Davido is one of Afrobeats’ most prolific hitmakers, and he often brings this hitmaking ability into his projects.
Across his four LPs and 1 EP, the multi-award-winning era-defining star has delivered iconic hit records that played a considerable role in the commercial advancement and global expansion of Nigerian mainstream pop music.
Since making his chest-thumping debut album ‘Omo Baba Olowo: The Genesis’ in 2012, Davido has announced himself on the scene as a superstar whose spot in the summit of the game is won by sheer talent and hard work as opposed to the resources at his disposal, as many like to insist.
13 years since the release of his debut album, Davido is gearing up for the release of his 6th project and 5th album he calls ‘5ive’.
As we await the highly anticipated album, this week’s Afrobeats Throwback Thursday takes a trip to Davido’s discography, where we will be ranking his projects.
This ranking his determined by the quality of the projects, their commercial success, and larger impact on Davido’s career and the ecosystem, and how well they have aged.
Here is a ranking of all of Davido’s 5 projects
5. Son of Mercy EP (2016)
Released in October 2016, Davido’s ‘Son of Mercy’ EP was a bold move by the superstar to break into the global frontiers.
Released under Sony Music, the project marked a period of bold display of ambition where Nigerian stars like Davido who has conqurted the African frontier sought for more.
Although ambitious, the project failed to connect with the American audience it was intended for, and it also failed to find tangible fans back home. Even Davido isn’t the biggest fan of the album.
However, the 5-track EP delivered the hit record in ‘Coolest Kid In Africa’ featuring a fresh off the block Nasty C.
4. A Better Time (2020)
Davido’s third album, ‘A Better Time’, is the second from his Time trilogy and also the weakest.
While the project housed several hit singles, Davido struggled to combine them into a cohesive sonic offering.
A prolific hitmaker, Davido knows a hit song when he hears one and the lead single ‘FEM’ became not only the biggest song of 2020 but the unofficial soundtrack of the historic #ENDSARS movement.
The album also boasts of other hit records like ‘Jowo’, ‘The Best’ feat Mayorkun, and ‘Lala’ feat CKay.
While ‘A Better Time’ held up Davido’s status as a generation hitmaker who morphs according to the time, it also increased scrutiny over his ability to make a quality album.
3. Omo Baba Olowo: The Genesis (2012)
On his debut album, Davido’s preoccupation was to deliver a volume of hit records that reinforce his growing stardom and signal his intention to dominate.
If there’s one thread that runs through the 17-track album, it’s hit songs.
From the daring chest-thumping opener ‘All of You’ to the love tune ‘Ekuro’, the party starting ‘Gobe’, and the iconic ‘Dami Duro’, Davido showed that, was he may lack in making sonically cohesive albums, he more than compensated for it with hit records.
2. A Good Time (2019)
It took Davido 7 years to release his sophomore album, and within that time, his stocks had risen to peak numbers.
His superstar status was on full display in ‘A Good Time’, where he delivered the sonic cohesion listeners have often demanded while still retaining the easily digestible hit records that define his artistry.
Two years before he released his sophomore album, Davido dominated the African pop scene with a breathtaking run of 4 singles, 2 (‘IF’ and ‘Fall’) of which he added on ‘A Good Time’.
The album had an exploration of different markets with Afrobeats hits, Dancehall joints like ‘Risky’ feat Popcaan, R&B in the form of ‘D&G’, global Pop with ‘Blow My Mind’ feat Chris Brown, and Amercian hip hop with ‘Big Picture’ featuring Gunna, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, and Dremo.
Although underappreciated, this album is perhaps Davido’s most rounded body of work and the rare moments he allowed himself to be more than a hitmaker.
1. Timeless (2023)
Davido’s fourth album and the third of his ‘Time Trilogy’ was one of the most anticipated in the 21st-century history of Nigerian music.
The heavy personal loss that preceded it and the fact that Davido refused to release a lead single heightened expectations.
The five-time Grammy nominee delivered on this expectation with an album that restates his status as a hitmaker skilled in crafting hit records and a megastar embracing the depth and refreshing diversity of new talents.
‘Omo Baba Olowo’ to ‘Timeless’: A ranking of Davido’s 5 projects Read More
