THREAD:

Wizkid’s Remarkable 2017
[Highlighting all of the year’s accomplishments]

#STARBOYSZN
*All facts won’t be in chronological order*

Dec 30, 2016: Wizkid won “African Artiste of the Year” and “Best Male Artiste” at the Soundcity MVP Awards.

Started the year off right.

February: Wizkid was presented with a plaque from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) for his contribution to “One Dance”.

The institution honors songwriters and publishers of the top songs of the past year.

“One Dance” received 3 nominations at the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards and won two: “Hip-Hop Song of the Year” + “Most Thumbed Up Song of the Year”.

Wizkid became the first African artist to become a nominee and winner at the ceremony.

Wizkid received 7 nominations at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards, making him the first African artist to become a nominee at the ceremony.

He made history once again when he won 3 awards. “One Dance” won “Top Streaming Song (Audio)”, “Top R&B Song”, and “Top R&B Collaboration”.

March: Wizkid’s multi-album worldwide deal with RCA Records/SONY International was announced.

“He has become a superstar in the African music scene and will be a game-changer in bringing African music to the world.” — RCA Records chairman and CEO, Peter Edge

Wizkid’s “Come Closer” ft. Drake dropped:
• #54 on the Canadian Hot 100
• #58 on the UK Singles chart
• most streamed song out of Africa: 50 million+ streams on Spotify in 8 months
• 50 million+ views on Youtube
• GOLD in Canada (40k units)
• SILVER in the UK (200k units)

The official music video for “Come Closer” received 1 million views in 20 hours. It became the fastest music video by a Nigerian artist to do so.

“Come Closer” peaked at #29 on the US R&B/Hip-Hop Chart, #38 on the US Rhythmic Chart, #14 on the UK R&B Singles chart, #15 in the Netherlands, #98 in Switzerland, #96 in Scotland, and #107 in France.

June 18: “Come Closer” reached its peak at #21 on United States Urban Radio. It received a total of 1,412 plays and amassed a listening audience of 7,990,000.

Wizkid won “Best International Act: Africa” for the second time at the 2017 BET Awards. He’s the most nominated (4x) and awarded artist in the category.

Wizkid performed at the Wireless Festival in London. It is the United Kingdom’s biggest pop, dance, and urban music festival. Chance the Rapper, Skepta, The Weeknd, G-Eazy, Skepta, Nas, Travis Scott, Tory Lanez, Bryson Tiller, and Rae Sremmurd were this year’s headliners.

“Sounds From the Other Side” dropped:
• US: #107 on the Billboard 200, #2 on World Albums, #5 on Heatseekers, #14 on R&B Albums, #24 on Digital Albums, #47 on R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, #73 on Top Albums
• UK: #91 Albums chart, #20 on R&B Albums, #59 on Downloads, #63 on Streaming

“Sounds From the Other Side” dropped [2]:
• #58 on Canadian Albums chart
• #99 on Dutch Top 100 Albums
• #140 on France’s Top 150 Albums

The project landed on a total of 14 global charts.

Wizkid closed out the Red Bull Music Academy Sound System at the 2017 Notting Hill Carnival in London. It attracts about a million people annually, making it one of the world’s largest street festivals.

“Sounds From the Other Side” (2017) was the first project by a Nigerian artist to appear on the Billboard 200 since King Sunny Ade’s 1983 release, “Syncro System”.

They’re the only Nigerian-based artists to have appeared on the US chart.

Wizkid won “Best Male in Western Africa”, “Song of the Year”, and “Artist of the Year” at the 2017 AFRIMA.

Wizkid was featured on Wale’s “My Love” alongside Dua Lipa and Major Lazer off of his 2017 release, “Shine”. It has 48.8 million streams on Spotify, 10 million views on Youtube, and is used for the YouTube RED commercial.

Wizkid was invited by Future to perform at two dates on his “The Future Hndrxx Tour” — Florida and London.

He set the place ablaze with “Ojuelegba” and “Come Closer” at the O2 Arena. The crowd reception for Starboy was simply incredible.

Wizkid became the first male African artist to sell out the Royal Albert Hall in London as the sole headliner.

He joins Mariam Makeba (1967) as the only African artists to achieve this.

“One Dance” received a Guinness World Record as the most played song on Spotify with over one billion streams, making Wizkid the first Afro-pop artist to appear in the book.

The NY Times called Wizkid a “lasting international pop-cultural ambassador”. https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/arts/music/wizkid-terminal-5-drake-one-dance.html?referer=https://www.google.com/

Wizkid became the first African artist to win “Best International Act” at the MOBOs. He joins Rihanna, Drake, Eminem, Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé, etc. as winners of the category.

Nicki Minaj posted this photo of herself with Wizkid in her studio in Miami back in August. It broke the internet in Nigeria.

Her fourth album drops in 2018.
BARBIE x STARBOY on the way?

“Come Closer” was nominated for “Best Dance Performance” at the Soul Train Music Awards. Wizkid’s fellow nominees were Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, DJ Khaled, and Solange. He’s the first Nigerian-based artist to be nominated in a domestic category.

Like Kyla, Wizkid was presented with a BMI Award for his contribution to Drake’s “One Dance” as a writer.

Wizkid became the 63rd most streamed artist on Spotify in the world and the first African-based artist to hit 100,000 followers on Spotify.

Wizkid was also featured on Tinie Tempah, Zara Larsson, and Jeezy’s album. Vybz Kartel/his team reached out to him for “Wine to the Top”.

“One Dance” was certified 4x platinum in the United Kingdom, making Wizkid the first African-based artist to go multi platinum there.

Wizkid covered various popular Spotify playlists. He was even given a “Wizkid: Going Global” segment by the streaming service.

“One Dance” won an ECHO Music Prize for “Song of the Year”, making Wizkid the first African artist to win an award at the ceremony. The ECHO Awards is held by an association of recording companies in Germany to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry.

Wizkid’s record as the most nominated African artist at the MTV Europe Music Awards was extended this year.

Wizkid won “Collaboration of the Year” at the AFRIMMAs for “African Bad Gyal” featuring Chris Brown.

“Sounds From the Other Side” was added to PlayStation Music’s playlist. The EP received reviews from XXL, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork. It was promoted by The Fader and The Source as well.

Wizkid ends the year as the most awarded African artist this year.

He’s now been nominated for 6 Soundcity MVP Awards for 2018. VOTE HERE: http://soundcitymvp.com/vote/