Aya Nakamura
Aya Coco Danioko (born 10 May 1995), known professionally as Aya Nakamura, is a French and Malian singer-songwriter. She began publishing her music online, gaining a following with the songs "Karma" and "J'ai mal". Dembo Camara, a longtime friend, became her producer and manager. Her song "Brisé" garnered traction on YouTube, and a duet with rapper Fababy, "Love d'un voyou", resulted in her charting in France for the first time. She released her debut album, Journal intime, in 2017, followed in 2018 by Nakamura, which was certified diamond in France and has sold more than 1.2 million copies worldwide. The album spawned the hit singles "Djadja" and "Copines" and launched the singer's international career. The same year, she beat the record held by Édith Piaf since 1961 as the most-listened-to francophone woman in the Netherlands.
Nakamura has accumulated five number-one songs and two number-one albums in France. She was awarded a Victoires de la Musique award for her 2020 album, Aya, which was certified double platinum in 2023, having sold 200,000 copies. She also won an NRJ Music Award and received multiple nominations for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best French Act. Two years after its release, Nakamura surpassed a billion streams on Spotify, making the singer the most-listened-to francophone woman on the platform.
On 23 February 2025, the video for Nakamura's single "Djadja" became the fourth French-language song to surpass a billion views on YouTube, behind Indila's "Dernière danse", Stromae's "Papaoutai", and Willy William's "Ego". She is the first African musician to have a video with over a billion views, and she is the fastest French-speaking artist to reach this milestone in six years.
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