Nigerian singer, Jaywon, has stirred debate after claiming that both gospel and Afrobeats musicians have continued to copy the template of his 2012 hit song, This Year.
The singer made the claim while faulting Billboard for excluding the track from its recently released list of the Top 50 Best Afrobeats Songs of All Time.
Jaywon, in a post on his X handle, insisted that no song on the list has had more cultural impact than This Year.
He wrote: “‘This Year’ by Jaywon had more viral moments and cultural impact than some tracks Billboard decided to rank. Trending since 2012 and still going strong. Tell me, who else has pulled that off? Hate is inevitable. Year after year, both gospel and Afrobeats acts copy the same vibe, yet we remain unshaken. Cry harder, I said it before, and I’ll say it again… No song on that list has more cultural impact than #Thisyear by Jaywon!!”
Billboard’s list is topped by 2Face Idibia’s African Queen, followed by Wizkid’s Ojuelegba, Flavour’s Nwa Baby, Rema’s Calm Down, and CKay’s Love Nwantiti.
