Abuja: Nigerian Afrobeats superstar Ayodeji Balogun, popularly known asWizkid, has set a historic record as the first African artist to surpass 11 billion streams on Spotify. The achievement cements his status as a global trailblazer for Afrobeats, marking yet another milestone in a career that continues to redefine African music’s reach worldwide.
According to the announcement made on Tuesday by music data handle @ChaftsAfrica on X (formerly Twitter), Wizkid is the first African artist to reach the milestone.
The post reads: “First African artists to reach major Spotify milestones:
“1 billion — Wizkid, 2 billion — Wizkid,
3 billion — Wizkid, 4 billion — Wizkid,
5 billion — Wizkid, 6 billion — Wizkid,
7 billion — Wizkid, 8 billion — Wizkid,
9 billion — Wizkid, 10 billion — Wizkid,
11 billion — Wizkid.”
The milestone follows Wizkid’s release of “State of Mind” with DJ Tunez on May 15, which garnered over 685,000 Spotify streams globally in its first day.
NAN also reports that earlier in January, ‘Big Wiz’, as the singer is fondly called by his teeming fans and industry peers, became the first African artist to reach 10 billion streams on Spotify.
Entertainment stakeholders and fans say this achievement marks another major moment for African music globally.
