Olamide: The First African Rapper with 1 Billion Streams on Spotify

Nigerian rapper Olamide Gbenga Adedeji, widely known as Olamide, has surpassed 1 billion career streams on Spotify.

Olamide is the first African rapper to achieve this milestone, thanks to his integration of Afrobeats and his numerous successful collaborations.

Last year, Olamide made history as the first African rapper to be nominated for a Grammy. His collaborative hit with Asake, ‘Amapiano’, was nominated in the inaugural Best African Music Performance category, although it lost to Tyla’s ‘Water’.

LEADERSHIP recalls that in November 2024, Nigerian singer Crown Uzama, popularly known as Shallipopi, hailed Olamide as the king of Nigerian street music.

In an interview with Naija FM, Shallipopi expressed his admiration for Olamide, stating that he’s the “father and king of Nigerian street music”. “Baddo [Olamide] is the father and king of Nigerian street music. So I had to feature him on ‘Order’ because it is a street song and Olamide owns the street,” he said.

This sentiment is shared by many, considering Olamide’s influential role in bringing street pop into mainstream recognition as a distinct music genre.

Olamide has also been part of notable collaborations like “Wahala” with CKay, “Wise 2.0” with Rybeena, and “Vibes on Vibes” with Liya.