The Official Charts Company can certify that Burna Boy is currently “Sittin’ on Top of the World” after becoming the first international Afrobeats artist to achieve a UK Number 1 album with I Told Them…
With his fifth full-length CD, the global superstar, whose real name is Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, rocketed to the top of the British charts. “Love, Damini” from the previous year, which rose to second in the UK album charts, he had almost won the honor.
Burna Boy is the first foreign artist to achieve chart-topping success with Afrobeats music; other British musicians, like J Hus, have done it before.
The achievement highlights the Afrobeats genre’s continuous growth in Britain and throughout the world as performers like Wizkid and Davido experience mainstream success and influence more and more facets of popular culture.
Burna Boy received praise from Martin Talbot, CEO of the Official Charts Company, for “blazing the trail” and achieving 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.
