A bare-chested Diamond Platnumz was shocked when his record producers surprised him with a cake designed with YouTube’s logo.
The Tanzanian pop star was able to reach a new milestone on the video-sharing platform YouTube.
While he was getting dressed, his team filmed his reaction. They then proudly announced that the 30-year-old artist was the first sub-Saharan African singer who could get one billion views on his YouTube channel.
Over the last decade, the award-winning musician has made “bongo Flava” famous. Notably, Bongo Flava is a unique offering by Tanzanians. It is characterized by romantic melodies combined with an urban beat. It was influenced by traditional taarab music that came from the coast of East Africa.
Increasing YouTube Views for Singers
According to DJ Edu, the award-winning singer is a very hard working musician who has great showmanship. DJ Edu is the host of This is Africa– a weekly an-African music show for the BBC World Service.
Tanzania has a population of 55 million. 43 percent of them have access to the internet and other social media platforms, mainly via mobile phones. For this reason, there is a massive home-grown audience who speaks Swahili and are ready to lap up Diamond Platnumz’s love songs.
Similar to Diamond Platnumz, other Tanzanian musicians like Harmonize also have a huge YouTube fanbase.
How Big are One Million YouTube Views?
It is pretty difficult to identify the real significance of the figure one billion. This is especially true, considering that the Tanzanian musician has more followers on Instagram compared to YouTube. His Instagram account has a total of 9.7 million followers, while his YouTube channel has 3.7 million.
Moreover, DJ Edu noted that Instagram is more of a platform for lifestyle influencers. He added that newer platforms such as TikTok, where people can make and upload 30-second videos, are an excellent way of reaching younger audiences.
The Viral YouTube Sensation
DJ Edu also said that some songs are becoming viral when they are used in TikTok. For instance, Diamond Platnumz’s new song called Quarantine became popular through the video-making app.
This helps in driving people to YouTube. Notably, the video-sharing platform allows channel owners to make money through advertisements show within their videos.
More importantly, YouTube paved the way for African musicians over the last 10 years to reach their audience directly, instead of relying solely on TV stations.
Diamond Platnumz Compared With Other Stars in Africa
The award-winning musician still languishes behind several stars in North America, who also have massive numbers of followings in the Middle East.
Also, some African artists are based in other countries. This includes Aya Nakamura, a singer born in Malia who trumps the bejeweled Tanzanian musician, with over 1.7 billion views on YouTube.
Aya Nakamura is a 25-year-old musician who is best known for her 2018 hit Djadja. Moreover, Nakamura moved to France when she was still young.
Rising Stars in Africa
On the other hand, Akon, a Senegalese-American rapper, smashed both Diamond Platnumz and Aya Nakamura with 3.5 billion YouTube views.
Within sub-Saharan Africa, the main competitors of Diamond Platnumz, when it comes to YouTube numbers, are Nigerian Afrobeats stars. They are P Square with 810 million views, Davido with 618 million views, and Flavour with 617 million views. In addition to them is Tekno, who has 574 million YouTube views, Burna Boy with 507 million, and StarBoy TV (AKA Wizkid) with 480 million.
In particular, the YouTube views of Burna Boy and Davido are impressive. This is because they had only opened their YouTube channels two years ago. On the other hand, Diamond Platnumz has already been in the video-sharing platform since 2011.
The Growing View Count of Everything Wizkid
Moreover, StarboyTV is the record label of Wizkid. So, adding the figures to his other channel would give him a total of 802 million views.
Some of the other notable mentions are Ivory Coast’s Magic System with more than 477 million views. This group is particularly popular in France as well as French-speaking West Africa.
DJ Edu said that the following was literally built on Premier Gaou that was launched in 2001. He said that the song was something that really connected the entire continent.
Furthermore, DJ Edu added that while lower figures of YouTube for South African musicians hide their popularity, they can still gain profit through local labels.
Besides, YouTube is not the only streaming service available. In fact, WizKid worked in 2016 with Drake, a Canadian rapper. They collaborated in the song One Dance which was not officially released on YouTube. Yet, the single was streamed for more than 1.8 billion times.
Looking At the Global Perspective
Drake has over seven billion views on YouTube. On the other hand, Beyonce has worked with several African artists for last year’s Lion King album. Has over 12 billion views.
To put everything into perspective, Justin Beiber, a 26-year-old Canadian singer who started his career in his teens, has a total of 21.6 billion views.
K-pop stars have also whopped the YouTube figures game. They were able to create a massive fanbase on YouTube quickly. To name one, Blackpink, a Korean girl group that was formed in 2016, has garnered more than nine billion views on YouTube.
What About The Ladies?
As for African female singers such as Afrobeats stars, Tiwa Savage and Yemi Alade have fewer views than their male counterparts. The two of them have 239 million and 434 million views on YouTube, respectively.
According to DJ Edu, this might have resulted from the fact that it is more difficult for women to break through in Africa. In this country, the music industry is male-dominated. So, females have to spend time battling their corner, concentrating on building their image, and less time churning out their tracks.
He also added that until very recently, female artists are not booked for big shows. But if you are in front of a big audience, you can generate a following.
Date: October 14, 2020 / Categories: YouTube, / Author: Joy P
