Burna Boy Makes History At Madison Square Garden

The African Giant Burna Boy was in fine style at his sold out Madison Square Garden debut last night.

The Nigerian superstar blessed the 20 thousand strong New York City audience with his Afro-fusion hits on the first night of his wildly anticipated “One Night In Space” show. The event was live streamed on YouTube.

Before he came on stage however, the DJ warmed up the crowd with a slew of Afrobeats hits and the Marley reggae classic One Love. When he asked if there were any Jamaicans in the building a loud roar erupted as he played Skillibeng’s Whap Whap and Crocodile Teeth.

The fashionable performer entered the stage after an hour and performed for 2 hours non stop. He left everything he brought from Africa on the stage having started his set in a full black suit and ended shirtless with sweat dripping

Her performed a new song sampling Toni Braxton’s “He Wasn’t Man Enough for Me.” just after revealing that his next album would be called Love, Damini and will be available on his 31st birthday, July 2.

Burna is the first African solo headliner to sell out the Garden, let alone two shows. He follows the footsteps of Afropop singer Miriam Makeba who performed at Madison Square Garden for JFK’s birthday celebration in 1967.

She was the first African Act to speak at the UN (1963) and the first African to sell out Royal Albert Hall. Dubbed Africa’s first Superstar she hit the Billboard 200 chart several times, peaking with her albums Patta Patta (1967) at No. 74, The World Of Miriam Makeba (1963) No. 86, Voice Of Africa (1964) No. 122, and her live 1967 album Miriam Makeba In Concert! peaking at No. 182. The single Pata Pata peaked at number 7 on the Hot R&B songs chart in 1967.

Burna, now destined to take the baton from Miriam, who passed in 2008, has made the perfect entry into the US market as a top headliner with authentic Afro-music. He was introduced by legendary rapper Busta Rhymes but when he entered the stage he could do no wrong. With a full band plus African percussion dancers he represented the Nigerian culture in its most authentic form for 2 hours.

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The sold out One Night in Space at the famed New York Arena comes after Burna’s sold-out shows at the Hollywood Bowl, London’s O2 Arena, Paris’ Accor Arena, and Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome this year.

Ahead of the Bank On It artist historic performance last night, Twitter unveiled the #AfricaToTheWorld hashmoji to spotlight African influencers and voices who impact their community.

Twitter is highlighting Africans who are their community’s “firsts” and how they’ve made a mark in the diaspora. Users can share their work along with the hashtag. The hashmoji—which is an emoji made by the platform that appears after writing out a hashtag—is activated when users type out #AfricaToTheWorld and a yellow globe emoji follows right after.

“This campaign represents a convening of great talents from Africa and the Diaspora with a common desire to champion conversations and moments that center the importance of #AfricaToTheWorld. It is our hope to leverage this unique, once in a lifetime first from Burna Boy to celebrate other powerful African voices in a truly meaningful way,” said Twitter global culture and community senior manager Bukky Ojeifo.

Twitter also hosted a #TweetSuite experience at Madison Square Garden with 18 African influencers chosen by the platform to see the concert live to incentivize their work for their community.

The Nigerian Grammy award winner joins a list of superstars like Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Adele, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey to have sold out the world famous 20,789 capacity Madison Square Garden in New York.

Tickets sold for an average of $350 and as high as $2,125. Th Youtube live stream for night one had over 81,000 viewers with fans tuning in from Nigeria, United kingdom, Australia, Jamaica and Canada as he performed hits from his African Giant and Twice as Tall albums.

Meanwhile Burna’s On The Low was certified Gold by the RIAA this week for selling more than 500,000 units in the US. The song produced by Kel-P, appears on Burna’s Grammy-nominated album African Giant (2019).  Its official music video has surpassed 260 million views on YouTube since its release in November 2018.

This is his second Gold certification within a year.  His 2018 hit Ye, from his Outside album, was certified in May 2021.

Ye is also certified Gold in the UK for sales exceeding 400,000 units, while On The Low is certified Silver for sales exceeding 200,000 units in the country, according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).