Music / News

Wizkid reveals Justin Bieber reached out to him for the remix of ‘Essence’

Nigerian music superstar Wizkid has revealed that Justin Bieber reached out to him for the remix of his hit record ‘Essence’.

Wizkid had Bieber on the remix of his successful record ‘Essence’, which is off his 2020 album ‘Made in Lagos’.

Bieber’s appearance on the record has further driven the song up the Billboard Hot 100 Chart-the remix is currently number nine.

Speaking about the remix, Wizkid revealed that it was Bieber that reached out to him.

“He reached out to me and he loved the record. He sent the verse and it was just fire,” Wizkid told American entertainment media platform, Complex.

“We linked up and we performed it together. We got some more music together as well.”

Bieber was excited when he jumped on the remix, taking to his social media to thank Wiz for letting him be on the ‘song of the summer’

He also went ahead to create his video for his verse and brought out Wizkid to perform the song on his set at Made in America.

Wizkid has broken several records with the record ‘Essence’, which also features Nigerian singer Tems.

In July, it became the first Nigerian song to crack the Billboard Hot 100 chart and rose to top-20. In September, it topped the Billboard Hip Hop and R&B chart and in October became the first Nigerian song to be certified platinum in the United States.

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Entertainment / Music / News

Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ cracks top 10 of Billboard Hot 100

On Monday, October 11, 2021, Grammy-winning Nigerian superstar, Wizkid’s smash hit single, ‘Essence’ hit a new peak of No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Just week ago, the record at at No. 11. The record is also looking good on the Shazam and Urban Radio charts. This comes after ‘Made In Lagos’ hit one billion streams across all streaming platforms.

You can watch thoughts around the song on ‘Facts Only’;

 

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Entertainment / Music / News

Rihanna and Asap Rocky attend Wizkid’s show in LA

On Sunday, October 3, 2021, Grammy-winning Nigerian superstar, Wizkid performed at The Novo, Los Angeles, California, for the latest leg of his commercially successful Made In Lagos tour.

At the celebrated LA show, Wizkid was joined by several celebrities including Tems on stage and Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz as well as celebrated couple, Rihanna and Asap Rocky, in the crowd.

Wizkid is set to perform at the O2 Arena on November 28, 2021.

You can watch a video of Rihanna and Asap Rock at the event below;

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Entertainment / Music / News

Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ hits a new peak of No. 11 on Billboard Hot 100

On Monday, October 4, 2021, Grammy-winning Nigerian superstar, Wizkid’s smash hit single, ‘Essence’ featuring Tems hit a new peak of 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. On August 31, 2021, the record hit its old peak of 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, before dropping after Drake clogged the charts with records from his album, Certified Lover Boy. The record then went back up to No. 17 before hitting its new peak.…

Entertainment / Music / News

Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ becomes the first African song to be certified platinum in the US

On October 5, 2021, it was reported that ‘Essence,’ Wizkid and Tems’ summer banger has been certified platinum in the US. It also becomes the first African song to hit that milestone.

This was revealed by Charts Data, via its Twitter account.

To be clear, this is the version that features only Tems, and peaked at No. 54 on the Billboard Hot 100, not the version which features Justin Bieber, and has since peaked at No. 13 on the same chart.

On September 2, 2021, Nigerian superstar, Wizkid’s groundbreaking single, ‘Essence’ was certified Gold in the US.

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Entertainment / Music / News

Korede Bello’s ‘Like That’ gets certified Gold in the US

On Wednesday, September 23, 2021, Nigerian singer, Korede Bello‘s 2017 single, ‘Do Like That’ has been certified Gold in the US.

By so doing, the MAVIN Records product becomes the sixth Nigerian record to be certified Gold this decade, after records by Burna Boy, Davido and Wizkid.

Currently, the song has 120 million streams on YouTube. This comes after news that Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ has been certified platinum in the US. ‘Do Like That’ has also become MAVIN’s first gold record in the US.

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Foreign / Music / News

Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ set to become the first Nigerian record to hit platinum in the US

On September 21, 2021, Grammy-winning Nigerian superstar, Wizkid’s groundbreaking Billboard Hot 100 hit, ‘Essence’ was rumored to have hit one million in sales equivalent.

This news was broken by the reliable Chart Data. This comes barely two weeks after the record was certified Gold in the US, becoming Wizkid’s second Gold record after ‘Come Closer’ featuring Drake. With this milestone, ‘Essence’ becomes the first Nigerian song to go platinum in the US.

After it fell last week, ‘Essence’ is back to No. 17 on the charts. Recently, Nigeria’s premier music chart publication, Turntable Charts also reported that ‘Essence’ has been the third biggest Nigerian song of 2021, so far.

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Entertainment / Music / News

Wizkid talks about his new album and working with Tems

On September 15, 2021, Nigerian superstar, Wizkid did a feature for GQ, on which he was described as the “king of Afro-pop.”

During the lengthy conversation, during which he spoke about his Surulere, Lagos origins as well as his boy band, he spoke about how he likes to work on songs as albums. He spoke about how he went to Ghana to record a new album.

“I am working on a new album, but I never like to be, like, in a rush,” Wizkid says. “Sometimes it takes me a year, two years, to make an album. I always record in terms of albums, not just songs. I like to make music that way, because it gives you a sense of direction.”

“Well, in the next album, I’m just trying to enjoy myself with the music now, because of the reception from the fans for my last album,” he continues. I just keep evolving with the sound.”

The writer of the piece then wrote that, “Before Made in Lagos—his latest album and the one pushing him to new heights—was released, Wiz had hinted that the follow-up would be his last “as Wizkid,” though whether this might mean full-on retirement, or simply a change of name, is impossible information to extract from him.

“In fact, guessing the concept of his next and possibly last album has become the favorite pastime of just about every Afrobeats commentator, with Wiz in the eye of the storm.”

How Wizkid met Tems

Wizkid told GQ that, “I love meeting new artists. When I’m in a room with a new artist, it feels like, Oh, my God. It feels like I’m right there when the magic is just about to take off and take form. It’s so exciting to me.

“When I get in the room with a new artist, it’s like you’re learning from me, I’m learning from you. I even get more excited getting in the room with new artists than my peers or my friends that I

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Entertainment / Music / News

Wizkid, Beyonce win 2021 MTV VMA for ‘Brown Skin Girl’

On September 14, 2021, Grammy-winning Nigerian superstars, Wizkid and Beyonce won a moonman for Best Cinematography at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards [VMAs]. The award was for the music video for ‘Brown Skin Girl.’

Wizkid was in the category alongside Beyonce, who co-owns the song alongside Saint Jhn and Beyonce’s daughter Blue Ivy. The award will also go to Nigerian-born cinematographer, Jenn Nkiru who directed the video.

The song was made for Beyonce’s album, Lion King: The Gift which featured other Nigerian artists. In October 2019, Pulse Nigeria reported that preparations were being made for the video.

You can watch the video below;

 

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Music / News

Here are the top 10 Nigerian songs of the week: Kizz Daniel’s ‘Lie’ remains at No. 1 for fourth week

Kizz Daniel’s “Lie” stays at No. 1 for a fourth consecutive week on the TurnTable Top 50

Also, Fireboy DML’s “Peru” rises to No. 3 on this week’s Top 50 to become the artiste’s highest charting song.

Additionally, Ayra Starr’s “Bloody Samaritan” ascends to No. 5 on the chart to become the artiste’s second top five entry.

The Top 50 blends all-genre freemium streaming (Top Streaming Chart), radio airplay (Top Airplay Chart) and TV airplay (TV Top Songs Chart) in Nigeria. All charts will be dated and updated on Mondays, this week’s chart will be revealed on Monday, September 6, 2021

Lie” tallied 46 million in radio reach (down 11.8%) and 2.5 million equivalent streams (up 3.3%). In the process, it becomes the second to spend its first four weeks at No. 1 on the TurnTable Top 50, joining Teni’s “FOR YOU” with Davido (which spent its first five weeks at No. 1).

With the premiere of the visuals of “Lie” last Friday, it is expected that the song will get a bump in activity on streaming and debut on the TV charts.

Omah Lay’s “Understand” holds at No. 2 after topping the chart for three weeks. “Understand” becomes the second song to spend its first eight weeks in the top 2 region of TurnTable Top 50 – joining Olamide’s “Rock.”

Fireboy DML’s “Peru” moves to a new peak of No. 3 on the TurnTable Top 50 to become the artiste’s highest charting entry on the chart (surpassing the No. 4 peak of “History”). “Peru” tallied 3.71 million in TV reach (down 15.7%), 45. 3 million in radio reach (up 15%) and 1.42 million equivalent streams (up 28%).

Burna Boy’s “Question” with Don Jazzy rockets into the top five at No. 4 after drawing 10.3 million in TV reach (up 167.5%), 32.4 million in radio reach (up 302.5%) and 1.51 million equivalent streams (up 60.6%).

“Question” is Burna Boy’s fifth top 10 entry on the chart while Don Jazzy becomes the second producer to record a top ten entry as

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Entertainment / Music / News

Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ is the No. 1 song on American Hip-Hop radio, as ‘Made In Lagos’ sells 200,000 copies in the US

he accolades keep racking up for Wizkid’s ‘Essence.’ Just days after it got remixes from DaBaby, Ghostface Killah and Raekwon, while the song also topped an R&B chart earlier last week, the song now tops the charts on Hip-Hop radio.

The Hip-Hop radio chart is complied by iHeart, which owns 855 radio stations across the US.

iHeartRadio functions as the national umbrella brand for iHeartMedia’s radio network, the largest radio broadcaster in the United States. Its main competitors are Audacy, TuneIn and Sirius XM. Kid Laroi‘s ‘Stay’ featuring Justin Bieber is No. 1 overall while ‘Don’t Back Down’ by Mammoth WVH tops the Rock charts.

Meanwhile, Made In Lagos has surpassed 200,00 in equivalent sales in the US alone. It will he eligible for a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, once it reaches 500,000 in equivalent sales.

‘Blessed’ featuring Damian Marley, a song off ‘Made In Lagos’ has also surpassed 10 million views on YouTube alone. And that’s only the audio version of the song.

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Entertainment / Music / News

Here are the top 7 positions of Nigerian albums on the Billboard 200

With it, Burna Boy created a new peak for Nigerian artists on the same charts. However, on September 6, 2021, Wizkid’s ‘Made In Lagos’ overhauled all before it and charted at No. 28 on the Billboard 200.

This then got Pulse Nigeria asking; what are the other Nigerian albums to have charted on the Billboard 200? We were able to find five and here they are;

7.) Davido – A Better Time

Year of release: 2020

Label: Columbia Records/Sony

Weeks on the chart: 1

Peak: 170 [November 27, 2020]

A sequel to Davido’s A Good Time, A Better Timefollowed a year of heavyweight album releases by Nigerian superstars and it entered the charts. It also became Davido’s only appearance on the chart.

6.) Sunny Ade – Juju Music

Year of release: 1982

Label: Mango/Island Records

Weeks on the chart: 29

Peak: 111 [September 17, 1983]

When the album was released, it was described by The New York Times as the week’s best new dance music. At the time, Sunny Ade was two years away from being touted to be the replacement for Bob Marley.

5.) WIzkid – Sounds From The Other Side

Year of release: 2017

Label: Starboy/RCA UK

Weeks on the chart: 1

Peak: 107 [August 5, 2017]

Wizkid‘s crossover had been given a massive jolt by his production, writing and feature credits of Drake‘s 2016 No. 1 single, ‘One Dance.’ Thus Wizkid immediately followed it up with an album that was called an EP at the time. The crossover didn’t quite pan out as we’d hoped but we will always have this moment.

4.) Burna Boy – African Giant

Year of release: 2019

Label: Spaceship/Bad Habit/Atlantic/Warner

Weeks on the chart: 1

Peak position: 104 [August 10, 2019]

In 2019, Burna Boy quickly followed his well-received Outside album with African Giant –

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Entertainment / Music / News

Wizkid’s ‘Made In Lagos’ to become Nigeria’s highest charting album ever on the Billboard 200

On September 6, 2021, it became known that Wizkid’s Made In Lagos, has risen to a new position of No. 28 on the Billboard 200.

This comes after a ‘Essence (Remix)’ with Justin Bieber – which rose to No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 – and Made In Lagos (Deluxe).

With this new peak, ‘Made In Lagos’ becomes Nigeria’s highest charting album on the Billboard 200, surpassing Burna Boy’s Twice As Tall, which peaked at No. 54. Last week, ‘Made In Lagos’ peaked at No. 58. When the album dropped in October 2020, ‘Made In Lagos’ peaked at No. 80.

In a review of ‘Made In Lagos (Deluxe),’ Pulse Nigeria noted that, “Made In Lagos’ has risen to No. 58 on the Billboard 200. The highest chart position for a Nigerian album on the chart is No. 54, by Burna Boy’s ‘Twice As Tall.’ With a deluxe version and surging success of ‘Essence,’ ‘Made In Lagos’ could rise even further on the charts.”

Here is a list of other nigerian Albums that have entered the Billboard 200 :

Davido – A Better Time ( 2020 )

Sunny Ade – Juju Music ( 1983 )

Wizkid – Sounds From The Other Side ( 2017 )

Burna Boy – African Giant ( 2019 )

King Sunny Ade – Syncro System ( 1983 )

Burna Boy – Twice As Tall ( 2020 ).

 

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Foreign / Music / News

Wizkid joins Justin Bieber on stage at Made in America to perform ‘Essence’

Nigerian music superstar Wizkid continues his amazing run with a performance at Made in America as a guest artist of Justin Bieber to perform his hit single ‘Essence’. Wizkid and Bieber recently collaborated on the remix of the record and the two performed it for the first time on stage at the Made in America music festival in Philadelphia.

Essence’ has been having an amazing run on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In July, Wizkid became the first Nigerian artist to have a record on the Billboard Hot 100 chart when ‘Essence’ broke into the chart at No. 82.

It rose to No.70 the next week and to No.67 the next.

In August, he cracked the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and also became the most Shazamed song in the United States for the week in review.

It’s currently on No. 13 on Blllboard 100 and also No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart which means Wizkid has a number one record in the United States of America.

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Entertainment / Music / News

Wizkid sells out two more shows at the O2 in 12 – 35 minutes respectively

On September 3, 2021, Grammy-winning Nigerian superstar, Wizkid announced that he had sold out two more shows at the O2 Arena in London, England. The shows, which are set for November 29, 2021 and December 1, 2021 respectively will follow an October 2021 show, which sold out in a record 12 minutes. Dates for Wizkid‘s Made In Lagos Tour have been selling out across the world.

This announcement came via Wizkid’s Twitter account.…

Uncategorized

Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ to crack top 20 of Billboard Hot 100

On Sunday, August 22, 2021, Grammy-winning Nigerian superstar, Wizkid’s smash hit single, ‘Essence’ was predicted to hit a new peak of 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This was made known by a Twitter account, Wizkid Radio. On the aforementioned date, the account wrote that, “Due to the remix with Justin Bieber, Essence received 23.2 million radio audience in the US, with 87.3 thousand unit sales this week. Rises to 58% chart points and emerging as the highest gainer amongst 100 songs.

“Predicted to reach a new peak of #16 on Billboard Hot 100.”

This comes after the song hit #44 on the chart last week Monday, three days after the remix with Bieber was released. The Canadian superstar also shot his own video for the song.

 

 

 

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Music / News

Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ hits one million on Shazam, jumps to No. 59 on Hot 100

On August 6, 2021, Nigerian superstar, Wizkid’s smash hit, ‘Essence’ hit one million uses on Shazam.

The song, which currently sits pretty at No. 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 accumulated one million searches via the Apple-owned Shazam. In 2020, Master KG‘s ‘Jerusalema’ became the most Shazamed song in the world.

On July 31, 2021, ‘Essence’ also cracked the US iTunes top 50 chart.

A few weeks ago, the song cracked the top 50, which heralded is rise into the Billboard Hot 100. In 2020, Mr. Eazi‘s ‘Oh My God’ featuring Nicki Minaj topped the US iTunes chart within 24 hours of release.

On July 30, 2021, the song also rose to No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100.

On July 20, 2021, the song rose to No. 72. This comes after the song which features another Nigerian singer Tems cracked the Billboard Bubbling Under Charts for the first time.

This marks a remarkable achievement for Wizkid and Tems, who are signed to the same label and for African music as a whole.

However, this isn’t Wizkid’s first time on the Hot 100 chart.

He got into the chart via his features on Drake’s ‘One Dance’ which hit No. 1 in 2016 and Beyonce’s ‘Brown Skin Girl’ which peaked at #76 in 2019.

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Entertainment / Foreign / Music

Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ cracks the Billboard Hot 100, debuts at No. 82

This comes after the song cracked the Billboard Bubbling Under Charts for the first time. This marks a remarkable achievement for Wizkid and Tems, who are signed to the same label and for African music as a whole.

The song marks Wizkid’s third appearance on the charts, after ‘One Dance’ famously hit No. 1 in 2016. For Tems, this marked her first appearance, as her launch gathers heat.

 

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Entertainment / Music / News

Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ hits US Apple Music Top 50

Nigerian superstar Wizkid’s, ‘Essence‘ has broken another milestone by entering the top 50 chart on Apple Music for the US.

The top charts for Apple Music are updated every day. As of Sunday, the 4th of July 2021, ‘Essence‘ by Wizkid featuring Tems has occupied the number 50 spot on the Apple Music US Top 100 Chart. This was also confirmed by Twitter page @AfricaFactsZone, who claim ‘Essence‘ is the first African song to achieve this feat.

A lot of factors have led to ‘Essence’ making the top 50 on US Apple Music. One notable factor is that a number of international celebrities have shared videos listening to it in their spare time and at public occasions.…

Entertainment / Music

Burna Boy, Wizkid Both Nominated For International Act category at the BET Awards

Both superstars got nominated in the Best International Act category. French singers, Aya Nakamura and Youssoupha; Tanzanian superstar, Diamond Platnumz; Brazilian act, Emicida; British acts, the rapper Headie One and the duo Yung T and Bugsey are all nominated in the category as well.

Burna Boy has won in the last two years and Wizkid won it in 2012, when the category had two divisions for Africa and the UK. Earlier in the year, Wizkid and Burna Boy won the Best Music Video and Best Global Music Album categories respectively at the 2021 Grammy Awards. In 2020, Wizkid also won the BET HER Award for ‘Brown Skin Girl.’

Wizkid and Burna Boy also featured together in Wizkid’s video for ‘Ginger,’ which dropped earlier in the year.

According Business Wire, internationally, the show will simulcast on BET Africa at 2 am CAT and MTV Brazil at 9 pm BRT on June 27th, followed by international broadcasts on MTV UK on June 28th at 9 pm BST, BET France on June 29th at 8:45pm CEST.

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