Seyi Vibez’s meteoric rise to stardom is undoubtedly one of the best breakout success stories in Nigerian music in recent years. Within a few months, the street-hop act moved from catering to only a niche audience to be one of the most popular artistes in the country, as evidenced by his run as the No. 1 artiste on the Official Artiste Top 100. The catalyst for this quantum leap was his critically acclaimed debut album, ‘Billion Dollar Baby’.
The album is an impressive body of work that showcases Seyi Vibez’s versatility and curation abilities. With his primary street-hop sound serving as the blueprint, Seyi Vibez infused R&B, Hip-Hop, and Amapiano elements to create a truly enjoyable album. While the lead single ‘Chance’ divided opinions as regards its originality, it situated Seyi Vibez in mainstream conversations, ultimately contributing to the success of the album.
Exactly one year since its release, ‘Billion Dollar Baby’ currently holds the unprecedented record of being the longest-charting No. 1 album in Nigerian chart history. After debuting at No. 6 on the Official Top 50 Albums Chart with 4.7m on-demand streams (3150 units), the album went on to top the chart for 14 weeks after the successful release of a deluxe version (Billion Dollar Baby 2.0); the longest time at No. 1 on the Official Top 50 Albums Chart. Interestingly, it spent 11 of those 14 weeks at the summit of the chart in 2023, making it the longest No. 1 album this year. Additionally, it spent 38 weeks in the top 10 of the album chart, with 29 of those weeks coming in 2023. The album has garnered over 210 million on-demand streams in Nigeria since its release. With 163 million on-demand streams in 2023, it is the 4th most streamed album in Nigeria this year.
The success of ‘Billion Dollar Baby’ has propelled Seyi Vibez to superstar status. In February 2023, he became the first ever artiste to top all three aggregate charts in Nigeria; namely the Official Nigeria Top 100, Official Top 50 Albums Chart, and Official Artiste Top 100. During the tracking week of February 17 – February 23, 2023, Seyi Vibez became the first artist to top all three charts in the same week; with ‘Billion Dollar Baby 2.0’ holding the No. 1 spot on the albums chart; ‘Gwagwalada’ topping the Official Nigeria Top 100 Chart, and Seyi Vibez rising to the summit of the Official Artiste Top 100. Seyi Vibez bagged three nominations at the 2023 Headies for Best Street-hop Artiste (Chance) Best Collaboration (Gwagwalada)’ and the highly coveted Next Rated; with ‘Billion Dollar Baby’ being a notable snub in the album categories. He carted home the award for Best Street-hop Artiste, after delivering an energetic performance on the Headies stage in Atlanta, on 4th, September 2023. He also played a career-defining show at the Indigo O2 on August 11, 2023.
Seyi Vibez has gone on to release three projects in 2023, the EP ‘Memory Card,’ and two full-length albums, ‘Vibe Till Thy Kingdom Come,’ and ‘Thy Kingdom Come.’ All three projects charted in the top 10 of the albums chart, with ‘Vibe Till Thy Kingdom Come’ peaking at No. 1, and ‘Memory Card,’ and ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ peaking at No. 3 and No. 2 respectively.