Female musician, songwriter and one of Nigeria’s most prominent musical exponents, Simisola Bolatito Kosoko, popularly known as Simi, has been honoured as the first African female artist to hit over 100 million streams on Audiomack – a popular music streaming platform.
This remarkable feat is a testament to Simi’s unique blend of R&B and Afro-pop fusion, which has steadily helped her in strategically gaining recognition even internationally.
In 2021, Wizkid became the first African artiste (Male) to reach 300 million streams for one album ‘Made in Lagos.’
Simi and some other top Nigerian female hip hop acts have, in recent years, been in the vanguard of female artistes that are reshaping the content of Nigerian music.
Known for her decency, the 33-year-old singer started her career as a gospel singer, releasing her debut studio album in 2008, titled ‘Ogaju’, and since then she has been setting the pace.
Simi was born in Ojuelegba, a suburb of Surulere, Lagos State. She is an alumnus of Covenant University, where she studied Mass Communication.
In 2019, she married her colleague Adekunle Kosoko, popularly known as Adekunle Gold, and gave birth to her daughter Adejare in 2020.
Read Also: So many things don’t come naturally to me – Simi
Her songs Tiff, Jamb Question, Love Don’t Care, and features on hit tracks: Soldier with Falz, No Forget with Adekunle Gold and So Rire with Legendury Beatz – plus hit albums Ogaju and Simisola – helped her gain stardom.
Notably, during the COVID-19 lockdown, her track ‘Duduke’ went viral, boosted by a baby bump dance challenge. The song which enjoyed widespread appeal spent seven weeks on the newly-launched Official Afrobeats Chart Top 20.
Sharing the news on social media, Audiomack wrote on their Instagram page, “@symplysimi was our guest of honour following her accomplishment of surpassing 100 million streams on audiomack. Big congrats to her!.”
Simi also took to Instagram to celebrate her win, encouraging other women to continue to work hard while also thanking her fans for their continuous support.
“@audiomackafrica, thank you so much for the honour. The first female to get 100 million plays on Audiomack. I like it very much; thank God for growth and thank my amazing fans for always supporting me.”
“I had an incredible time with my amazing women at the Audiomack Women in Music Brunch yesterday,” she wrote.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, Audiomack had hosted an exclusive brunch for women in the Nigerian music and entertainment industry.
Simi and a host of other attendees were honoured at the event in Lagos.