5 Nigerian Artistes Make Obama’s 2023 Music Playlist

Segun Atanda/

Former US president, Barack Obama, has released his 2023 list of favourite music.

On the 28-track list are four songs released by five Nigerian artistes, including Davido, Burna Boy, Tems, Asake and Olamide.

The songs include, Unavailable by Davido, featuring Musa Keys; Sittin’ on Top of the World by Burna Boy, featuring 21 Savage; Amapiano by Asake and Olamide; and Me &U by Tems.

In 2023, Davido (real name David Adeleke) got nominated in three categories of the forthcoming 2024 Grammys. The nominations were Best Global Music Album (Timeless), Best Global Music Performance (Feel), and Best African Music Performance (Unavailable).

In the course of the year, a music streaming platform, Boomplay, stated that his album, ‘Timeless’, was the most streamed in Nigeria on its platform in 2023.

Also, at the 2023 Trace Awards, Davido clinched two awards— ‘Best Male’ and ‘Best Collaboration’.

In 2023, the Grammy Award-winning singer, Burna Boy (real name Damini Ogulu) sold out an 80,000-capacity stadium in London, becoming the first African artiste to headline an event in a stadium in the United Kingdom. The concert took place at the West Ham United’s Stadium.

He also bagged four nominations for this year’s Grammys. In 2023, the singer won the Top Afrobeats Artiste award at the 2023 edition of Billboard Music Awards.

Asake and his record label boss, Olamide, were nominated for the 2024 Grammy Awards in the ‘Best African Music Performance’ category.

Asake, indeed, had a successful 2023, being one of the most streamed artistes on multiple music streaming platforms. He bagged multiple nominations in the Headies Awards and secured a win in the ‘Next Rated’, and ‘Album of the Year’ categories.

Similarly, he made history last year by selling out the popular 20,000-capacity O2 Arena. His 2023 album, ‘Work of Art’, was also a fan favourite , topping charts with songs such as ‘Loney at the Top’, ‘Sunshine’, ‘Basquiat’ and ‘Amapaino’.

Tems is the the first female Nigerian artiste to win a Grammy Award as she won the ‘Best Melodic Rap Performance’ category for her part in ‘Wait for U’, the 2022 hit song by Future featuring Drake.

In 2023, the ‘Crazy Things’ singer was nominated for her contribution as a songwriter on ‘Lift Me Up’, one of the soundtracks on Marvel’s blockbuster movie, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.

She was also named as one of the people ‘who achieved peak influence in their fields’ in the 2023 TIME’s Next 100 list, published in September 2023.

She also bagged a Grammys 2024 nomination in the ‘Best Song Written for Visual Media’ category for her role in ‘Lift Me Up’, the hit song by Rihanna.

See the former president’s full list below:

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