Start with Wizkid’s Made in Lagos and Burna Boy’s Twice as Tall, both from 2020. One gave Nigeria its first top 10 song on the US Billboard Hot 100, and the other won a Grammy. The five albums after them carry the story up to 2024, from Rema’s record-setting single to Tems’s debut.
Table Of Content
- Afrobeats or Afrobeat: Which One Is This List?
- The Seven Albums at a Glance
- The Albums, One by One
- Burna Boy, Twice as Tall (2020)
- Wizkid, Made in Lagos (2020)
- Rema, Rave & Roses (2022)
- Asake, Mr. Money With The Vibe (2022)
- Davido, Timeless (2023)
- Burna Boy, I Told Them… (2023)
- Tems, Born in the Wild (2024)
- How to Listen Through Them
Every chart position and award below links to the page it comes from: Grammy.com, Billboard, the UK’s Official Charts Company and music news sites.
Afrobeats or Afrobeat: Which One Is This List?
This list is Afrobeats, with an s: the current West African pop sound of artists such as Wizkid, Burna Boy and Tems. Afrobeat, without the s, is the older musical and political form defined by Fela Kuti. Sanya Osha of the University of Cape Town’s Institute for Humanities in Africa draws that line in The Conversation, placing Fela’s dominance in the 1970s and 1980s.
He describes the newer sound as “more commercial, radio-friendly and often politically vacuous”, while both share grooves, call-and-response choruses and layered syncopation. If the albums below click for you, Fela’s records are the natural next step.
The Seven Albums at a Glance
The table lists each album with its release year and one fact you can check at the linked source.
| Album | Artist | Year | One sourced fact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twice as Tall | Burna Boy | 2020 | Won Best Global Music Album at the 2021 Grammys |
| Made in Lagos | Wizkid | 2020 | The “Essence” remix peaked at No. 9 on the Hot 100 |
| Rave & Roses | Rema | 2022 | Its single “Calm Down” (remix) reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 |
| Mr. Money With The Vibe | Asake | 2022 | Entered the Billboard 200 at No. 66 |
| Timeless | Davido | 2023 | Nominated for Best Global Music Album at the 2024 Grammys |
| I Told Them… | Burna Boy | 2023 | Reached No. 1 on the UK albums chart |
| Born in the Wild | Tems | 2024 | Nominated for Best Global Music Album at the 2025 Grammys |
The Albums, One by One
Each entry below gives the release date and the facts behind the album’s place on this list.
Burna Boy, Twice as Tall (2020)
Twice as Tall won Best Global Music Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards, ahead of records by Antibalas, Bebel Gilberto, Anoushka Shankar and Tinariwen, according to Grammy.com. Burna Boy released it in August 2020, and it debuted at No. 54 on the Billboard 200, as Rolling Stone reported.
Guests include Naughty by Nature, Stormzy, Chris Martin, Sauti Sol and Youssou N’Dour (Revolt). His previous album, African Giant (2019), had been nominated for Best World Music Album the year before.
Wizkid, Made in Lagos (2020)
Made in Lagos is the album that carried “Essence”, Wizkid’s song with Tems. Grammy.com says the remix with Justin Bieber became “the first-ever Nigerian song to hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 9.”
The deluxe edition was nominated for Best Global Music Album at the 2022 Grammys, and “Essence” was nominated for Best Global Music Performance. Play “Essence” first, then the full album.
Rema, Rave & Roses (2022)
Rema released his debut album on 25 March 2022 (OkayAfrica). Its single “Calm Down”, in a remix with Selena Gomez, climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in its 40th week on the chart.
Billboard called it the highest-charting hit from an Afrobeats lead artist in Hot 100 history at that point. Rema’s second album, HEIS, was later nominated for Best Global Music Album at the 2025 Grammys.
Asake, Mr. Money With The Vibe (2022)
Asake released his debut on 8 September 2022, and it entered the Billboard 200 at No. 66. Revolt reported that as the highest chart debut ever for a Nigerian artist’s first album.
The same report says it set an Apple Music record for an African album’s first-day and three-day streams.
Davido, Timeless (2023)
Davido announced on 21 March 2023 that his fourth studio album would arrive on 31 March via Columbia Records, with 17 tracks and guests including Angelique Kidjo, Asake, Skepta and The Cavemen (Billboard).
It reached No. 37 on the Billboard 200 (Billboard) and was nominated for Best Global Music Album at the 66th Grammy Awards in 2024.
Burna Boy, I Told Them… (2023)
With I Told Them…, Burna Boy became the first international Afrobeats artist to score a UK Number 1 album, in September 2023, according to the Official Charts Company.
His earlier UK peaks show the climb: African Giant reached No. 19, Twice as Tall No. 11 and Love, Damini (2022) No. 2.
Tems, Born in the Wild (2024)
Tems released her debut album on 7 June 2024 through RCA Records and Since ’93 (Billboard). It has 18 tracks, with Asake on “Get It Right” and J. Cole on “Free Fall”.
The album was nominated for Best Global Music Album at the 67th Grammy Awards. At the same ceremony, its single “Love Me JeJe” won Best African Music Performance.
How to Listen Through Them
Go in release order if you want to hear how the sound reached the global charts. If you only have an hour, try these singles first, then the album each one comes from:
- “Essence” by Wizkid featuring Tems, from Made in Lagos
- “Calm Down” by Rema, from Rave & Roses
- “Love Me JeJe” by Tems, from Born in the Wild
Chart positions and award lists change each year, so the Grammy.com category pages and the Billboard charts are the places to check what has happened since.
Sources
- Best Global Music Album 2021, 63rd Grammy Awards (Grammy.com)
- Best World Music Album 2020, 62nd Grammy Awards (Grammy.com)
- Best Global Music Album 2022, 64th Grammy Awards (Grammy.com)
- Best Global Music Album 2024, 66th Grammy Awards (Grammy.com)
- Best Global Music Album 2025, 67th Grammy Awards (Grammy.com)
- Best African Music Performance 2025, 67th Grammy Awards (Grammy.com)
- For The Record: Wizkid’s Made in Lagos (Grammy.com)
- Burna Boy wins first Grammy for Twice as Tall album (Revolt)
- Nigerian Star Burna Boy Is Reaching New Streaming Heights in the U.S. (Rolling Stone)
- Rema & Selena Gomez’s Calm Down: Five Burning Questions (Billboard)
- Rema Drops His Long-Awaited Debut Album Rave & Roses (OkayAfrica)
- Asake’s Mr. Money With The Vibe becomes the highest charting Nigerian debut album on Billboard (Revolt)
- Davido Announces Fourth Studio Album Timeless (Billboard)
- Davido Talks Madison Square Garden Show, New Album and Sensational (Billboard)
- Burna Boy becomes first global Afrobeats star to secure UK Number 1 album (Official Charts)
- Tems’ Debut Album Born in the Wild: Stream It Now (Billboard)
- 2022 Grammys: What Fela Kuti has to do with West Africa’s growing pop fame (The Conversation)
