7 REASONS WHY YO MAPS IS THE BIGGEST ZAMBIA ARTIST
Yo Maps, whose real name is Elton Mulenga, is a Zambian artist from Kabwe. He became a household name in 2018 with the hit song “Finally,” featuring Macky 2, a prolific rapper from Zambia. The song received massive radio airplay and millions of views on YouTube.
Many people doubted whether Yo Maps could sustain his success, as several artists who had gained similar attention in the past faded away. However, he proved them wrong by releasing more hit songs like “Osanisiya” and “Season Yanga.”
Despite his success, Yo Maps faces criticism for his music, with some saying he has a similar sound in all his songs and uses the same beat. This criticism does not seem to affect him, as he continues to work hard and release music that resonates with his audience.
So, is Yo Maps the biggest artist in Zambia?
The numbers speak for themselves:
1. Yo Maps is the only artist in the country with all his songs having over a million views on YouTube.
2. He is the only artist with over 14 million views on a single song on YouTube (“Yo Maps – Try Again” ft. Able Chungu).
3. Yo Maps has a cumulative view count of over 100 million on YouTube.
4. He is the only artist to have two albums achieve over 30 million streams on a single streaming platform, Boomplay Music (“Komando” and “Try Again” [70M+]).
5. Yo Maps has over 200 million streams on Boomplay Music, making him the only Zambian artist in the Boomplay Golden Club.
6. He is the only artist who charges over 100,000 Zambian Kwacha for a single show, while other artists charge between 10,000 – 35,000 Zambian Kwacha per show.
7. Yo Maps can fill up any venue and is the most booked Zambian artist, both locally and internationally, with almost daily shows. Our calculations estimate that he earns a staggering sum of between 500,000 – 900,000 Zambian Kwacha monthly.
As if that was not enough, Yo Maps is the only artist who, when featured the song becomes a global sensational, as seen with his recent collaboration with Kell Kay and Prince Luv on “Bana Pwanya”, hitting over 8 million views in a little over 2 months.
With this data, it’s clear that Yo Maps is a dominant force in the Zambian music industry. What do you think? Do you have any other opinions? Share!
