The Mdundo Download Awards launched in December 2018 and continues to recognize artists who attain different download thresholds (Platinum, Gold and Silver Awards).
Mdundo has recognized for the first time its first lot of top performing artists for the first quarter of 2019.
The numbers have grown immensely since the last mileage recognition. That marks a sign of good competition and more content from top local artists and growing sensations. The period of January to March 2019 has seen some of the artists cross over to the next level of mileage recognition and new names also appear on the list.
Tanzania’s Darassa, Navy Kenzo, Ben Pol, and Kenya’s Timmy Tdat have taken the leap from Gold to Platinum Awards. This could be attributed to their new songs, collaborations, media tours, and personal life achievements over the past 3 months.
There are 18 new entries on the Gold Awards record. Niche legendary artist Oliver Mutukudzi also slides onto this list with his death at the beginning of the year creating an all-time global buzz, causing listenership to shoot up.
The Silver Awards list has a lot of new entries bringing the total number of artists with more than 100k downloads on Mdundo to over 120. This number is bound to rise within the next quarter as Mdundo continues to sign up both popular and rising artists who release and market their music passionately.
Mdundo Download Awards has 3 categories of validity. Artists’ popularity growth is acknowledged by the number of music downloads they accumulate collectively on the Mdundo platform. The different levels of popularity are recognized as:
- Platinum Awards – Over 1 Million Downloads
- Gold Awards – Over 500 Thousand Downloads
- Silver Awards – Over 100 Thousand Downloads (Digital Recognition)
An artist who hit 10 Million+ downloads gets Diamond Awards Recognition. This, however, has not been achieved by any artist on Mdundo yet.
Platinum Awards (1,000,000+ Downloads) candidates include Darassa, Navy Kenzo, Benpol and Timmy Tdat.
Gold Awards (500,000+ Downloads) candidates include Naiboi, Nandy Capital FM Mixmaster DJ Joe Mfalme, Tanzanian songstress Vanessa Mdee, King Kaka and the legendary Oliver Mtukudzi.
This is not the first time Timmy has been recognized by Mdundo. He was also feted for being among the top 3 artists leading the downloads charts in April 2019. He took to Instagram to share the great news and went on to thank the fans. He wrote, “Guys this is not mine, it’s because you downloaded #atekwe more than a million times..it’s the Mdundo PLATINUM award for #atekwe am grateful, thank you.”
Timmy TDat’s most recent release ‘Asante Baba’ has garnered more than 300K views on YouTube in just two weeks. The track is the second time the Kasabun rapper and singer has collaborated with screen siren Rosa Ree.