Chukwuka Ekweani popularly known as Ckay whose global hit ‘Love Nwantiti’ has made him the best-selling African artist globally, has accumulated over N2.6 billion in streaming royalties, BusinessDay calculation shows.

The song’s 6 official versions of the original audio, remixes, and videos have generated over 1.5 billion streams from streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple music Boomplay, Audiomack, and YouTube. Spotify seems to have the biggest numbers as the versions of the song have over 824.9 million streams on the platform. Various streaming royalty calculator sites with updated ‘average pay per stream’ numbers bring the earnings of the song on Spotify to $3.3 million which converts to N1.3 billion.

Apple music recorded a total of 100.08 million streams which converts to $500,400 which gives N208.2 million when converted to naira.

According to a recent report, Apple Music‌ subscribers made up 15 percent of all streaming service listeners in the global market in the second quarter of 2021, placing it in a distant second place behind Spotify the dominant platform with double the amount boasting 31 percent of the worldwide market.

Locally, Boomplay reportedly pays artists from N20 to N50 per stream, and with a cumulated 24.3 million streams, Ckay is to earn on average over N607.5 million or $1.5 million dollars. Audiomack numbers for the song have reached 33.2 million streams and with an average pay of N1.65, it will earn the singer N54.8 million or $131,654.

Video versions of the song streamed on YouTube have amassed 559.3 million streams and according to streaming Royalty calculators, the song has made him over N407.2 million ($978,775).

The success of the hit song which was certified gold in the UK last week among other global certifications has seen a ripple effect on his other works such as Emiliana which has over 26 million streams on Spotify alone.

Businesss Day