Davido and Wizkid are undoubtedly two of the biggest musicians on the African continent, aside from Burna Boy.
Their musical prowess in the Afrobeat music genre has crossed the borders of Africa and has made notable impacts in Europe, America, and other parts of Asia.
Both artists are making Nigerians and, as a matter of fact, Africans proud of their remarkable achievements in music. Davido has done international collaborations, and so has Wizkid. Wizkid has won international awards, and so has Davido, too. Their achievements in the music industry make it look like they compete, but in fact, they are not.
They are two good musicians doing what they do best: music. So, who is most popular worldwide?
Wizkid and Davido: Who is more popular in the World?
I can’t go over the world asking everyone if they have heard of Davido or Wizkid, but I can use data from the internet to conclude who is better. I will use the following analysis to tell who is more popular worldwide, Wikzid and Davido.
- Social Media Influence
- YouTube reach
- Google Trends analytics
Social Media Influence
Social media is like a global village. Anyone who doesn’t have a social media account is either living in an internet-forbidden place or not acquainted with modern technology. In Africa and many parts of the world, it is a key factor in determining the influence of celebrities and public figures.
And we will be using only Instagram and Twitter.
For this comparison, we will look at how many followers Wizkid has and how many followers Davido has as of the time of updating this post.
Wizkid social media followers growth table – Instagram and Twitter
Davido social media followers growth table – Instagram and Twitter
Here is a table that summarises it all.
| Instagram followers | Twitter followers | |
| Davido | 28.7 million | 14.6 million |
| Wizkid | 18.3 million | 12.4 million |
Davido tops the chart regarding Instagram and Twitter following among African celebrities—a record he has held for over six years.
The analysis shows that Davido is more popular than Wizkid on social media (Instagram and Twitter).
YouTube Reach
YouTube is one of the biggest video streaming platforms, with billions of daily visitors. However, the competition is tight these days. YouTube content Creators upload and monetize their content on YouTube to billions of people who have access to YouTube.
If you are a regular YouTube user, the analytics aspect won’t bother you much, unlike YouTube content creators. YouTube views count is also important in measuring a video’s influence, reach, and success. American rappers like 6ix9nine Takashi trended worldwide with his hit song “GOOBA,” which amassed 43 million views in 24 hours and is still counting.
We will now pull data from YouTube to see who leads between Wizkid and Davido on YouTube.
Wizkid YouTube Stats
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| YouTube Joining Date | September 20, 2014 |
| Total Views Count | 1,870,631,132 views |
| Channel Subscribers | 2.97M subscribers |
| Most-Watched Video Views | 264M views |
| Most-Watched Video Title | Wizkid – Joro (Official Video) |
| Channel Name | StarBoy TV |
Davido YouTube Stats
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| YouTube Joining Date | November 22, 2018 |
| Total Views Count | 1,548,851,739 views |
| Channel Subscribers | 3.84M subscribers |
| Most-Watched Video Views | 279M views |
| Most-Watched Video Title | Davido – Fall (Official Video) |
| Channel Name | Davido |
Davido wins this YouTube Reach round as well.
International Collaborations
As I have mentioned earlier, Davido and Wizkid have recorded successes globally. They are more like the icons of Afro-beat and have joined the list of global icons from Africa.
Davido and Wizkid have both collaborated with other musicians across the world.
But for the record, Davido has done collaborations with artistes such as,
- Meek Mill
- Wale
- Rae Sremmurd
- Young Thug
- Tinashe
- Quavo
- Tonry Lanez
- Popcaan
- Chris Brown
Wizkid has also done collaborations with musicians such as
- Beyonce
- Drake
- Dua Lipa
- Major Lazer
- Tyga
- Trey Songz
- Chronixx
- Offset
- Chris Brown
International collaborations increase an artist’s global audience reach and boost their fame. For this comparison, both Wizkid and Davido get a point each.
Endorsement deals
The business side of music cannot be overemphasized. Artists tend to gain a larger audience, so they attract brands that pay them for endorsement deals.
Businesses and legal corporations play a major role in measuring the influence of musicians. Musicians sign multi-million deals with major corporations in exchange for brand promotion.
Wikzid and Davido weigh an even scale when it comes to endorsement deals.
Wizkid has worked with global brands, including
- Pepsi
- GLO
- Guinness
- Nike
- Tecno Mobile
- UBA
Davido has worked with global brands, including
- MTN
- Guinness
- Infinix Mobile
- Bitsika
- Dolce & Gabbana
Both of them get a point each.
Track records
This part of the comparison gives room for debate but will be measuring the reach of Wizkid and Davido’s songs by YouTube views per music video and traction.
Currently, David’s Top songs are
- Fall
- FIA
- Assurance
Wizkid’s Top songs are
- Joro
- Come Closer
- SOCO
- Fever
Awards
Both Davido and Wizkid have made wonderful contributions to the Music industry worldwide.
The organizers of the following awards have recognized Davido;
- Kora Awards
- MTV Awards
- BET
- Ghana Music Awards
- Channel O
- Nigeria Entertainment Award
- Headies
The organizers of the following awards have recognized Wizkid;
- BET
- Channel O
- MTV Awards
- Billboards
- IHEARTRADIO
- Ghana Music Awards
- Headies
This round is the third tie.
Google Trends analytics
Google has a tool to check the search volume of any term.
So, to find out between Davido and Wizkid, who is being searched for most on Google, head over to Google Trends.
We put in the search terms, (“wizkid”, “David”), without the brackets, and run a query, setting our coverage to “Worldwide”, and time range to “Past 12 months”. Here are the results.
Update – 2024 – Q1: On average, Wizkid tops Davido on a number of searches on Google by 1 point since 2004. Wizkid has 19 points, and Davido has 18 points.
Most of Wizkid’s Google searches are from Western countries, while Davido dominates in Africa.
Conclusion
Both Wizkid and Davido are doing excellently well. They have set records and acquired laurels. Between the two musicians, no competition exists. But fans love to brag and weigh artists on a scale, all for fun.
When it comes to who is more popular, Davido or Wizkid? Davido is more popular than Wizkid as of 2024—first quarter.
However, by region? Davido is more popular in Africa, and Wizkid is more popular outside Africa.
Davido’s social media following surpasses that of Wizkid. His music stream globally surpasses that of Wizkid. Also, his songs have gone further than that of Wizkid.
So, we can safely conclude that Davido is more popular than Wizkid.
That’s my verdict based on the analysis and easily verifiable data on the internet.
Times change. So, I will update this post after three months.