FOLA’s sophomore album, 9, is collecting milestones fast, and the global Spotify debut is only part of the story.
The first big marker came at home. Within hours of its release on October 9, 9 climbed to No. 1 on the Apple Music Nigeria Top Albums chart, pushing past heavyweight projects from Asake, BNXN and Ayra Starr. The album has also been rolling out across Apple Music’s wider editorial spaces, including a feature on Africa Now Radio with Nandi Madida, where FOLA discussed the project.
The football world has shown up for it too. Given that the album is named after the striker’s shirt number, it was fitting that Victor Osimhen, Boniface and Ighalo all publicly endorsed it, turning the release into a conversation well outside the usual music circles.
The run-up also did real work. “treat u right,” his collaboration with Ayra Starr, earned a top 10 debut on the Official UK Afrobeats Chart before the album even arrived. “miss u ii (nriri)” opened at No. 17 on the Spotify Nigeria Top Songs chart with 149,171 streams on its first day. Singles like “attention!” and “fine ting (fine $hit)” kept the conversation alive, and “it’s over,” with Bella Shmurda and Zlatan, has already shown up on the Apple Music Nigeria chart as the album’s outro.
The collaboration list adds to the scale. Six names share the project with FOLA: Davido, Ayra Starr, BNXN, Darkoo, Bella Shmurda and Zlatan. The Davido link continues a working relationship that began when FOLA joined him and Mayorkun on “B4 B4.”
Then there is the weight of what came before. Catharsis broke Spotify Nigeria’s record for a debut album’s opening week with 10.66 million streams, then spent 19 weeks at No. 1 on the platform’s Nigeria album chart. It also took FOLA to the top of the Headies 2026 nominations, alongside Davido and Wizkid. With 9 debuting at No. 2 on Spotify’s global debut albums chart, matching the position his first album reached, the sophomore project is clearly carrying that momentum forward.
The album is only days old, and the numbers are still moving.