announced that Nigerian superstar and Grammy nominee, Burna Boy's smash hit single, 'On The Low' had been certified Gold in Canada after moving an equivalent of 40,000 units in the country. This is Burna Boy's second single with a gold certification in Canada after another smash hit, 'Ye' also got that plaque in 2019.
'On The Low' also got certified Gold in France earlier in the year.
3.) Mr. Eazi hits one billion streams on Spotify
In terms of streaming strategy, Mr. Eazi might be head and shoulders above all Nigerian artists. Earlier this year, his frequent collaborator, J Balvin was named the most-streamed artist on Spotify in 2020. In 2018, he was also the most-streamed artist on Deezer.
What Eazi does is align with the right people and allow things to take shape naturally. His collaboration with Balvin has already won a Latin Grammy. Eazi now has a new single titled, 'Lento' with Balvin.
4.) Afrobeats continues to grow on Shazam
Earlier in the year, Shazam surpassed 200 million users in the world. The Apple-owned company also announced that 'Jerusalema' by Master KG had become the most searched song its platform before that. Now it has announced that Afrobeats enjoys a 72% year-on-year growth on the platform.
This makes it the fastest growing genre on the platform.
5.) Shazam launches global charts
Chart Data Nigeria reports that, "[Shazam] has launched new global charts covering 18 genres including Pop, hip-hop/rap, alternative, dance, K-pop, afrobeat and more."
This comes after the UK announced an Afrobeats chart.
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