An Updated Ranking of Davido’s Best Albums

In less than 24 hours, music lovers within and beyond the continent will have clicked ‘play’ on Davido’s latest album, the 13-track Oríadé LP. Although not a surprise album, its arrival has still drawn even more fascination than usual. His fifth album, 5ive, released just last year, and barring the 2019-2020 back-to-back runs of A Good Time and A Better Time, OBO hasn’t been known to release projects so close together, or with the relatively doused promotional vigour that’s accompanied album no. 6. Then again, it is Davido; mercurial in a manner that’s seen him hold down a spot at the top of the food chain for almost 15 years. If anyone is willing to test new ground, it’s the ‘Baddest.’ Even when said tests don’t work out positively. 

Just a few weeks shy of the 14th anniversary of his debut album, Omo Baba Olowo: The Genesis, Davido is prepared to share more of his artistry with the world. Lead singles, I Know Who I Be (feat. JAZZWRLD, GL_Ceejay) and the NO11-assisted Gimme Dat Thing, offer a brief insight into what to expect, not so much in terms of sounds—he disclosed in an interview that these are the only dance or 3-step songs on the album—but in terms of the album’s composition: all the pop in Afropop with a sprinkling of deeper subject matter. 

Ahead of Oríadé‘s Friday release, we ranked all five Davido albums from worst to best, accounting for thematic cohesion, cultural impact, production and sequencing, and overall quality. This also updates the previous list from 2023. Read on to find out which album made it to the top spot and why. 

5. Omo Baba Olowo: The Genesis (2012)

Davido’s debut is iconic for a number of reasons: that distinct early 2010s album cover with an admixture of fonts, OBO shirtless with a neck chain, sunglasses, and flipped snapback, and floating gold bars for whatever reason; classic songs like All Of You, Back When, Ekuro, and Dami Duro; and the firm grip of nostalgia from times when the Naira had value. It’s also his least musically accomplished project, harshly engineered to maximise vocoders and EDM production. This album is technically why Davido got stick for  his project-crafting prowess for years. Especially when his Sony Music EP, Son of Mercy, failed to tick desired boxes four years later. The singles were working anyway, so there wasn’t much to be concerned about.

4. 5ive (2025)

Many will disagree with this placement. Some might even be prompted to take it up with the authorities—whoever those might be. And on another day, maybe this would be in third place. Who knows? But at this moment in time, 5ive is right where it should be. Arriving two years after the ambitious Grammy-nominated Timeless, 5ive was weighed down by excessive expectations and a rollout suggesting a possible subversion of the singer’s brand of club-ready Afropop. Still, it proved to be a fair album, housing a moving confessional deep cut like Lately, the body-positivity anthem 10 Kilo, the Mo’Hits-Afrobeat hybrid of Nuttin Dey, a slew of solid romantic records (Offa Me with Victoria Monet, Be There Still, and Holy Water with Victony and Musa Keys), mega hits in Awuke  (with YG Marley) and the multiple chart-topping With You (feat. Omah Lay). The album’s greatest shortcoming are its lengthy run-time and unnecessary fillers, bugs that have plagued basically every Davido album from inception—all contain 17 tracks without exception. But again, there’s the redemptive quality of track 13, Lately. Some sins can be forgiven. 

3. A Better Time (2020)

The second half of 2020 was a nightmare for young Nigerians in terms of the compounding effects of the lockdown and the Nigerian Government’s actions pre and post 20 October, 2020. A silver lining through the chaos, however, was the music, with the Big 3 all dropping LPs within a 4-month span: Burna Boy with Twice As Tall in August, Wizkid with Made in Lagos in October—postponing in honour of the #EndSARS victims—and Davido with A Better Time. 

Six years later, only two of these three recur in conversations. You know which two. Definitely not the album that tried too hard at a crossover and somehow wasted a verse from Nasir bin Oludara Jones. However, seeing as A Better Time is one of the greatest Naijapiano albums of all time, it gets a pass. Heaven. Mayorkun on The Best. CKay’s work on La La. Sho Madjozi’s fantastic verse on I Got A Friend. And then the deep cuts. The hits. Pon pon masterclasses on Jowo and Mebe. The missive hurled Burna’s way on FEM, which itself became an #EndSARS anthem. A fitting commemoration for Davido’s late son, if you asked us. 

2. Timeless (2023)

At no. 2, we have the album that had so much to say, and somehow, despite fielding a world of features, managed to stick the landing. From affirmative declarations on the intro, OVER DEM, to the celebratory Amapiano of outro, Champion Sound, this was Davido ascending to another level of hit-making eminence as DMW 2.0 took off. Short, precise heat-seeking missiles ready to dominate the radio but also niche records like gyration-reggae FOR THE ROAD and pon-pon E PAIN ME. It’s the album that, till date, has internet A&Rs debating what should and shouldn’t have been pushed for awards and to the radio. Teams FEEL vs KANTE and all that parasocial nonsense. Timeless is arguably Davido’s most cohesive project, sonically. It’s a shame the awards didn’t roll in. 

1. A Good Time (2019)

The first instalment in the Time trilogy is the peak of Davido’s artistry. How about that for irony? In 2019, the DMW boss decided enough was enough, climaxing an impressive run of hits—crossover, label hits, local hits; you name them—with an album that was exactly as its artwork suggested: a grand supper. A Good Time is one of those albums you buy on vinyl once you start making vinyl money. Or at least tape a printout of to your studio wall to signify being in-tune with the culture. It’s to the point where referring to specific tracks won’t cut it, where one can almost not identify a filler (Company for all its blandness is fantastically produced, horns and all). It’s the definitive Davido album, and the one that best captures his highest form.