Renowned afrobeats singer, Ayo Balogun, popularly known as Wizkid, has emerged winner of the Artist of the Year award for African region in the Apple Music Awards 2021.
Apple made the announcement via its official website on Tuesday, as Wizkid emerged among five artists to picked as ‘Artist of the Year’ from various regions.
The music streaming platform listed Wizkid’s achievement stating that “In October 2020, he released Made in Lagos, his critically acclaimed and most commercially successful album, which included his hit song “Essence,” a track that gained 125 million plays on Apple Music and over 2.8 million Shazams.
“This past year, he’s been the most streamed African artist on the continent on Apple Music and ranked on the Daily Top 100 charts in 60 countries, in addition to his monthly plays on Apple Music growing by more than 250 percent outside of Africa.
“He’s also been featured on Apple Music’s Today’s Hits and R&B Now playlists, and he’s a frequent guest on Apple Music Radio shows.”
While receiving the award, Wizkid said, “Thank you to Apple Music for this award. It’s a blessing to get to do what I do, and I’m proud to be representing Africa.”
Other winners of the Artist of the Year award in different regions include Aya Nakamura (France), RIN (Germany), Official Hige Dandism (Japan), Scriptonite (Russia), while The Weeknd won Global Artist of the Year.
