EMPIRE has distributed the three albums with the three biggest debut weeks in Nigeria in 2022; Asake’s Mr Money With The Vibe, Burna Boy’s Love, Damini and Fireboy DML’s Playboy

Asake and Fireboy DML are both signed to YBNL Nation, which has an existing deal with the American company. The two artistes are now signed to EMPIRE and these album were released under EMPIRE.

In an interview with TurnTable Charts, Ezegozie Eze, Vice President, Market Development of EMPIRE Africa explains that “they [YBNL] allowed us to work side by side with them to strengthen the existing infrastructure for Olamide, providing him with additional minds and resources to achieve his goals, while simultaneously building a similar infrastructure for Fireboy DML's, and the YBNL brand as a whole.”

He also adds that the deal was vital “for developing an African homegrown label that can rival any other label in the music world. In the near future, when you think of Motown or Quality Control or TDE, you will also include YBNL in that same conversation.”

Looking to present and future, Eze notes that the JV “has allowed us to continue to do business with YBNL and of course the subsequent acts after Olamide.” This is clearly reflected in the blockbuster success of Asake’s debut album, having achieved unprecedented level of home and international success.   

For Burna Boy, the company continues to handle the distribution of his music in Africa. Speaking on the relationship with Burna Boy, signed to Atlantic Records, Eze noted; “with Burna Boy, what we’ve been able to do is to apply our knowledge of the continent and its diverse cultures, to our local and global entertainment industry experience. We’ve been opportune to have team members who have lived and worked across multiple countries on the continent. I believe, collectively between all of us, we’ve traveled to and frequently visited at least 16 countries across the continent.”  

The total streams by all three albums in their first complete week in Nigeria (this is based on the weighted multi-metric formula employed by TurnTable Charts for streaming)

1.     43.6 million on-demand pure streams in Nigeria for Mr Money With The Vibe 

2.     38.3 million on-demand pure streams in Nigeria for Love, Damini

3.     14.3 million on-demand pure streams in Nigeria for Playboy

Mr Money With The Vibe found huge success on Apple Music and Audiomack respectively; it recorded the biggest opening day and opening week ever on the latter – and it also recorded the biggest debut week for any album on Audiomack since TurnTable Charts began tracking in July 2020. Love, Damini owns the record for Boomplay, Spotify and YouTube Nigeria respectively.