Afrobeats Triple Threat: Who is better? Wizkid vs Davido vs Burna Boy

Afrobeats genre was developed in the 1960s and 1970s, and its origin was credited to Fela Anikulapo Kuti. It is a mélange of fuji music and high life, garnished with funk and American jazz. Its defining characteristics are melodic beats, long instrumental solos, big bands, and intricate jazzy rythmn.

Nigeria is reputed as having the largest entertainment industry with its afrobeat singers leading the way in Africa.

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But, judging who is better among the top afrobeat artistes who are currently making waves in the industry seems a herculean task. However, to determine who is doing better than others depends on three big criteria, and every music aficionado would agree with these criteria.

These are notable international recognition/collaborations, labels/awards for moving the afrobeat genre to its Promised Land, and most streamed song or album.

On the international scene, Burna Boy’s album Twice as Tall topped No 1 in the World Record Albums category on Billboard charts.

The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in Billboard magazine.

ALSO READ: Burna Boy: Embodying the ideology of Afrobeats

Wizkid, however, had an unprecedented record in 2016 when he featured Drake alongside Kyla on the hit song One Dance. In 2019, Beyoncé and Wizkid featured their song for the Lion King. Essence also featured Justin Bieber and Tems and the song has also received several awards.

Davido, in his music career, has featured Chris Brown (Blow My MInd), Meek Mill (Fans Mi), Summer Walker (D & G), Popcan (Risky) and many other international artistes.

Davido has also been nominated and received many local and African awards, such as Kora Awards, BET awards, MTV Africa Music Awards, but he is yet to clinch the Grammy Awards like Burna Boy (for his album Twice as Tall in the Best Global Music Album category) and Wizkid (for Brown Skin Girl in the Best Music Video category).

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The Grammys, as they are commonly known, are meant to recognize spectacular work in the music industry.

A Grammy Award is any of a series of awards presented each year in the United States by either the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences or the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. It is notable because it is in the international scene.

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As of October, Burna Boy is the second most highest streamed artiste after Rema on Spotify by Nigerian GenZ, with Wizkid and Davido following him behind.

Currently, Davido has 25.7M followers, followed by Wizkid who has 15.6M followers and Burna Boy who has 12.1M followers.

These three artistes, Wizkid, Davido and BurnaBoy, who have a special bias for afrobeats genre are making giant strides on international scene and are reputed as leading kings of afrobeats.

To determine who is better among them also depends on people’s tastes, preferences and how much or long any of them can hold their fans mesmerized by every song/album they release.

ALSO READ: Wizkid wins Apple Music’s African Artiste of the Year

They are relentless, formidable, and are currently refining their craft, although Wizkid recently came under heavy criticism for his newly released song, “Bad To Me”, because these people believe the Wizkid of yesterday has not evolved so much to acclimatize himself with the current taste in the entertainment industry.