Barely hours before he was to make history as the first Nigerian artist to headline a show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Burna Boy, Nigeria’s Afrobeats star, stopped by ‘The Daily Show’ to chat with Trevor Noah.
On The Daily Show, Burna Boy had special praise for his fellow internationally recognised countrymen and the role they have played in his success.
“One thing I’ve truly loved is how Nigerian artists have taken Africa to the world,” he said. “You’ve blown up the continent. Everybody is trying to emulate what Nigerian artists are creating.”
On April 28, Burna Boy not only bossed the show at Madison Square Garden with electrifying performances, but the crowd of Afrobeats worshippers was also almost uncontrollable in their adulation of each song and dance step. Reports say the event organisers sold over 157,000 tickets for the show.
Nigerian A-list artistes are almost getting used to parked-out venues, frenzied crowds of Afrobeats lovers, and growing international collaborations. Wizkid, Davido, and Burna Boy have all posted record attendances at the 02 Arena. In 2022, Femi Kuti parked out the Le Fontaine in France whereas Asa took over the Royal Albert Hall in the United Kingdom.
Experts say the increase in overseas tours and parked-out venues is driven by the growing popularity of Afrobeats on streaming services. As of December 2022, CKay’s track ‘Love Nwantiti’ emerged the most streamed song on Spotify with over 250 million views. It was also the most Shazamed song worldwide and hit the top 5 songs in Canada and many other countries. The song has also generated 1.4 billion views on YouTube overtaking the likes of Afrobeat stars Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Davido.
Wizkid, Burna Boy, and Davido top the charts in terms of most-streamed artistes in Nigeria, according to Spotify’s 2021 Wrapped results.
In April 2022, Spotify released a report that ranked artistes such as CKay, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Tems, and Mr. Eazi among the top 5 exported local artists from Nigeria on Spotify.
The streaming success presents an opportunity for the artistes to explore new opportunities outside the continent, says Tobi Akinkunmi, head of marketing and commercial manager at Universal Music Group (UMG). UMG is now one of the global music brands that now count Nigeria and Africa as one of their major markets due to Afrobeats.
Akinkunmi says embarking on tours is only smart from a revenue and an engagement standpoint as the artistes are able to perform as well as see the fan base.
“It is easy for them to see if they have a fan base in a particular country when they look at the backend of the streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music. That allows them to plan where they go,” he told BusinessDay.
The COVID-19 pandemic had threatened the foreign tour opportunity with lockdown effectively shutting down physical venues and denying fans the opportunities to come to see their favourite artistes perform.
The streaming services, however, changed the narrative with increased investment targeting Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and the cradle of the Afrobeats on the continent. Between 2020 and 2021, Nigeria has seen new investments from global players such as Spotify, Apple Music, Audiomack, and Boomplay.
“Afrobeats in 2016 and today are literally different,” said Phiona Okunmu, head of music at Spotify. “It is a kind of a commercial driver for Africa. It is a container for what we describe as African music.”
With the post-COVID-19 era restoring some normalcy and doors of venues opening across the world, fans are making their way back to the halls, buying up music tickets like the pandemic never happened.
It is, however, Nigerian-born Afrobeats that have grabbed the attention of the fans, and concert organisers are taking notice. This was evident with the inclusion of Davido in the theme song for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Davido, CKay, and Lojay are also billed to headline the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai for the AfroWorld concert scheduled for June 2022.
Burna Boy recently branded himself as a touring artist performing and headlining in cities and countries such as Germany, Greece, Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin, and most recently was the first Nigerian artist to headline the Madison Square Garden in New York.
