Gospel music singer and songwriter Sinach, has been awarded the Gold Play Button by YouTube, for passing one million subscribers. Sinach, who is most known globally, for her 2016 critically acclaimed song “Way Maker”, is one of the few channels and musicians from Nigeria, that have reached/surpassed the 1 million subscriber mark on YouTube. As the other musician to achieve this feat is, Flavour, who was awarded his Gold Play Button during the YouTube Week in June 2019.
The trend of these recently recorded successes by Sinach and fellow gospel musicians, validates the global reach and acceptance, of diverse styles of music from the shores of Nigeria/Africa, away from the notion of the ambiguous classification of the genre Afrobeats and the suggestive sound of contemporary African music. For instance, it was established at YouTube Music Launch on 11th of March 2020, on the Global Reach of Nigerian Music on YouTube, that: 90% of views of the top 100 most viewed Nigerian-based artists came from outside Nigeria in 2019, while 70% came from outside Africa.
Regarding the feat achieved by Sinach and fellow gospel musicians in 2019 and the decade, the stats are as follows, according to YouTube:
- Sinach’s “Way Maker”, is one of The Most Viewed Music Videos featuring Nigerian-based artists, with 143 million views. Alongside Davido’s “Fall” that has garnered 160 million views and MHD’s “Bella” feat. WizKid, that has 127 million views.
- Sinach, was one of the Top 10 most viewed Nigerian artists Globally in 2019, alongside Burna Boy, Davido and WizKid.
- Mercy Chinwo, was one of the Top 10 most viewed artists in Nigeria in 2019, alongside Naira Marley, Teni, Zlatan and Kizz Daniel.
- Ada Ehi’s “Only You Jesus”, made it to the Top 20 Nigerian Songs of the Decade, with (56 Million Views) as at the time of compilation.
- On 7 March 2019, Sinach became the first Gospel singer from Nigeria to obtain over 100 million views of a single video on YouTube with the song “Way Maker”, and the third Nigerian to achieve that feat, next to Davido and Yemi Alade, who achieved the same feat in December 2018. The song has been covered by multiple Christian artists, such as, Michael W. Smith, Darlene Zschech, Leeland, Bethel Music and Mandisa, musicians and in singing competitions around the world, as well as in different languages.
Source: YouTube Music Launch
Source: YouTube Music Launch
Source: YouTube Music Launch
About YouTube Creator Awards
The YouTube creators award commonly known as the YouTube Play Buttons, are plaques awarded as a form of recognition, to its most popular channels and content creators, categorized into different tiers that include: The Silver Play Button, for channels that reach or surpass 100,000 subscribers;
The Gold Play Button, for channels that reach or surpass one million subscribers;
The Diamond Play Button, for channels that reach or surpass ten million subscribers;
The Custom Creator, for channels that reach or surpass 50 million subscribers;
The Red Diamond Creator, for channels that reach or surpass 100 million subscribers.
