Music executive Olamide Gbenga Adedeji, popularly known as Olamide, has been named a 2025 Billboard Global Power Player, marking a major milestone in his career and reinforcing the growing global presence of Afrobeats.
This prestigious recognition places Olamide among the world’s most influential music executives and creatives, celebrating his contributions to the industry as both a hitmaker and a mentor.
Olamide is widely credited for revolutionising the sound of street pop in Nigeria through his fusion of Yoruba rap and contemporary Afrobeats rhythms.
Over the years, his consistent output and cultural relevance have helped shape the Afrobeats movement and push its boundaries beyond the African continent.
Beyond his personal artistry, Olamide has played a vital role in developing the next generation of Nigerian stars through his record label, YBNL Nation.
The label has birthed breakout stars like Fireboy DML and Asake, both of whom have earned international acclaim and expanded the reach of Afrobeats to new markets.
Recently, Olamide crossed a major streaming milestone by surpassing 1 billion career streams on Spotify — becoming the first African rapper to do so.
His latest album, Ikigai, debuted at number 13 on the Billboard World Albums chart, making it his seventh project to chart internationally.
His collaborative single “Kai!” with Wizkid has also achieved strong chart success, landing in the top 10 of both the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart and the UK Afrobeats Singles chart further proving the genre’s global appeal.
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