Recent reports alleging that Spotify deducted over 18 million streams from Davido’s newly released album, 5ive, have been found to be unsubstantiated.
9News Nigeria reports that no official confirmation or credible source has validated the claim.
The speculation, which began circulating on social media platforms, suggested that the global streaming platform penalized Davido’s album for suspected artificial streaming activities.
However, a review of available data and statements shows no evidence to support the figure of 18 million streams being removed.
While there have been isolated reports of minor stream adjustments, particularly on individual tracks such as “Funds” and “Awuke,” which allegedly lost 1.56 million and 2.53 million streams respectively, Spotify has not issued any statement confirming large-scale deductions.
These isolated changes are part of standard streaming audits Spotify conducts to ensure compliance with its anti-bot policies.
Despite these claims, Davido’s 5ive has continued to achieve record-breaking success.
The album recorded over 15 million streams on its first day, making it the second-biggest global opening day for an African album.
Within its first week, it amassed 27.69 million streams on Spotify Nigeria alone.
As of now, 5ive has surpassed 100 million streams on the platform, an achievement few African artists have reached in such a short time.
Additionally, no official Spotify charts, Nigerian music data platforms, or major music industry sources have reported a deduction of 18 million streams.
