When it comes to being successful in the Nigerian music industry, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun popularly known as Wizkid is one artiste to reckon with.
The Afrobeat singer who hails from Lagos state, started singing at the age of 11 years as part of a group; the Glorious Five. Since then, success became his pseudonym as he has risen to be recognized as one of the best musicians in the world.
The Nigerian music superstar aside from working with international acts such as; Drake, Akon, Chris Brown, has numerous awards local and international; ambassadorial and endorsement deals in his name.
As our celebrity profile for the week, here are some of the greatest achievements of Wizkid.
In 2016, Wizkid became the first Nigerian singer to make it to Billboard’s Twitter Last 24 hours chart, following his feature with Drake on the global hit, ‘One Dance.’ This song was rated number one in 15 countries including; the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
The song also gave him the honour of being the only Nigerian artiste to maintain the number one spot on iTunes World Chart for more than one week as well as appear in the 2018 Guinness World Records.
In 2017, he won the MOBO awards for ‘Best International Act’. His victory at the MOBOs got him congratulatory messages from President Buhari, VP Osinbajo, and former VP Atiku Abubakar. In the same year, he won 3three awards at the AFRIMA awards held in Lagos.
In addition, Wizkid is the first African pop star to perform and sell out the Royal Albert Hall in London, United Kingdom. He sold out a 20,000 for this concert in 2018.
Did you know there is a day set aside in Minnesota for Wizkid? Yes! Wizkid Day! Now you know. When Starboy performed in Minnesota in 2018, he had a sold-out concert at the Skyway Theater.
The then Governor of Minnesota, Mark Brandt Dayton, described Wizkid as ”one of the most influential artists” on a night when he performed some of his hit singles like ‘Soco’, ‘Manya’, ‘In My Bed’ and ‘Ojuelegba’ before a sold-out crowd.
In 2019, Wizkid featured in Beyoncé’s ‘Lion King’ album which is a collection of music inspired by the 2019 remake of the classic Disney movie ‘Lion King.’
He is also featured on a song titled, ‘Brown Skin Girl’, alongside Beyoncé’s first child, Blue Ivy Carter, Beyoncé, and Saint Jhn. This collaboration won him the Ashford and Sampson Songwriters’ Award during the Soul Train Awards in 2019.
He is ascribed to be the first African to bag seven Billboard nominations, first Nigerian artiste to win three Billboard awards and one with the most award nominations in Nigeria.
Wizkid is the first Nigerian artiste to win an award from the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
The awards and achievements are endless.
Cheers to Wizkid!
