--- description: Find out why Burna Boy is one of the 100 most influential people of 2024. title: Burna Boy: The 100 Most Influential People of 2024 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16dd2218c01f6f86/698a558c16d8844df0c3e878/time-100-2024-burna-boy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 17, 2024 # Burna Boy by Angélique Kidjo  CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 21: Burna Boy performs onstage at Wintrust Arena on February 21, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Natasha Moustache/Getty Images) CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 21: Burna Boy performs onstage at Wintrust Arena on February 21, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Natasha Moustache/Getty Images)Natasha Moustache—Getty Images Ten years ago or so, when young African musicians would come to me for advice, I would tell them, “You don’t need to mimic American artists! The world needs the amazing richness and beauty of our traditional African music and our culture. This land is where most of modern music comes from. This source of inspiration is inexhaustible. Its freshness and its elegance will get the world’s attention for sure.” [Burna Boy](https://time.com/collection/next-generation-leaders/5896374/burna-boy-next-generation-leaders/ "undefined") has made that vision a global reality. Inspired by the fantastic drums of Nigerian folk music, and studied in the craft of the great African singer-songwriters, he follows in the footsteps of Fela Kuti—the internationally celebrated Afrobeats artist and activist. Burna Boy’s deeply original flow and his signature groove have conquered the world with an impressive series of firsts: in 2023, he became the first African artist to sell out a U.S. stadium, and in 2024, he became the first Afrobeats artist to sing at the Grammys. He is history in the making. Now a whole generation of young people from the continent is looking up to him. _Kidjo is a Grammy-winning musician_ _Order your copy of the 2024 TIME100 issue_ [_here_](https://magazineshop.us/TIME%5F100 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964163/burna-boy-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964163/burna-boy-2/"},"headline":"Burna Boy","datePublished":"2024-04-17T11:09:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:29:31.960Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964163/burna-boy-2/","keywords":["TIME100","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","2024TIME100","T100ICONS2024"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16dd2218c01f6f86/698a558c16d8844df0c3e878/time-100-2024-burna-boy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16dd2218c01f6f86/698a558c16d8844df0c3e878/time-100-2024-burna-boy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964163/burna-boy-2/","name":"Burna Boy"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See Everyone on the TIME100 2024 list","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/73p9kgIN/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-04-17T11:00:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/73p9kgIN.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964163/burna-boy-2/","duration":"PT1M59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2024/6964163/burna-boy-2/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```