Nigerian-American superstar singer, David Adedeji Adeleke, popularly known as Davido is one of the biggest artists in Africa. With an active musical career spanning over a decade, Davido’s 11 years of consistency has earned him his stripes and a deserving bragging right in the Nigerian music industry.
Coming from the unknown face and voice in ‘Back When’ with Naeto C in 2011 to becoming one of the biggest names in the music space in Africa, his growth and consistency in the game is incredible and worth emulating.
Unlike other artists who go solo some years and pop in other years, Davido established his presence in 2011 and did not look back. He has continued to move, grow stronger and build a brand for himself that has won him several awards, and earned him some international deals as well.
From 2011 till now, we walk through each year, highlighting major events that have shaped the artist to be the big name he is today.
Introduction to stardom in 2011.
On May 7, 2011, Davido first released his debut single ‘Back When’ with a major feature from Nigerian rapper, Naeto C. At the time, no one knew who Davido was but this track got him the attention, and went on to become one of the best hit songs to come out of Africa.
Banking on the success of ‘Back When,’ Davido went stronger with the next single titled ‘Dami Duro’ released on 30 October, 2011 and going on to be another hit song.
With these two songs alone in 2011, we can boldly say that Davido had a good year in 2011.
Strengthening his stance in 2012
Coming from a successful year into a new one, Davido released ‘Ekuro’ on 25 January, 2012. The music video for the same song was recorded and directed in Miami by Antwan Smith.
‘Ekuro’ due to its love-like lyrics did really well on radios and television stations all over the country, especially because it was released a few days before the widely celebrated Valentine’s Day.
This same year, Davido signed a 30 million naira endorsement deal with MTN, unveiling him as the face of MTN Pulse.
Dropping gems in 2013
In 2013, Davido was on fire. First, it was the Shizzi-produced track, ‘Gobe’ which dominated radio and television stations. The song was a party hit, played all over the country and beyond.
In August of the same year, the superstar released another track, ‘Skelewu’ which also became a hit. This was followed by a video for the song directed by Sesan, followed by another video directed by Moe Musa.
Making big moves
From 2014 all through 2016, Davido was steady cooking. From his hit single, ‘Aye’ to his collaboration with South African duo, Mafikizolo titled “Tchelete (Goodlife) and his collaboration with Mi Casa, Lola Rae, Sarkodie, Diamond Platnumz and Tiwa Savage on ‘Africa Rising,’ a song that was used for DStv’s campaign.
Also, his trap-song featuring American singer Meek Mill was released in 2015 strengthening his international recognition.
In 2016, the singer signed a deal with Sony Music while also starting his own record label, Davido Music Group.
He became an ambassador for Pepsi the same year, featuring in most of the brand’s advert videos.
Winning awards and smashing records
In 2017, Davido’s song ‘If’ released on February 17, 2017 was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry of South Africa, indicating that the song sold 200,000 units. The song also won Best Pop Single and Song of the Year at The Headies 2018.
In June of the same year, Davido released ‘Fall’ which was also certified platinum by the Recording Industry of South Africa. It went on to be one of the top 100 most-Shazam-searched singles in America in January of 2019 while also becoming the longest-charting Nigerian pop song in Billboard history.
In 2017, Davido won Best African Act at the MOBO Awards.
Fast forward to 2018, the video for ‘Fall’ surpassed 100 million views on YouTube, becoming the most-viewed video by a Nigerian artist on YouTube at the time.
Also, in 2018, Davido won Best International Act at the 2018 BET Awards, becoming the first African artist to receive his award on the main stage.
Still waxing stronger
2019 remains one of the best years in Davido’s musical career. Rightly so because in January 2019, the singer sold out the 02 Arena in London, becoming the first solo African artist to achieve that.
The same year, he did a track with Chris Brown, ‘Blow My Mind’ and the video of the song surpassed 1 million views in 11 hours.
In October of 2019, Davido released ‘Risky’ with Popcaan. His second studio album, ‘A Good Time’ was released a month after, recorded in Atlanta and featuring artists including Summer Walker, Gunna, A Boogie and Chris Brown.
In 2020, Davido went harder with his third studio album, ‘A Better Time’ with major features from Nicki Minaj, Lil Baby, Nas, Chris Brown, Young Thug, and Tiwa Savage. He then released ‘Fem’ which became another hit, with the video of the song hitting 1.8 million views on YouTube in less than 24 hours.
In December 2020, Davido stated that the album got over 213.2 million streams in one month.
In 2021, Davido signed a deal with Martell, a French Cognac, using his influence to capture the African market for the brand.
In December of 2021, Davido signed another major deal, becoming an ambassador for PUMA, one of the world’s renowned sport brands.
So far in 2022, Davido has ‘Electricity’ and ‘Stang Strong.’ Both songs are dominating charts, parties and getting plays in radio and television stations all over the country and beyond.
Conclusion
‘Davido elemi nine plus’ loosely translated to ‘Davido with nine lives’ might not just be him bragging about the power he wields in the music industry.
So far so good, he has shown to the world that he is a king and carried himself as such, with consistency in his craft, smart and hard work, as well as with his personality, Davido is making big moves and taking in big money, 11 years after breaking into the music scene.