No one is serving bops like Ayra Starr right now. Our sabi girl has been steady giving us back-to-back hits since 2021, and now, she drops her sophomore album, The Year I Turned 21, in less than 24 hours.
Since AI likes to prove it knows shit, we decided to put it to the test and asked it to rank Ayra’s biggest songs since her debut single, Away.
Diamond in The Rough (DITR)
AI decided to start with the most soul-searching number on this list. Released in 2021 as one of the singles off her self-titled EP, Ayra described this song as “An Ode to Gen Z”. It’s the kind of vulnerable track you’ll put on if you’ve exhausted your “God abeg” bundle as a young person living in Nigeria.
Sare
If you ever loved Orere Elejigbo by the Lijadu sisters, then you’d have been among those who were stunned into wonderment when Ayra sampled the song and put her spin to it in Sare, another song off her debut EP. This song is so fire, and it gave us a taste of what Sabi Girl had planned for the future. In almighty 2024, we can’t complain that it has a spot on this list.
Fashion Killer
Have you ever seen a bad bitch who doesn’t burn you because of how dangerously hot she is? This bad bitch can’t relate, and this was exactly Ayra Starr’s message to the girlies in Fashion Killer. Off her debut EP, it remains an anthem in fashion shows across Africa. Ayra did that, and it appears AI realises the real by placing this song on this spot.
Beggie Beggie
Ayra has had many successful collabos since she blew up, but who can ever forget her insane run with C-Kay on Beggie Beggie? If Away was the “Men are trash” anthem, this track off Ayra’s 19 and Dangerous debut album was the reminder that women can in fact be desperate lovers who want all the TLC from a man. With over 10m YouTube views today, it definitely deserves to be on this list.
Away
Is it us or is artificial intelligence actually doing a thing with this ranking? Away had a mad grip on the girlies in 2021, and was the sickest “Men are trash” anthem at the time. With rebellious lyrics like “You can never be the man I stan, You can never be the one for me. Take away your troubles. And leave me be,” Ayra ate so bad.
Away made Ayra one of the resident “landlords” of the Apple Music chart in Nigeria, butting heads with the big three. The song’s official music video currently has over 11 million YouTube views.
Rush
If there’s any Ayra Starr song that bangs with the same level of infectiousness when it dropped and now, it’ll have to be Rush. In arguably her biggest hit to date, Ayra reminds us that we should focus our energy on chasing that paper and forget the haters, with lines like “Me no getty time for the hate and the bad energy. Got my mind on my money” And boy, did we listen? Rush had such a successful run that it made history as the first solo song by a Nigerian female artist to hit 300 million views on YouTube.
Bloody Samaritan
We’ve all been waiting to see how Chat GPT will move for this spot, and it looks like it understood the assignment. Three years after Ayra blessed us with this, if Bloody Samaritan comes on right now, no one can look you in the eyes to yarn nonsense. With lines like “I’m a ticking dynamite” and “Them no fit kill my vibe”, it’s the self-empowerment anthem we didn’t know we needed.
The lead single off her 2021 debut album, 19 & Dangerous, shot Ayra into the global music space, with the iconic Kelly Rowland hopping on a remix. AI knows you can’t make a list of Ayra’s iconic songs and not include this one.
If we task Chat GPT in another year or two, Commas, Rhythm and Blues, and Sability all 2022 to 2024 songs, should better make the list.
Take this quiz: Only True Starrs Can Match 8/10 Ayra Starr Lyrics To The Song
