Every week since Ayra Starr and ZAYN’s “Heaven Baby” arrived on the UK’s Official Afrobeats Chart at the end of August, the song at No. 1 has been Victony’s “SLICK.” The chart published today has “Heaven Baby” on top in its ninth week, and “SLICK” is nowhere on it.
Nobody beat “SLICK.” Victony’s single spent all 13 of its weeks on the chart at No. 1, from late July until last week, and 13 weeks is as long as the Official Afrobeats Chart lets any song stay. Official Charts set the limit to keep a niche chart moving, so a song comes off once it gets there, however well it is doing. Burna Boy’s “Last Last” and Tyla’s “Chanel” left the same way, with every one of their 13 weeks spent on top. “Heaven Baby” had debuted at No. 2 behind “SLICK,” stayed there for a month, dipped to No. 6 at the start of October and was back up to No. 3 by last week.
That still left a queue, and “Heaven Baby” wasn’t at the front of it.
Blaqbonez and Asake’s “IKEBE 3000” came in at No. 2 last week, one place above it, and holds No. 2 this week while “Heaven Baby” goes past. The seven days this chart counts take in Oct 11, when Ayra headlined halftime at the NFL London game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and sang “Heaven Baby” alongside “Rush”. The song had only just been given its video on Oct 5, and that video now makes its first appearance on the Official Video Streaming Chart, at No. 50.
This is Ayra’s fourth No. 1 on the Afrobeats chart, after “Rush” in 2022, “Commas” in 2024 and “Who’s Dat Girl” with Rema last November. “Who’s Dat Girl” got one week on top before Tyla’s “Chanel” replaced it and stayed for all 13 of its weeks, the same kind of run that kept “Heaven Baby” waiting all summer. Mavin marked a year of “Who’s Dat Girl” this morning.
Now the limit applies to her. Nine of the song’s 13 weeks are gone, which gives “Heaven Baby” four more charts before the rule that cleared out “SLICK” takes it off too.