Ayodeji Balogun, better known by his stage name Wizkid, has once again written his name into history after becoming the first African artist in history to ever receive a diamond certification from rapper Drake’s single “One Dance,”
The Grammy-winning musician, whose surprising remarks about the condition of hip-hop and his criticism of Nigerian rappers recently made headlines, is still in charge of steering the “Afrobeats to the World” ship.
The Afrobeats singer, who is set to headline a concert at the 80,000-seat London Stadium in 2023, added another achievement to his resume by being the first Nigerian musician to receive a diamond certification in the United States.
Taking into account both actual sales and equivalent units made up of streaming, these songs have typically sold at least 10 million equivalent units.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) added the new entry to its database on Thursday.
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Diamond certifications are given by the RIAA to songs that have gone platinum ten times.
The song “One Dance” is from Drake’s fourth studio album, “Views.”
Wizkid and the British artist Kyla, who both co-wrote the song with producers, contribute guest vocals to it.
In April 2016, the single “One Dance” was made available for digital download and serviced to US urban, rhythmic, and contemporary hit radio.
The dancehall and Afrobeats song reached number one in 15 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
It became Drake’s first number-one single in all 15 countries as the lead artiste.
As of December 2016, it had sold two million copies in the US, thus being the fifth-best-selling song of the year.
It was the best-performing song of that year for Apple Music.
In October 2016, ‘One Dance’ became the most-played song on Spotify, with over one billion individual streams.
