YO MAPS BECOMES THE FIRST SOUTHERN AFRICAN ARTIST TO SURPASS 300 MILLION BOOMPLAY STREAMS
Achieving has become the Zambian superstar's middle name as accolades follow him due to his amazing work
Setting records has now become a hobby for top Zambian artist Yo Maps. The singer joins a list of only a few African artists to achieve ‘Golden Club’ status as he has accumulated over 300 million Boomplay streams.
Kizz Daniel became the first artist to achieve this milestone in July of 2022 as he soared high with his extended play Barnabas and lead single ‘Buga.’ Soon other artists such as Burna Boy, Diamond Platnamz, Zuchu,Black Sherif, Davido, Ruger, to mention just a few joined the Golden Club.
Despite the backlash the platform receives for below minimum pay as compared to other streaming platforms, it is clear that achieving this milestone is not for everyone. The presence of Yo Maps on this list is a symbol of the growth of Zambian music and the extent to which the genre can penetrate.
With so many great southern African artists who feature on several great entertainment stage, it’s amazing that a name rarely mentioned on those platforms achieved a milestone they can only dream of achieving. Yo Maps is truly redefining Zambian and southern African entertainment, and hence deserves to feature on stages such as Trace Awards and Festival.
These achievements were driven by the success of various songs and albums by Yo Maps notably, his albums which include his first solo studio album Komando which accumulated 45 million streams, Try Again which has accumulated over 83 million streams and his recent release My Hero which has accumulated 31.1 million, streams which account for 53% of his total streams on the platform.
With the increase in Zambians streaming music on digital streaming platforms in recent years, several Zambian artists have seen an improvement in their stream count, not only on boomplay but also YouTube, spotify and Apple Music. Among these, Chef 187 is the closest to the singer on the platform amassing over 122.9 million streams.
Since his breakthrough in 2018, the singer has shown consistency and determination, combined with his amazing artistic skills – truly a recipe for prominence and record breaking work. With already so many accolades to his name, we can only imagine how much more the 30 years-old artist will achieve. Well, we will be here to tell it all.
