Award-winning music artist, Wizkid has emerged fifth on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Best Songs of 2021 list.

More than 200 songs were in contention for the best single list; with Wizkid emerging as the first Nigerian artist to make the countdown. His flirtatious Afrobeat anthem, Essence, placed fifth.

The 31-year-old emerged after Olivia Rodrigo – Good 4U, Lil Nas X – Montero (Call Me By Your Name), Silk Sonic (Leave The Door Open) and Taylor Swift – All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).

The BBC’s charts were compiled from more than 30 end-of-year lists published by the most influential music magazines, blogs, newspapers and broadcasters from across the world.

Records were assigned points based on their position in each list, with the number one album/song getting 20 points, the number two album/song receiving 19 points and so on.

In total, critics named 190 albums among their favourites, from Paul Weller’s 16th studio album, Fat Pop (Volume One), to Girl In Red’s debut, If I Could Make It Go Quiet.

Little Simz became the first British artist to top the chart since its inception in 2015. She was nominated for four Brit Awards at the weekend.

The “best of” lists were featured by: Albumism, BBC 6 Music, Billboard, Clash, Consequence of Sound, Dazed, Double J (Australia), Entertainment Weekly, The Face, The Forty-Five, Gaffa (Denmark), Gigwise, The Guardian, Insider, The LA Times, The Line Of Best Fit, Loud & Quiet, Mojo, The New York Times, NME, NPR, Paste, People Magazine, Pitchfork, Popmatters, Popsugar, The Ringer, Rolling Stone, The Skinny, Slant, Spin, Stereogum, The Sunday Times, The Tab, Time Magazine, Uncut, Uproxxx, Variety and Vulture.