Afrobeats star Davido has thrown down the gauntlet to his fellow Nigerian artistes, declaring that he has more hit songs than any of them and offering to stake $1 million on a hit-for-hit contest.
The singer, whose real name is David Adeleke, made the challenge during a recent livestream with streamer Davrel, where he invited any Nigerian artiste confident enough to face him in a battle of hit songs.
“I will put $1 million cash on the table. Nobody has more hits than me,” Davido said.
The declaration adds another chapter to the long-running debate over the biggest hitmakers in Nigeria’s music industry. Davido is widely regarded as one of the country’s most successful artistes, alongside stars including Wizkid, Burna Boy, Olamide, Tekno and Runtown.
Despite the challenge, no Nigerian artiste had publicly accepted Davido’s proposed contest as of the time of filing this report.
The latest challenge is reminiscent of a similar episode involving Burna Boy during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. The Grammy-winning singer had also issued a challenge for a hit battle at the time.
Former Mavin Records artiste Reekado Banks accepted Burna Boy’s challenge, but the proposed contest did not materialise. Burna Boy subsequently rejected Banks as an opponent, saying he was not “a worthy challenger.”