Are These The Biggest Songs To Ever Come Out Of Nigeria?

Over the years, the Nigerian music industry has witnessed so many great songs released by its musicians, many of them which have turned out to be songs that whenever, however and wherever you hear them, you’d have no choice but to either sing or dance along. These songs have shaken Nigeria as a country, Africa as a continent and the world as their habitat.

In this light, here are the 6 biggest songs to ever come out of Nigeria:

”African Queen” – 2baba: “African Queen” was released in 2004 as a single off 2face Idibia’s first album; “Face 2 Face,” after leaving Plantashun Boiz to ply his trade as a solo artiste. This song shook the whole continent on its release, and it is till today considered by many as one of the greatest love songs ever to be released in the history of the world. It was even adopted as a sound track in a Hollywood movie “Phat Girls” which featured famous actress; Queen Latifah.
“If” – Davido: After a fruitless 2016 musically, Davido returned to Nigeria after terminating his contract with Sony music Worldwide to release “If” in February of 2017. “If” on its arrival became an instant hit and it immediately became an anthem. The song pierced through Nigeria & Africa to get to other parts of the world. The song even caused some controversies as some people claimed that a mightily popular line in the song; “30 billion for the account” would cause young people to indulge in illegal ways of sourcing for money. It is considered by many as the biggest song to ever come out of Africa. The song was sung joyously by both the young & old and even American Legendary pop musician; R-Kelly, did a remix of the song with Davido.
“Oliver Twist” – D’Banj: During the the MO’hits era, Eja nla was the hottest musician from the label and arguably the hottest music artiste in Africa. It was during this period D’Banj released “Oliver Twist. This song became an instant hit when it was released on the 11th of May, 2012, topping music charts both within Africa and in Europe, and many are even of the opinion that this is the song that brought major recognition to African music. D’Banj was signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D music as a result of this song and Kanye appeared in the song’s video.
“Fall” – Davido : This was the follow-up single to “If,” and like its predecessor, it became an instant hit and an African anthem. The “Banana fall on you” line widely became a trend and people inculcated particularly the “fall on you” in their everyday life, using that line whenever they are making a request or trying to give out. The visuals to “Fall” is now the most watched music video on YouTube in the history of Nigerian music and will most likely be the first Nigerian music video to attain 100 million views on the social media channel as it is currently on over 98 million views.
“Johnny” – Yemi Alade: Yemi Alade did not release this song officially, as a matter of fact the song gained massive acceptance all over Africa after it was leaked when Yemi was on tour during that period. “Johnny” became so big to the extent that the Video for a long time was the most watched video on YouTube in the history of Nigerian music until it was stripped off that title by Davido’s “Fall.” “Johnny” is undoubtedly one of the biggest songs to have graced the African continent.
“Ojuelegba” – Wizkid: “Ojuelegba” unlike other songs on the list was not an instant hit, it wasn’t even released as a single but as a part of “Ayo” album that was released in 2014. This song gradually became a hit until it attained that “super hit” status. “Ojuelegba” is a song that preaches reality, a song that tells the story of struggles faced by young people and also offering prayers to helping them survive it. It flew well over the Atlantic and into the minds of American rapper; Drake and UK artiste; Skepta, to inspire a remix which was later released.