No doubt Nigerian superstar Burna Boy is currently one of Africa’s biggest exports in music this period.
The singer named his fourth studio album – African Giant – but the term wasn’t just an ordinary album title. It was a title well earned by the 29-year-old Port Harcourt-born singer and songwriter.
Burna Boy whose real name is Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu has been around since 2012, but his biggest break yet came in the years surrounding 2019 when he scaled so many never-before-done feats by any other Nigerian musician.
His beginning years weren’t so rosy – in fact, Burna Boy stayed underrated for a lot of years. But Burna Boy is today one of the most celebrated African musicians.
Here is a list of all Burna Boy has achieved so far in music:
1. Burna Boy won Best International Act at the 2019 BET Awards. He won the same award again at the 2020 BET Awards.
2. Burna Boy won Best African Act at the 2019 MTV Europe Music Awards.
3. Burna Boy was announced an Apple Music Up Next artist in 2019.
4. Burna Boy’s fourth studio album “African Giant” won Album of the Year at the 2019 All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMMA).
5. African Giant was also nominated for Best World Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. Though he did not win, Burna Boy has joined the likes of Seun and Femi Kuti in the list of Nigerian musicians to be nominated for the Grammys, under the World Music Category.
6. Burna Boy was awarded the African Artiste of the year at the 2020 VGMAs.
7. Burna Boy recorded over 600 million music streams in 2019 alone.
8. Burna Boy garnered over 13 million monthly listeners on Spotify in 2019 – the most by any African artist.
9. Burna Boy’s 2019 album “African Giant” was named “the most streamed music album in Africa” in 2019.
10. Burna Boy received a plaque for selling out the SSE Wembley Arena, London during his African Giant Tour. Burna Boy performed over 200 times in different cities of the world in 2019.
11. Burna Boy hosted 50 “Sold Out” shows across America and Europe in 2019.
12. Burna Boy has appeared on several international talk shows and featured in numerous media platforms across the world. Burna Boy has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Daily Show by Trevor Noah, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, CNN, BBC, NPR, The New York Post, etc.
13. Burna Boy recorded “Ja Ara E” for Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift album in 2019. He was the only guest artist with their own track on the soundtrack album.
14. Burna Boy’s song “My Money, My Baby” appeared on the official soundtrack album of the award-winning Hollywood movie, Queen & Slim.
15. Burna Boy’s fifth studio album, Twice as Tall, released on 14 August 2020 became his highest-charting project so far, debuting at number 54 on the Billboard 200.
16. On March 14, 2021, Burna Boy won the Grammy Award for ‘Best Global Music Album’ for his “Twice As Tall” album, becoming the first Nigerian artiste ever to win in that category.
