Regardless of what anyone thinks, the lifeblood of every long-lasting celebrity or public figure is a fanbase. A dedicated, influential fanbase consistently delivering free publicity, unsolicited advocacy and sales.
Behind every celebrity is a powerful support system composed of their most loyal, active fans. But only a few celebrities have amassed such a huge fanbase that they leave a mark that can’t be ignored.
The thing with large fandoms is, there are positives and negatives. One of the positives for the celebrity is the support system. Even as a fan, knowing there are other people who love someone as much as you do can be comforting. It’s like having an automatic friend because you have a strong uniting force – the celebrity in particular.
The flip side is the sheep mentality. In the eyes of the fandom, the celebrity can do no wrong. Even when they make glaring mistakes, the fandom attempts to quiet the opposing opinion through sheer dominance in numbers. Whether it be a stranger or even one of their own, fandoms don’t hesitate in delivering justice to anyone speaking ill of their celebrity.
That being said, here are some of the most visible and influential fanbases in the Nigerian Entertainment Scene.
The Titans
These are the loyal fans of an ex-BBNaija housemate, Tacha. Even before Tacha Akide went for Big Brother Naija, she was already a small-time influencer who had acquired a certain amount of regular followers, who also patronized her business. When she ventured into the Big Brother Naija House, Tacha was always a source of controversy and endless headlines.
She was known for being straightforward and this endeared to many people. Tacha led the voting polls until she was disqualified from the reality show after a fight with another housemate. If anything, her disqualification sparked a fire that hasn’t died down till now.
The Titans never hesitate to support Tacha, taking on traits of their leader in their outspoken approach to interactions on social media. They have proven their might consistently as no day goes by without a Tacha-related hashtag trending on Twitter. They also defend her staunchly and never let anyone disrespect their alpha. Clearly one of the most powerful fanbases in Nigeria in the 21st Century.
Wizkid FC
Wizkid hit the music scene hard with his debut single ‘Holla At Your Boy’. After that, nothing was the same again. From the release of his debut album Superstar in 2011 till date, Wizkid’s listening audience grew from just Nigeria to people all over the world. And as his music spread, so did his fanbase.
Just like their leader, Wizkid FC are very calm and lowkey. Wizkid is known for his constant social media silence and his fandom, Wizkid FC, takes after him. But in voting, or defending their king, Wizkid FC is a force to reckon with. You dare not speak ill of Wizkid, except you don’t mind the barrage of messages that will definitely come your way.
They also have significant streaming power, evident as his song ‘Smile’ ft H.E.R, which he dropped just a month ago, surpassed two million organic streams on Spotify. Added to that, Wizkid has broken several streaming records and he recently became the first African artiste to surpass two billion streams on streaming platforms. No doubt that they are a powerful fanbase.
The Mercenaries
As their name implies, they act as guards for Mercy, who is the winner of BBNaija Season 4. Mercy Eke stunned the nation when she became the first woman to win the reality TV Show, Big Brother Naija.
While in the house, Mercy won the hearts of many Nigerians with her fun, competitive personality. Her relationship with fellow housemate Ike, which continued even after the end of the show, also stirred a few romantic hearts.
Mercenaries take no prisoner when it comes to protecting the image of their queen. Provoking them is a sure social media death. They also do a pretty good job of keeping her in the spotlight with constant trends. If Mercy were to ever venture into music, we can almost be guaranteed she would have sold-out concerts.
Marlians
Known for the slogan ‘no manners’, Marlians have only one president, artiste Naira Marley. Although Naira Marley had some buzz in the UK as far back as 2015, what pushed the buzz here in Nigeria was his 2017 hit song ‘Issa Goal’ which featured Olamide and Lil Kesh. His blatant support for ‘Yahoo Boys’ and his raunchy videos only made that buzz soar through the roof.
Spurred on by his music and his rebellious image, Marlians are ready to take the world by storm. They thrive off controversies which their leader provides for them in droves. We cannot say that it is accidental as we can see an almost calculative effort on Naira Marley’s part to keep the controversy going. Even to the extent of taunting government officials who have condemned his music.
Just like him, his fans do not have an issue engaging in almost insulting conversations with people who they feel have disrespected their president. Even when the case of plagiarism rose against Lyta – one of the artistes signed to his label, once Naira Marley showed nonchalance towards the case and supported the artiste, Marlians came out in full force to attack anyone who said otherwise.
There are other fandoms who are worthy of honourable mentions like artiste Davido’s fans known as 30B Gang, Burna Boy’s fans and fans of the late great Fela Kuti. Fela’s fans are special, seeing as they cross generations and are not limited to social media. But you know they are there, because pre-COVID-19, The Shrine was always the place to be.
If you think your fav’s fans didn’t get a mention, feel free to shoot us a message on our socials @thenetng and we’ll start up our mega clout generator to assess the fandom’s worth.
