Nigerian artistes have continued to put the nation on the global map by their genres of music. These artistes have continued to own their space and churn out great music tagged Afrobeats and gone ahead to hold music tours abroad and pulling crowds, having done this at home in Nigeria and Africa. Concerts and performances have been done outside the country with a number of them comfortably selling out arenas and venues. SAMUEL ABULUDE writes on the artistes making Nigerians proud abroad.

 

Burna Boy

In recent times, talented music superstar and Grammy award winner, Burna Boy has continued to grab the headlines on account of his music performances in Europe and America. The acclaimed ‘African Giant’ made history last Saturday after selling out in the London Stadium. Burna becomes the first African artiste to sell out a stadium in the United Kingdom after 60,000 fans came out to see him perform at the home of West Ham Football Club.

June 3, 2023 was an historic day for Afrobeats not only for Burna Boy’s rise to global stardom and its consolidation but also the rise and endorsement of Afrobeats. The concert at the 60,000 capacity stadium was part of his ‘Love, Damini’ World Tour and on that night Burna Boy thrilled fans with a collection of his hit songs including the mega-hit ‘YE’ which the crowd at the stadium cheerfully sang along to.

Burna Boy’s international rise started in 2018 when his single ‘YE’ caught the attention of global listeners when Kanye West named his album the same thing. He also emerged as the first mainstream Nigerian artiste to win a Grammy when he won in 2021 for his album ‘Twice As Tall’.

With his performance at the London Stadium, Burna Boy whose real name is Damini Ogulu, has continued to set the pace as the artiste leading the international push of Afrobeats. The ‘Ye’ crooner in 2018 stepped on stage at his sold-out Brixton Academy ”Life on the Outside” tour.

 

Wizkid

Pacesetting Nigerian musician, Wizkid has shown that time and opportunity matter in every generation as trends and fads continue to evolve. Ayodeji Balogun popularly known as Wizkid in 2021 serenaded the sold-out crowd of 20,000 at his ‘Made in Lagos’ London 02 Arena. Big Wiz became the first headline Nigerian artiste whose tickets for his show at the O2 Arena got sold out within 12 minutes of it going on sale. The show was first billed for just a day but had to be extended for two more days as tickets for the shows kept getting sold out in less than ten minutes of it going on sale. The three-day event took place between November 28 and December 1, 2021.

It was reported by Business Day newspaper that for the three-day concert, Wizkid and the organisers made a record N5.2billion in gross earnings. The concerts, craftily packaged, had other performances from Chris Brown, which was his first performance in London in 12 years. Skepta, Ella Mai and Buju shook up the music event and attracted celebrities from around the world. MTN and Udux teamed up with Wizkid two days before the event to stream the concert live on the Nigerian streaming platform, allowing thousands of people who couldn’t attend to watch the show on their phones.

Big Wiz selling out a 3-day event at a 20,000 capacity arena opened up doors to bigger venues for Nigerian music artistes to perform and earn more revenues from music tours. And with the huge streaming numbers on platforms like Apple Music, Spotify, and Deezer, getting sold-out tickets in venues like Wembley and the AT & T Stadium doesn’t feel like a dream too far to reach. Wizkid may not be a prolific dancer, but his grace on stage and presence is a thing of dreams.

He is the first Nigerian artiste to headline a New York Madison Square Garden (MSG) concert hall show in 2021 after which top musicians like Davido and Burna Boy performed at the garden. The Nigerian musician is also the first African artiste to sell out the Madison Square Garden within one month of tickets going on sale, and even got a plaque for this feat.

Last year, 2022 was a bumper year for Wizkid who rose to fame in 2011 as he took his brand of eclectic music to the French isles. The 20,300 concert hall was also sold-out, with people clamouring for another day. Wiz descended from the hall’s roof onto the stage at this show.

In 2018, Wizkid sold out the AfroRepublik concert held at the 20,000 capacity auditorium of the iconic O2 arena in London. At that period when the global acceptance of Afrobeats was just coming up, not many artistes globally could command a crowd that huge, not to talk of one from Africa.

 

Davido

Timeless Album artistes, Davido also grabbed the headlines at the 20,000 O2 Area London concert. The musician who grew up in Atlanta, Gerorgia, United States is one of the few Nigerian artistes who recorded sell-out crowds in recent times.  When the news initially broke that Davido had performed before a crowd of 10,000 fans in Suriname, a South American state, the first set of questions on the lips of many was, where exactly is Suriname? How come 10,000 people in a small city know Davido’s music? But it was no joke. Pictures and videos have since proven, the sovereign state of Suriname in South America, with a population of slightly over half a million and their official languages being Dutch and Sranan, an English based creole language had turned out massively for Davido and sang along to every word of his hit songs.

This was another game-changing moment, one that the likes of the high-life singer, Flavour would replicate later in the year and it served as the biggest confirmation that Nigerian music was indeed global and not just restricted to Nigerians in diaspora, main European cities or the United States.

Davido was to later perform at the Wireless Festival in the UK, which witnessed a crowd of over 40,000 in attendance, including sold out concerts at smaller arenas during his ”Locked Up” tour of the United States.

 

Tiwa Savage

African Bad Girl, Tiwa Savage was the toast of many when she was one of the few artistes globally and the only Nigerian to perform at King Charles III Coronation concert held last month, May 6, 2023.

In 2018, Mavin first lady, Tiwa Savage headlined her first major UK concert at the 3,000 capacity Indigo at the O2 Arena and days before the event, tickets were already sold out as fans were eager to catch a sight of one of the biggest names on the scene. It was a thrilling night for the singer, one that was preceded by the opening of her pop-up store in the UK.

Yemi Alade

A number of Yemi Alade’s achievements this year largely went under the radar until when she stated that she was as huge as the likes of Wizkid and Davido, if only people would take time to check the numbers and this we did and discovered that the grounds for her statement was built on a fairly strong foundation.

Yemi Alade is without doubt one of the artistes from the continent who have toured the most this year.

Earlier in the year, Yemi Alade went on a tour of Europe that saw her and her band hold successful concerts in major cities including selling out the 1,500 capacity Melkweg Centre in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  The ground is regarded as a unique venue for established acts only and Yemi Alade performing before a mixed crowd held her own and created a moment out of it.