Burna Boy has had an impressive year and an impressive run for the past several years winning a Grammy, MTV Music Awards, and a BET Award, and numerous others.
With his most recent achievement, Burna Boy is on course to add another landmark moment to his resume.
According to a report from Billboard, Burna Boy achieves his first U.K. chart-topper and makes history with his latest album I Told Them.
The Nigeria-born artist Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu a.k.a. Burna Boy, flew to the top of the latest Official U.K. Albums Chart, published September 1st, making him the first international Afrobeats artist to achieve the honor.
“Burna Boy has transformed into a global superstar and this No. 1 album reflects his growth over the last few years,” comments Austin Daboh, vice president of Atlantic Records U.K. in a statement. “The success of this album is the combination of world class music, a coherent strategy based in culture, and unmatched passion, energy and commitment from his wider team and Atlantic Records.”
Burna Boy climbed the U.K. singles chart with 2019’s “Own It,” a collaboration with Stormzy and Ed Sheeran.
Earlier this summer, he became the first African artist to headline a stadium concert in the U.K., when he played his Love, Damini tour date at a full 60,000 capacity London Stadium. His 2020 Grammy Award to his name, for 2020’s Twice as Tall (best global music album).
MTV recently announced its addition of the Afrobeat genre to its annual music awards show, along with the Grammys announcing that their 2024 award show will include the category of “Best African Music Performance”. The American Music Awards were the first major music awards show to add such a category. They added “Favorite Afrobeats Artist" at the show that aired on November 20th, 2022.
Afrobeat’s recent addition to several major award shows and gaining mainstream recognition seems to be right in alignment with Burna Boy’s groundbreaking success and accomplishments of the day.
Wizkid and Burna Boy headlining the first United States AfroNation Festival this past May, probably didn’t hurt his chances of getting the number 1 spot on the U.K. charts either.
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