As we near the end of a long, exhausting year, it’s hard to deny that music has had a fantastic year, especially Afrobeats, which has become more popular than ever and whose artistes have shown themselves to be at the forefront of their field.
Wizkid, aka Big Wiz, is an Afrobeats sensation hailing from Surulere, Lagos, whose popularity has been on the rise in recent years. His success has come in waves, and he’s closer than ever to a household staus and world domination.
Here are Wizkid’s top seven moments of the year.
1. American Music Awards (AMAs): Wizkid made history as a first-time nominee to win the Favorite Afrobeats Artiste category at the AMAs. His ‘Made In Lagos’ album won the Favorite Afrobeats category, and ‘Essence’ won in the Favourite R&B category at the event.
2. Selling out the Madison Square Garden: Big Wiz became only the second Nigerian artist in history to sell out a show at Madison Square Garden on November 16. I really don’t know which is more mind boggling; becoming the second Nigerian artiste to sell out the MSG, or selling out the show in just six weeks. Wizkid played Davido’s songs whilst on stage to honour to his late son.
3. Album Release: Following the succcess of ‘Made in Lagos’ album in 2020, Wizkid released his fifth studio album; More Love, Less Ego featuring Ayra Starr, Skillibeng, and Skepta, to mention a few.
4. Apple Music Live: Three days after the release of his fifth studio album; More Love, Less Ego, Apple Music broadcasted an exclusive live performance of Wizkid rendering songs from his new album. He also went back in time and gave the audience a performance of some of his classic songs including ‘Soco’, ‘Caro’, ‘Don’t Dull’, ‘Fever’, ‘Ojuelegba’ to mention a few.
5. Rolling Loud Festival: Wizkid joined Dave and Future as headliners at this year’s Rolling Loud Festival, as he made history as the first African to do so. Soundcity Africa claims that he was paid $1 million.
6. Wireless Festival: On Friday the 8th of July, Grammy-nominated Wizkid was a special guest at the Wiresless Festival that took place at the Outdoor at NEC in Birmingham, and as anticipated, Starboy brought the heat.
7. “Essence” featuring Tems, has sold over 2 million copies in the United States, earning it the designation of “double platinum.” As far as we know, this is the first African song to achieve multi-platinum status in the United States.
Ayodeji Balogun is entering a new phase of his life and career, and we couldn’t be more excited.