Burna Boy Tops Year-End U.S. Afrobeats Artists Chart

After a second-place finish on the 2022 year-end rankings, Burna Boy avenges his result from 12 months ago (he finished No. 2 last year) and achieves the No. 1 rank on Billboard’s 2023 year-end U.S. Afrobeats Artists chart. The global superstar captures the top spot thanks to a leading 26 entries during the 2023 chart year (Nov. 19, 2022 – Oct. 21, 2023) on the weekly U.S. Afrobeat Songs chart, which measures the top 50 Afrobeats songs based on a formula blending U.S. sales and streaming activity.

Diving into Burna Boy’s year of highlights, the Nigerian powerhouse’s hit single “Last Last,” which topped U.S. Afrobeats Songs for eight weeks in July-August 2022, consistently ranked high even after vacating the summit, remaining in the top 10 each week of the chart year. Six more top 10 hits arrived in 2023 – the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack release “Alone” (No. 2), plus five tracks from his I Told Them… studio album: “Big 7” (No. 5); “Cheat on Me” (No. 7); “City Boys” (No. 2); “Sittin’ on Top of the World” with 21 Savage (No. 4); and “Talibans II” with Byron Messina (No. 3).

The last tracks listed, “Sittin’ on Top of the World” and “Talibans II,” expanded Burna Boy’s reach into the U.S. market thanks to their huge radio receptions amid the R&B/hip-hop format’s growing acceptance of Afrobeats tracks. The former hit has reached a No. 4 best (thus far) on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, while the latter has climbed as high as No. 11. Notably, both tracks are still ascending as of November 2023, underscoring Burna Boy’s status as one of the format’s biggest hitmakers. In addition to the current hits, “Last Last” was a big breakthrough for Burna Boy; it became his first top 25 hit on the radio ranking, and soon, became much more – flying all the way to No. 1 in October 2022.