Burna Boy Cops RIAA Gold Certification For ‘Ye’

Nigerian singer Burna Boy just scored a coveted Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for his 2018 release, Ye. The certification was issued to the singer yesterday on May 3, for having sold over 0.5 million units in the United States.

Burna, 29, whose real name is Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu took to Twitter to share the victorious news, along with the certificate. He tweeted, “Still Striving” to toast the feat.

Still Striving 🙏🏾🦍 pic.twitter.com/553Mn0eBAh

— Burna Boy (@burnaboy) May 4, 2021

The track, which was featured on Burna’s 2018 album Outside was produced by Nigerian record producer Phantom. It peaked at No. 26 and 31 on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop and R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay charts, respectively. ‘Ye’ won Song of the Year and Listener’s Choice at the 2019 Soundcity MVP Awards Festival. It also won Song of the Year and was nominated for Best Pop Single and Best Recording of the Year at The Headies in 2019.

Rolling Stone reported that Ye earned around 11 million streams over seven months across major U.S. streaming platforms after its release. The official music video, which Burna says “essentially shows the unrelenting nature of Nigerians” is currently sitting on 137 million views on YouTube, one of his highest streamed songs on the platform. 

The Grammy-award winner appeared to have had a stroke of luck with a huge assist in gaining streams for Ye thanks to Kanye West. The single saw a 200 percent spike in its streaming numbers after searches for Kanye West’s album Ye unintentionally caused listeners to stumble upon it. An elated Burna Boy subsequently thanked Kanye West for the confusion on Twitter.

The song is no doubt a favorite worldwide, Jamaica’s very own Grammy Kid, Koffee performed her rendition of Burna’s hit song during her first-ever London show with the Compozers and again on BBC Radio 1Xtra Live Lounge.

Burna and Koffee even teased that they were working on a collab back in February last year.

The ‘African Giant’ performed the track ahead of his Grammy win at the 63rd Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony in March this year, with his other hit singles Level Up and Onyeka providing audiences with stellar performances across three different scenes.

As of December 2020, Ye is the most certified solo single by a Nigerian artist.