"Peru" is a song by

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

singer

Fireboy DML Adedamola Oyinlola Adefolahan (born 5 February 1996), known professionally as Fireboy DML, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. In 2018, he signed a record deal with YBNL Nation, a record label founded by rapper Olamide. His debut studio album, ...

. It was released on 20 July 2021, through

YBNL Nation Yahoo Boy No Laptop Nation, popularly known as YBNL Nation or simply YBNL, is an independent record label founded by Olamide in 2012. In 2020, ''Billboard Magazine'' named YBNL as one of "the Gatekeepers" of the Nigerian music industry. Histo ...

, and distributed by

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

. "Peru" was written by Fireboy DML, Ivory Scott, & Kolten Perine and produced by

Shizzi Oluwaseyi Akerele, popularly known as Shizzi, is a Nigerian platinum record producer, disc jockey and songwriter. Music career 2009–2015: Early life and career Shizzi started out as a drummer in church. He achieved recognition for his work on ...

& Perine. On 23 December 2021, a reworked version of "Peru" was released, in collaboration with English singer-songwriter

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

. The music video for the version with Sheeran was released on 24 December 2021. An additional remix, featuring rappers

21 Savage Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph (born October 22, 1992), known professionally as 21 Savage, is an American-British rapper. Born in London and raised in Atlanta, he began his recording career in 2013 and released three independent mixtapes to regiona ...

and

Blxst Matthew Dean Burdette (born September 17, 1992), known professionally as Blxst (pronounced "blast"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles, California. He signed with Red Bull Records to release his debu ...

was also later released. The song was nominated at the 7th annual African Entertainment Awards USA for Song of the Year. The song is not about the country of

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, but rather a reference to Nigerian singer

Peruzzi The Peruzzi family were bankers of Florence, among the leading families of the city in the 14th century, before the rise to prominence of the Medici. Their modest antecedents stretched back to the mid 11th century, according to the family's gen ...

; the

government of Peru The Republic of Peru is a unitary state with a multi-party semi-presidential system. The current government was established by the 1993 Constitution of Peru. The government is composed of three branches, being executive, judicial, and legislat ...

nonetheless reacted positively to the song on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

Background

After the song garnered popularity and reached number one on the

UK Afrobeats Singles Chart The UK Afrobeats Singles Chart is a record chart compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 20 most popular singles in the afrobeats and afroswing genres. The chart is compiled by the OCC from digital ...

, Fireboy reached out to Sheeran for a remix through the founder of SB.TV,

Jamal Edwards Jamal Brendan Edwards (24 August 1990 – 20 February 2022) was an English music entrepreneur, DJ and founder of the online R&B/Hip-Hop platform SB.TV. Edwards was an ambassador for the Prince's Trust, a youth charity which helps young peopl ...

. On 11 February 2022, he released the official remix of "Peru", with featured vocals from

and

, through

Empire Distribution Empire Distribution, Records and Publishing Inc. (stylized as EMPIRE) is an independent American record label, distribution and publishing company founded in 2010 by Ghazi Shami. Based in San Francisco, EMPIRE has offices in New York, London, ...

for

Music video

On 6 August 2021, Fireboy released the music video for "Peru". The visual sees Fireboy lounging around the streets of the US, seen in the studio, skydiving and trying out dishes. The visual was directed by Mariano Valentino, with additional footage shot by Dakota Lim, and Diego Pina. The visual was edited by Ryan Corr. The new version, music video featuring

, was released on 24 December 2021. Directed by Gabriella Kingsley, and shot in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, United Kingdom. The music video reached 1.9 million views, less than 24 hours after its releases. On 21 December 2021, Fireboy shared a short clip on his social platforms, singing "Peru" with Sheeran.

Accolades

Commercial performance

"Peru" peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, and number one on

. It would eventually spend 22 consecutive weeks in the top 10, tying "

Shape of You "Shape of You" is a song by English singer Ed Sheeran. It was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the lead single, double lead singles from his third studio album ''÷ (album), ÷'' (2017), along with "Castle on the Hill". The Dancehall pop, ...

" and " Bad Habits" as Sheeran's longest-charting songs in the top 10. On 2 August, it debuted at number ten on the ''TurnTable'' Top 50. On 4 August, the song peaked at number 14 on the ''TurnTable'' Top 50 Airplay chart. On the same day, it peaked at number five on ''TurnTable'' Top 50 streaming songs chart. On 26 August, "Peru" peaked at number 26 on ''TurnTable'' TV Top songs chart. It was named on the

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

Top Songs of 2021 in Nigeria. "Peru" is Fireboy's most popular record with over 20.6 million

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

streams as of December 2021.

Track listing

*Digital download and streaming #"Peru" – 2:31 *Digital download, streaming and CD single #"Peru" (with

) – 3:07 *Digital download and streaming #"Peru" (Acoustic) (with Ed Sheeran) – 2:52 *Digital download and streaming #"Peru" (Remix) (with

and

) – 3:06 *Digital download and streaming #"Peru" ( R3hab Remix) (with Ed Sheeran) – 2:29

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* * * {{Ed Sheeran songs 2021 singles 2021 songs Fireboy DML songs Empire Distribution singles YBNL Nation singles Song recordings produced by Shizzi