Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ has made the top 20 on Billboard Hot 100, the first Nigerian artist’s song to do so.
From the 44th position last week, Essence has cracked into the 16th position on Billboard Hot 100 for the week of August 28. This was due to the meteoric rise in the streaming of the song.
This is significant because an exclusive Nigerian cast of talents made the single. Many observers believe Tems, the featured newcomer is the secret weapon of the record’s success. The magic touch of Wizkid’s long-time producers P2J and Legendury Beatz aided this ascent. The record is principally Nigerian.
The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming in the United States. This tracking period also applies to compiling online streaming data.
Essence is the 11th track on Made In Lagos, the 14-track album that Wizkid released in October 2020 featuring Justin Bieber.
The album appeared at the perfect time for many. It rode the tide of easing lockdown status in Nigeria and around the world. Fans of the adored Afrobeats star streamed with ravenous intent and propelled the album into timelessness.
In April 2021, American rapper Snoop Dogg in an Instagram live stream was seen vibing to Essence, Wizkid’s fans could not be happier, especially for Tems, a relatively new act who was featured on the song.
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Less than a year later, Wizkid won a Grammy for his role in Beyonce’s Lion King album and shot up the Billboard Hot 100.
Wizkid’s Made in Lagos quickly became an essential part of the Nigerian experience, one of those albums in recent memory that one can return to and recollect the first moment they listened to it or the memories created with it playing in the background.
The project’s release did not occur on schedule, promised as a summer album and arriving at the tail end of 2020.
In many ways, the delays aided the sense of satisfaction the album’s success garnered from audiences, sandwiched between releases from his closest indigenous competitors, Burna Boy’s Twice as Tall and Davido’s A Better Time.
Twenty-Twenty saw Nigeria’s music industry approach multiple peaks, including the stellar Grammy Award sweep, courtesy of Burna Boy and Wizkid.
Landmark collaborations with global superstars such as Chris Martin, Nicki Minaj, and Damian Marley have also widened the influence of Nigerian artists on global pop culture at an unprecedented scale.
Barack Obama had Rema on his yearly playlist again. The crystallisation of these events is encapsulated by the performance of Wizkid’s Essence, a sleeper off his last album on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) backed artist already racked up impressive figures collectively but the mid-year marketing push by his label has seen the single rise up the coveted charts conscientiously.
Many are describing the resultant attention as the closest to an organic push that they have seen. This is not the first time the Starboy as he is popularly known makes an appearance on the Billboard charts nor is it the first time an African act has broken through this effectively.
To cross the line deserves praise in any genre let alone one that could not permeate foreign tastes this comprehensively five years ago. The phrase “Afrobeats to the world” has taken full form and meaning impossible to misconstrue; we are here and we are here to stay.
Essence received additional validation with the remix treatment on August 13 courtesy of the second biggest crossover specialist Justin Bieber.
The news divided opinions and audiences referenced one of his more hallowed (or desecrated, depending on whom you ask) remixes, Despacito. His appearance on the record shot the high charting Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee smash higher up the charts and the original record benefitted from the boom.
If the success of Despacito is any indicator of the influence remixes (especially those initiated by global pop superstars) can have, then the four Grammys carted away by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee at the 2017 Grammy Awards Ceremony bodes well for the futures of Wizkid, Tems, and Afrobeats.
If Justin’s success in the remix business is anything to go by, Essence could be due for more than just chart-climbing success; the record could be immortalized into something beyond a summer smash, and our profile as an industry could benefit from our potential immanence at the award ceremony and Western charts.
