Ace Nigerian Artist, Ayodeji Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid, has set a new Spotify record for the biggest streams by any song.
The superstar’s recently released album, titled Morayo, has claimed the Number One spot on the Apple Music Nigeria Chart, with all his tracks dominating the charts to positions.
One of his singles from the album titled Kese (Dance) set the record for the highest opening day stream on Spotify Nigeria with 1.5 million streams.
Another single Piece of My Heart also surpassed one million opening day streams on Spotify.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Wizkid’s album, Morayo, which translates to ‘I see joy’ in Yoruba, is a heart felt tribute to his late mother, Juliana Balogun, who passed away in August 2023.
The album, which was launched on Nov. 22, features tasteful selection of artistes across genres.
The much-anticipated 16-track album was released on streaming platforms on Friday.
The tracks include hit songs — Troubled Mind, Karamo, Kese (Dance), Bad Girl, Time, Piece of My Heart and Pray, with collaborations featuring renowned artistes such as Asake, Brent Faiyaz, Jazmine Sullivan, Anaïs and Tiakola.
Wizkid had, earlier in June, in a video message shared on his social media page, told his fans that the album was to honour his late mother.
“My album Morayo, dedicated to my mum, the love of my life, drops very soon. Don’t dull. Don’t sleep.”
In another post on his X handle, he wrote: “Morayo! Friday, Nov. 22.”
However, the ace singer in October dropped a track Piece of My Heart, featuring American singer and songwriter, Brent Faiyaz, from the album for his curious fans.
The soul-stirring track immediately set a new record on Spotify for the biggest first day streams by any song, pulling 1.01 million streams.
Wizkid broke the record he previously shared with Asake for their chart-topping single MMS from Asake’s Lungu Boy album, making Piece of My Heart Africa’s first song to surpass one million opening day streams on Spotify.
NAN reports that Wizkid, born in Surulere, Lagos, started his music career at 11 and released a collaborative album with Glorious Five, a group formed with Church friends.
In 2009, he signed with Banky W’s Empire Mates Entertainment and became famous with Holla at Your Boy, and since then, evolved to become a global brand.
Among other feats, Wizkid became the first Nigerian musician to have over one million followers on Twitter (now X) in 2014.
He became first Afrobeat artist to appear in the 2018 Guinness World Records for his contribution to One Dance, and his song Soco became his first Afrobeat single to be certified gold in Canada.
In mid-2019, Wizkid was featured on Beyonce’s Brown Skin Girl, taken from the acclaimed The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack, which earned him his first Grammy Award, among other nominations and awards.
Besides Morayo, his studio albums include Superstar (2011), Ayo (2014), Sounds from the Other Side (2017), Made in Lagos (2020) and More Love Less Hate (2022). (NAN)
Joy Obanya
