It increasingly becomes a fact that to be considered a successful artiste one must have an international audience. This concept was first popularized by westerner rock-stars in the 60’s, who found that world tours and record sales outside their countries more than doubled their earnings, and skyrocketed their stardom. Names like the Beatles, Queen, Led Zepelin and the Rolling stones transcended national sensation and become global phenomena.

Based on international recognition and fandom, visits from singers to foreign countries become equivalent to visits from Monarchs and Presidents, as nations provided grand receptions, crowded welcome parties, and high level security to visiting rock stars.

Fast forward to the 90’s and names like Michael Jackson, Bob Marley and Whitney Houston became house hold names even here in Africa, back when record players and cassette tapes were as digital as things got. Seeing this, Nigerian artiste immediately understood the value of an international audience, and a slow but sure process began as our singers sought after this very recognition.

Names like Fela did well to bring some of the recognition our way, but lately it would seem that names like Wizkid, Yemi Alade and Davido have garnered the kind of international presence American artiste so casually command. While Nigeria is yet to produce a Michael Jackson level artiste, at the rate which our artiste are transcending, its safe to assume that at the very least, it has become possible.

Just to list a couple of accomplishments Nigerian artiste have had in the last decade alone; selling out the iconic O2 arena, Grammy nods, international collaboration, BET wins, EMA wins and more. Davido alone holds a number of these records and yesterday on made it known on social media that he had recently surpassed another milestone.

I PREDICTED THIS COUPLE DAYS AGO ! ??????????????????!! FALL IS NOW CERTIFIED GOLD IN THE ‘USA !!!!! THEY LAUGHED AT ME BUT I DID IT FIRST !! pic.twitter.com/4nUeBpGOPS

— Davido (@davido) May 27, 2020

Davido’s hit single Fall, became certified gold in both Canada and the US, selling over 40,000 and 800,000 copies respectively. This is not the first record this track alone is beating, since its release in 2017 Fall has had the most views of any Nigerian music video on YouTube, 40 million streams on spotify, has lasted longer than any Nigerian song on the billboard ever, is the most shazamed  non American song, and is on Pitch fork’s top 200 songs of the 2010s.

Fans of the singer took to Twitter to congratulate him on his Gold certification:

Baddest in the game, no cap ? #CongratulationsOBO https://t.co/0mdVnX98AO

— Rahzak (@Aarazak_) May 28, 2020

We are really proud of you Davido #CongratulationsOBO https://t.co/rnqAAbAdWf

— Sandra Steve (@SandysteveD) May 28, 2020

With this he needs to sell 200,000 more copies to achieve platinum status.

Chinedu Okafor

For Chinedu Okafor, its all about making an impact with words,  creating a profound impression on the audience with the intended narrative.