Burna Boy Becomes First International Afrobeats Artist To Land A UK Number 1 Album

Talented Nigerian superstar, Burna Boy is ‘sittin’ ontop of the world’ as he becomes the first international Afrobeats artist to land a number one album in Britain with “I Told Them…”.

This was announced on Friday, September 1st, 2023 by the UK’s Official Charts Company.

The Nigerian-born global star, whose real name is Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, shot straight to the top spot in the British charts with his fifth full-length release.

He had come close to earning the accolade with last year’s “Love, Damini”, which climbed to second in the UK album rankings.

Homegrown British talents making Afrobeats music, such as J Hus, have enjoyed chart-topping success but Burna Boy is the first foreign artist to do so.

The feat marks the continued rise of the Afrobeats genre in Britain and around the world, as artists like Wizkid and Davido also enjoy mainstream success and increasingly shape segments of popular culture.

Martin Talbot, chief executive of the Official Charts Company, paid tribute to Burna Boy for “blazing the trail” and landing a “fantastic achievement”.

“British music fans have always been renowned for their love of new music and embracing cultures from around the world, and the explosion of interest in Afrobeats’ musical culture over the past decade has been a concrete example of this,” he said.

Burna Boy’s album was also a hit on Apple Music. From 25 August to 31 August, ‘I Told Them…’ broke the record for the biggest African album in Apple Music history by first-week streams worldwide, according to a DNA Brand press statement.

The album launched 10 songs to Apple Music’s Global Daily Top 100, setting a new record for the most simultaneous entries on the chart for an African artist, said the statement.

Congrats to Burna Boy for yet another win.