Nigeria Afrobeat singer Divine Ikubor, ’Rema’, has broken a record held by the legendary King Sunny Ade, as his chart-topping album, “Rave & Roses”, emerges longest-charting African album in the US.
Theliberationnews observed that Rave & Roses is currently ranked 137 on the Billboard 200 after 30 weeks. The Billboard 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is rated based on streaming and sales activities.
With its remarkable staying power on the charts, Rema’s album has secured its place in history as the longest-charting album by an African artiste in the United States beating King Sunny Ade’s four-decade-old record.
The 23-year-old Afrobeats singer took the industry by storm with his unique blend of Afrobeats and pop and has been a rising star since his debut in 2019. But his sophomore album, “Rave & Roses,” has propelled him to an entirely new level of stardom and accomplishment.
In 1982, the legendary musician King Sunny Ade released ‘Juju Music’, his critically-acclaimed album. It represented the first worldwide release for Sunny Adé, who was already a superstar in Nigeria. The album was a critical and commercial success, peaking at #111 on Billboard’s “Pop Albums” chart.
It was ranked among the top ten “Albums of the Year” for 1982 by New Musical Express (NME a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Sunny Ade’s album spent 29 weeks on the chart — from May 1, 1983, to September 1, 1983 — on the Billboard 200 chart. It was the longest-running Nigerian album in the chart’s history until recently. Rema’s “Rave & Roses’’ has now spent its 30th week on the chart.
