Nigerian superstar Burna Boy has once again etched his name into history. The self-acclaimed ‘African giant’ just became the first Nigerian artist to earn five career Grammy nominations in album categories, a remarkable feat that firmly cements his dominance on the global stage.
His latest project, No Sign of Weakness (2025), is the newest addition to this elite list, nominated for Best Global Music Album at the upcoming 68th Grammy Awards.
Competing against established global giants like Youssou N’Dour, Anoushka Shankar, and Shakti, Burna Boy is now a perennial fixture in the international music conversation.
This streak of nominations shows Burna Boy’s consistency, ambition, and vision. His Grammy-nominated albums now include: African Giant (2019), Twice As Tall (2020), Love, Damini (2022), I Told Them… (2023), and No Sign of Weakness (2025).
This achievement is huge and can’t be ignored.
In this article, we break down all five albums, ranking them by cultural impact, critical praise, commercial power, and pure artistry.
1. African Giant (2019)
African Giant is not just an album. It is a cultural manifesto and a declaration of intent.
Released in 2019, this project was the initial spark that truly transformed Burna Boy into a global entity, earning him his first Grammy nomination for Best World Music Album. The album’s justification for the top spot is rooted in its unparalleled impact.
Critics widely agree African Giant remains Burna Boy’s best album of all time. The album re-launched Burna’s career onto a scale of epic proportions. The album set a new, towering standard for project quality in the genre and immediately forced his peers to elevate their own artistic ambitions. Some commentators even argue that the sheer creative dexterity displayed on this album instantly pushed Burna into the conversation among Afrobeats’ “Big Three” artists. It was perfection.
Tracks like ‘Anybody,’ the cultural juggernaut ‘Ye,’ the infectious groove of ‘Gbona,’ the soulful ‘On The Low’, amongst others – showcase the album’s full mastery. The project redefined Afrobeats on the global stage, fusing traditional rhythms with hip-hop, R&B, and reggae, acting as a crucial bridge between Nigeria and the Western mainstream.
To this day, the Afrobeats community still feels robbed that the album ultimately did not win the Grammy, given its groundbreaking quality and undisputed role in changing the global narrative around African music.
2. Twice As Tall (2020)
Following the critical and cultural explosion of its predecessor, Twice As Tall was the album that delivered the ultimate validation: a Grammy win for Best Global Music Album. Released in 2020, some call it ‘the Ballon d’Or of Burna Boy’s albums’.
Twice As Tall successfully refined and expanded the initial blueprint set by ‘African Giant’. Its ranking at number two is justified by its seamless, high-production execution and its pivotal commercial strategy.
Co-produced by American hip-hop mogul Diddy and Burna Boy’s mother, Bose Ogulu, the album was meticulously tailored for global appeal without sacrificing its African core.
Records like the inspiring collaboration with Stormzy “Real Life,” the confident proclamation “Way Too Big,” the Afropop ballad “Onyeka (Baby),” and the reflective “23” showcased refined global production. Its victory at the Grammys was a watershed moment, officially breaking the glass ceiling for a new generation of West African artists. While ‘African Giant’ was the groundbreaking declaration, Twice As Tall was the undisputed, historic execution that secured the industry’s highest honour.
3. Love, Damini (2022)
Love, Damini (2022) holds the middle ground, comfortably sitting at number three. It earned a Grammy nomination for Best Global Music Album, and was his most successful commercial launch to date, driven by the colossal global hit “Last Last.”
This album saw Burna Boy at his most personal and reflective, offering a deeper dive into his identity, Damini Ogulu. The justification for its third-place ranking lies in its unmistakable commercial peak. To date, Love, Damini is the most commercially successful Nigerian album of all time. The album became the highest-charting Nigerian album of all time on the Billboard 200, debuting at number 14. It set multiple new records by achieving the highest debut position for an African album in the United Kingdom, peaking at number two. The album’s lead single, “Last Last,” was the driving commercial force, peaking at number 44 on the highly competitive Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other singles such as “Common Person,” and collaborations “For My Hand” (feat. Ed Sheeran) and “Different Size” (feat. Victony) drove its immense commercial success.
Furthermore, Love, Damini was certified 5x Platinum in Nigeria, awarded by TurnTable Charts – making it the highest certified album in Nigerian history. The project was also certified RIAA Gold in the United States, signifying 500,000 units sold, an achievement few African albums reach, and it became Burna Boy’s second album surpass the 1 billion streams milestone on Spotify, after African Giant.
