Gims on the verge of breaking Johnny Hallyday's record

2025 is the year of Gims . After his flourishing period in Sexion d'Assaut almost ten years ago under the name Maître Gims, the Congolese, who presents himself as "the best French-speaking rapper", has returned to the forefront in recent months. His album Le Nord se souviens: L'Odyssée , released on February 20, 2025, continues to break records. With more than 420,000 copies sold, it is already certified platinum and should soon reach the diamond disc milestone (500,000 sales).

At the same time, Gims equaled the performance of an icon of French song, namely Johnny Hallyday , by placing Le Nord se souviens at the top of the Top Albums France for the twelfth week since its release. A record since the era of music streaming in 2016. If the winner of the Victoire de la Musique for best male artist of 2024 manages to climb to the top of the ranking for another week, he will dethrone "le Taulier", who had achieved this feat with Mon pays c'est l'amour in 2018.

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Gims - Sky (2024)

Gims, born Gandhi Djuna, declared on his social networks that he would "take over . " "It's strong ," he wrote. "Great respect, legend, thank you. I promise to live up to it, Johnny." However, he remains far from a record set by Celine Dion , who placed her album D'eux at the top of the charts in 1995 for 44 weeks. The album, which features Pour que tu m'aimes encore , is the best-selling in history in France.

Also read: Gims, Dadju and Fally Ipupa at Bercy in support of victims of the war in Congo

This week, Gims sold some 12 894 additional sales of his album, according to figures from Billboard France . This is almost twice as much as his pursuer Jul with D&P à vie , which totaled 6768 sales. He also placed first in the charts with the 529,000 sales of his single Parisienne, in collaboration with La Mano 1.9, one of the hits of this summer 2025. Call your girlfriend , Air Force Blanche and Tu me rends bête , three other of his songs, ranked in the top 10 of the week in France.

Gims and La Mano 1.9 - Parisienne (2025)

This year, Gims also topped the single charts with his tracks Ciel , Ne sois pas timide , Spider , and Ninao . One of his recent songs, titled Do You Love Me , caught the attention of Laeticia Hallyday , the rocker's latest wife. She posted a comment on a video of the Congolese man lip-syncing his song in front of his swimming pool last July.