Six years ago, Burna Boy stepped into lockdown-era uncertainty and delivered an album that would end up being one of the most monumental projects to come out of these shores. Today, Twice As Tall turns six. Let’s take a look at the plaudits it earned.
Twice As Tall arrived in August 2020 at the height of worldwide lockdowns and pushed Nigerian music further into the global conversation. Recorded mainly in Ahoada, Nigeria, over a few months during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 15-track project featured English, Nigerian Pidgin, Yoruba, and Swahili throughout its runtime. The album’s guest list told its own story of ambition. Beyond Diddy’s executive production, the tracklist featured Naughty by Nature, Kenya’s Sauti Sol, Senegalese legend Youssou N’Dour, and Coldplay’s Chris Martin, with Stormzy on the standout “Real Life.”
When Twice As Tall debuted at No. 54 on the Billboard 200, it marked a new peak for Burna Boy, surpassing African Giant’s No. 104 finish, and for any Nigerian album on America’s biggest chart. It also became the highest-ranking album by an African act on the Billboard 200, overtaking Angelique Kidjo’s 2007 record. On the flip side of the Atlantic, the album’s reach was even louder.
Upon release, Twice As Tall topped the charts in 31 countries, including Nigeria, the UK, South Africa, Ghana, Botswana, Gambia, Kenya, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and more, while pulling in over five million streams within its first hour. It also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard World Albums chart, becoming the highest-peaking Nigerian album of all time at the point of release.
The Grammy that changed everything
If African Giant announced Burna Boy to the world, Twice As Tall is what convinced the jury. At the Premiere Ceremony of the 63rd Grammy Awards, the album won Best Global Music Album, Burna’s first career Grammy and the first win under the category’s newly renamed banner, having previously been known as Best World Music Album. The win made him the first Nigerian artist to take home a Grammy in that category.
He didn’t win quietly, either. Beating out Antibalas, Bebel Gilberto, Anoushka Shankar, and Tinariwen, Burna used his acceptance speech to speak directly to a continent watching. “No matter where you are, no matter what you plan to do, you can achieve it. No matter where you’re from, because you are a king,” he said, before adding, “Look at me now, Grammy Award-winning Burna Boy!”
What makes Twice As Tall worth celebrating?
What makes Twice As Tall’s anniversary worth marking isn’t just the trophy or the chart positions. It’s the blueprint it left behind. Before this album, a Billboard 200 top-60 finish for a Nigerian act seemed like a hard goal to attain. After it, artists like Wizkid, Burna Boy himself, Tems, and a new generation of Afrobeats stars have treated the American mainstream not as a wall to climb but as a market to compete in on their own terms, in their own languages, on their own sound.
Six years later, with well over 2 billion streams behind it across Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Boomplay, Audiomack, and more, Twice As Tall hasn’t aged into nostalgia. It has cemented its place as one of the viable names for the Mt. Rushmore of Afrobeats albums.