Asake made history on UK Apple Music, becoming the first African artist ever to send five projects to the number one spot.
The milestone was confirmed on May 3 by chart-tracking account @chartdata. The post stated: “Asake becomes the first African artist to have five projects reach #1 on UK Apple Music.” It spread fast, racking up 5,386 likes and 675 retweets.
For any artist, five number ones is a big deal. For an African artist doing it in the UK market, it’s something else entirely. No one had gotten there before Asake.
The Nigerian singer-songwriter’s full name is Ahmed Ololade Asake. He broke through with a sound blending Afrobeats, fuji, and street-pop in a way that feels entirely his own. He came up under YBNL Nation, the Lagos-based label run by Olamide. From there, he quickly built a fanbase that stretches far beyond Nigeria.
His rise in the UK has been something to watch. British audiences have been among the most enthusiastic outside of Nigeria, and that energy shows up consistently on the charts. Each project landing at number one wasn’t a fluke. It was Asake building a track record, one release at a time.
The UK has been a particularly meaningful market for Afrobeats. London, in particular, has a large Nigerian diaspora community that has helped push African sounds onto mainstream charts. Asake tapped into that energy early, and the numbers kept climbing.
UK Apple Music charts reflect genuine listening habits. Five number ones there carries real weight. It tells you people are actually pressing play, not just following along from a distance.
The reaction online backed that up. @chartdata shared the news on Sunday, and music fans quickly flooded the replies with congratulations. The excitement wasn’t just from Nigerian fans celebrating one of their own. It came from listeners across the UK and beyond who’ve been on the Asake train for a while.
There’s something worth sitting with here. African music’s presence on UK charts has grown significantly over the past decade. Artists like Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Davido have all had major moments in the UK market. But this specific milestone, five number ones on UK Apple Music, belongs to Asake alone. No other African artist had reached this point before today.
That kind of record brings out two things: pride from fans who feel like they’ve been there from the start, and curiosity from new listeners who want to know what all the fuss is about. Both are good.
For Asake, this moment caps a run that has been quietly historic. His projects have connected with UK audiences at a level few African artists have matched. Five number ones is the proof. His music has found a real home in Britain.
The chart-tracking world doesn’t give out trophies, but a @chartdata post hitting nearly 5,400 likes is its own kind of recognition. The numbers speak clearly.
His catalog reads like a series of bets that all paid off. Each project added to the total, and each one showed up on the UK chart at the top. That kind of consistency is hard to manufacture. You either connect with an audience or you don’t.
Asake clearly does.
The UK music market is competitive and often unpredictable. International artists break through there sometimes by surprise, sometimes by grind. Asake’s five number ones look like the grind kind, built over time, album by album, stream by stream.
No other African artist had reached this point before him. Now it’s on the record.