Nigeria, Nov. 2 -- Nigerian gospel singer and pastor Nathaniel Bassey has passed 1 billion views on his official YouTube channel, Nathaniel Bassey Main, making him the first African gospel artist to reach that figure.

The channel showed 1,014,544,577 views and 5.24 million subscribers on 1 and 2 November 2026. Pastor Nathaniel, who is 45, opened the channel on 4 March 2011.

The count passed one billion during the October 2026 edition of the Hallelujah Challenge, an online worship and prayer programme he started in 2017. Sessions run at midnight, and people in many countries join the live broadcasts. Millions more watched the recordings.

Data from Social Blade and ReachRanking shows the biggest recent draws. The Hallelujah Festival fin...