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Making a list of the greatest Davido songs of all time is hard to do, but someone must do the dirty work.

OBO is a hitmaker of gigantic proportions, a pop culture icon and afrobeats superstar, whose unique sound has influenced many artistes — from Peruzzi to Fireboy DML. But his real fans will tell you these are his biggest hits of all time (arranged in no particular order). 

Dami Duro 

�ٲ��������’s Back When was a bop, but if there’s one song that made him a star to watch (and started our obsession with carrot jeans), it’s Dami Duro. Produced by Shizzi, Davido finally stopped pretending to be poor like the rest of us and fully accepted his nepo baby title, shouting, “Emi omo baba olowo,” which means “I’m the son of a rich man.” And I’d do the same thing if my father was rich AF. 

Dami Duro was a banger back then and still has the power to get everyone turnt up the minute it comes on now. 

D&G with Summer Walker 

Davido didn’t perform the magic of seeing Summer Walker’s waist through her eyes for D&G not to be on this list. Even though we all laugh at that unhinged line, there’s no denying that this Afro-R&B banger is high up there as one of �ٲ��������’s greatest collaborations of all time. 

Aye 

If you got married between 2014 and 2020 and didn’t play �ٲ��������’s Aye at your wedding, your marriage doesn’t have a solid foundation. Find the DJ from that day and fight him now. 

Before he gave us Mad Over You, Runtown wrote this love song for Davido, to convince people that love is more important than money in a relationship. Quick question for Runtown and Davido: Can I use love to book a baecation or pay for a date? I’m just asking o. Even Davido wised up by the time he sang Assurance — “Love is sweet o. But when money enter love is sweeter.” 

Fall 

Why do Yoruba men flirt like you’re fighting with them? Not only does Davido want to drop money and bananas on his lover’s head in Fall, at one point he even asks her, “Are you done talking?” It’s giving Ogbomosho Christian Grey, and I’m here for it. Playing on the sounds Tekno and Runtown popularised on Pana and Mad Over You, Davido and Kiddominant created one of the most successful afro beats of all time. This song was chilling on Billboard’s chart way before other Nigerian acts started smelling it. Fall made Davido a global superstar. 

FIA 

It doesn’t matter whether it’s 30 billion naira or one million dollars; one thing about Davido is his willingness to scatter his lover’s life with excess funds. But what makes FIA a special song in �ٲ��������’s discography is how he turns the table, complaining about a lover who’s not content with all he’s given her. FIA is a reminder to walk away before love empties your bank account and ruins your life. 

Stand Strong with The Sunday Service Choir

If we’re being honest, we were all shocked when we heard Davido was putting out a Pheelz-produced song with Kanye West’s Sunday Service Choir. Like, what were they going to sing about? Davido flexed his versatility with 2022’s Stand Strong. Letting go of all the gragra we’ve come to know him for, he created a raw and deeply personal song about finding the strength to keep going — after running for president and losing six times. 

Divine with Odunsi The Engine 

Divine is an underrated Davido gem. Way before people understood or even started fucking with the alté sound, Davido was ahead of the curve, collaborating with Odunsi the Engine on this song off his 2018 album, rare. Odunsi’s funk-R&B-inspired sound met �ٲ��������’s “Shekpe” in this collaboration we didn’t know we needed until we heard it for the first time. 

If 

If was more than just a song; it was a movement. After everyone dragged him for the mid Son of Mercy EP, Davido came back with If to remind us that he’s not to be played with. Written and produced by Tekno, If started �ٲ��������’s year of back-to-back hits in 2017. It’s also the song that helped his stans decide on a name for themselves — 30 BG. 

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High with Adekunle Gold 

We were all shocked when Adekunle Gold rebranded from the Yoruba folk singer Nigerian mothers would allow you to hang out with, to a full-time Afropop zaddy. Even though AG Baby was already a pop hit maker by the end of 2020, his collaboration with Davido on High fully cemented him as the man of the moment. The two men killed it on the Pheelz-produced song. High was so good it ended up at the top of our best amapiano songs of 2021 list. 

All of You

Davido was 19 when he released a song announcing that he was bigger than everyone else in the industry. A bold move for a new artiste, but when you have it, you know you have it. Davido knew he had it back then, and now, over ten years later, he still has that X factor. 

Like Dat 

This song deserved so much more than it got, and that’s the hill I’m willing to die on. After dropping back-to-back hits all through 2017, Davido closed out the year with what I believe was his best song that era. Produced by Shizzi and written by Teni before she blew, Like Dat was a standout R&B track way ahead of its time. Just imagine how different the reception would be if he dropped it now. 

Ke Star with Focalistic and Virgo Deep

Davido has hacked this South African/Nigerian collaboration thing. From Tchlete with Mafikizolo to The Sound with Uhuru, every Davido SA collab has been a hit. He continued this winning streak with Focalistic and Virgo Deep on the remix to Ke Star. Tell me you don’t loose the little home training you have when you hear, “It goes down when my gees connect,” and that bass beat that follows? This is a remix that’s even better than the original. 

The Best with Mayorkun 

Davido and Mayorkun’s musical chemistry is unrivalled in the industry. Is it Betty Butter, I Got a Friend or Bobo? These two have hits for days. But their best hit has to be The Best. Not only do they match each other’s flow on this song, but they’re also hilarious on it. Even though Mayorkun has now left �ٲ��������’s label, we hope they’ll give us more collaborations in the future. 

Skelewu 

Remember those dance challenges before TikTok turned every dance into a mortal kombat fight scene? Good times. In 2013, Davido released Skelewu and joined artistes like Marvellous Benji (Swo) and Artquake (Alanta) as one of the few icons to drop a song that organically became a dance trend.

FEM 

Davido dropped FEM to address Burna Boy his haters, and Nigerians used it to tell the government, and a particular governor, to shut up. If that’s not iconic, I don’t know what is. We can’t talk about the #EndSARS protests without mentioning how FEM became an anthem.

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