WizKid Bags BRIT Award for One Billion Streams

The Afrobeats superstar, Starboy entertainment boss and Grammy award winner, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun popularly known as WizKid accepted his BRIT trophy in person while in London following his highly spectacular sold-out performance at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium on Saturday, 27th of July, 2023.

The “BRIT Billion Award” was given to Wizkid in honor of his reaching the record-breaking milestone of one billion career streams in the UK, which had never before been reached by an African musician.

The Afrobeats superstar received the Brit Billion Award on July 31, 2023, according to the official Twitter account of the BRIT Awards. This was done for having over one billion streams in the UK. 

The post reads : “It’s one billion UK streams for @wizkidayo, who was presented with the BRIT Billion Award while in London for his incredible show at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium “

Having above 1.3 billion streams on YouTube, 1.16 billion lead streaming on Spotify, and 4.6 billion streams overall, the musician enjoyed extraordinary success. In addition, the artist received approximately 126 million downloads on Boomplay, 183 million on Pandora, and over 349 million streams overall. On the same international music streaming site, the artist’s album “Made In Lagos” recently passed the amazing milestone of receiving over 500 million streams.

On October 30, 2020, the debut of the album “Made In Lagos” took place, and on August 27, 2021, a deluxe edition was made available. In 2021, Wizkid’s performance at London’s 02 Arena, which has a seating capacity exceeding 20,000, sold out in under 12 minutes. Even as he begins a promotional tour for his most recent album, MLLE (More Love, Less Ego), the album’s popularity on the charts keeps rising. The Tottenham Stadium in London, which has a capacity of 62,850 people, recently featured a performance by Starboy Entertainment‘s owner and lead artist. He is now the first and only African musician to serve as the venue’s headlining act.

Wizkid’s performance marked his happy return to London after their record-breaking three-date, sold-out stint at the O2 Arena in 2021. Before the Starboy took the stage, Dj Skyla Tylaa, The Cavemen, and Masego gave breathtaking opening acts that left the audience in awe. ‘More Love, Less Ego’ album tunes by Wizkid were performed, and he also enthralled the audience with versions of his timeless hits.

Lots of units have been sold by Wizkid in the UK, and his albums and songs have received numerous platinum and gold certifications. His Drake duet “One Dance,” which also features Kyla, is six times platinum and has sold over 3.6 million copies. The songs “Energy” with Skepta and “Essence” with Tems are among his other platinum-certified tracks. His collaborations with Drake on “Come Closer” and Beyoncé on “Brown Skin Girl” are gold-certified tracks. The UK has awarded gold certification to “Made In Lagos,” Wizkid’s fourth studio album. Due to the success of songs like “Essence”, “Brown skin girl” and others, WizKid’s music has had more than a billion streams in the United Kingdom .

Nigerian singer and composer , One of the most well-known African musicians of all time, Wizkid is a well-known personality in the contemporary Afrobeats music scene.The Glorious Five (5), a group he and a few of his church buddies founded, published a joint CD with him when he was 11 years old. He started recording music at that age. Wizkid and Banky W’s Empire Mates Entertainment (E.M.E.) agreed to a record agreement in 2009. The lead song off his debut studio album, Superstar (2011), which also produced the singles “Tease Me/Bad Guys” and “Don’t Dull,” “Holla at Your Boy,” brought him into the spotlight later.

With his work on Beyoncé’s “Brown Skin Girl,” Wizkid won his first Grammy Award for Best Music Video, one of many honors he received for his contributions to the Nigerian music scene. He has received the most awards from any African artist at the BET Awards (3), Soul Train Awards (3), Billboard Awards (3), iHeartRadio Music Awards (2), and MOBO Awards (6).He also received an ASCAP award for his composition work on Drake’s “One Dance,” which set two Guinness World Records by being the very first album to receive one billion Spotify streams and the most played song at the time. In 2009, the New African magazine listed Wizkid as one of the Top 100 most influential Africans.

The legendary Afrobeats singer electrified his audience with his songs. Wizkid performed songs from his albums “Ayo” and “Made in Lagos,” which, along with his illustrious “Superstar” album, have established his place as a major figure in the world of music. He now enjoys the distinction of setting the pace for the African music industry after becoming the first African singer  to play at the London Stadium.