Nigerian gospel singer and pastor Nathaniel Bassey has surpassed one billion views on YouTube, becoming the first African gospel artist reported to achieve the milestone on the video-sharing platform.
Figures from YouTube analytics tracking platforms Social Blade and ReachRanking showed that Bassey’s official channel, Nathaniel Bassey Main, had recorded approximately 1.014 billion views and 5.24 million subscribers as of Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026.
The achievement comes more than 15 years after the channel was created on March 4, 2011, and follows the growing international popularity of his music and online worship programme, the Hallelujah Challenge.
The October 2026 edition of the programme contributed to the latest surge in viewership, with its opening session attracting more than four million views.
Its grand finale, the Hallelujah Festival, recorded over 4.3 million views, according to ReachRanking.
Launched in June 2017, the Hallelujah Challenge began as a midnight praise and prayer session on Instagram Live before growing into an international Christian gathering, attracting participants from different countries.
Bassey has also maintained that the programme is not primarily intended to generate revenue.
In November 2025, addressing discussions about monetising its broadcasts, he said: “People are dragging me because I didn’t monetise my YouTube channel for the Hallelujah Challenge.
"I won’t monetise it; God didn’t tell me to.”
Beyond the online prayer programme, Bassey is known for gospel songs including Imela, Onise Iyanu, Olowogbogboro, Yahweh Sabaoth and Jesus Iye.
He is also a trumpeter, songwriter and music producer, and serves as a pastor at The Oasis, the youth church of the Redeemed Christian Church of God’s The King’s Court in Lagos.
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