Styled in hip-hop, it preceded the release of his debut studio album Trouble (2004), which became his commercial breakthrough and spawned the R&B-styled follow-up, "Lonely" the following year.

The songs simultaneously peaked at numbers one and two on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively, along with two of his singles released the following year: "Don't Matter" and his guest performance on Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape"; this made Akon the first solo artist to concurrently hold the top two positions on the chart twice.

Along with his solo career, Akon has guest performed on 23 Billboard Hot 100 entries for other artists—such activity earned him two additional Grammy Award nominations.

Akon founded the record labels Konvict Muzik in 2004 and KonLive Distribution in 2007, through which he has signed commercially successful acts including Lady Gaga, T-Pain, R. City, Kardinal Offishall, Jeffree Star and French Montana, among others.

[15] At age seven, he and his family relocated to Union City, New Jersey,[16][17] splitting his time between the United States and Senegal until settling in Newark.

[citation needed] When he and his younger brother, Bu Thiam, reached high school, his parents left them on their own in Jersey City and moved the rest of the family to Atlanta, Georgia.

[21] In an interview with HitQuarters SRC A&R Jerome "Knobody" Foster, he said, "What caught my attention right away was "Lonely", and I said, 'this kid is official – this is a huge record.

"[21] Foster and SRC CEO Steve Rifkind immediately boarded a private plane to Atlanta to meet the young artist.

A year later in 2005, he made his first critically acclaimed guest appearance on Young Jeezy's debut album Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, with the song "Soul Survivor".

On October 5, 2006, Akon broke a record on the Hot 100, as he achieved the largest climb in the chart's 48-year-history with "Smack That" jumping from number 95 to 7.

Aliaune is the upscale version, or high-end line, for males and females, which includes blazers, denim jeans and other items.

During an interview with Tavis Smiley, Akon said that Jackson had planned on a high-profile release including a music video until the track had leaked.

[29] He also co-wrote and produced Leona Lewis' single "Forgive Me" and worked with X Factor 2008 winner Alexandra Burke on her debut album.

IsThereSomethingICanDo.com, launched On March 25, 2009, The social action collaboration project between the artists Peter Buffett and Akon has partnered with DoSomething.org, to coincide with the release of "Blood Into Gold".

A single, "Angel", produced by Guetta, was released in September 2010, which peaked at number 56 on the US Billboard charts, significantly lower than his previous outings.

In November 2015, Akon announced via his official website that he was planning to release his fourth album Stadium in four versions: Stadium-Island, Stadium-Urban, Stadium-World and Stadium-House.

[44] In 2018, he collaborated with reggaeton singer Ozuna on the bilingual single "Coméntale", the first time that Akon sang in Spanish in a Latin song.

On September 6, 2019, Akon released "Cómo No" featuring Mexican-American singer Becky G, as the lead single from El Negreeto.

Akon was included as a guest appearance in Pitbull's "I Believe That We Will Win (World Anthem)" official music video, in which all proceeds from the song's sales, streaming and views are being donated to Feeding America and the Anthony Robbins Foundation as relief to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

[58] Phase 1 of construction, which was due to begin in 2023 and be completed in 2026, is to include roads, a hospital, residences, hotels, a police station, a waste facility, a school, and a solar power plant.

"[60] A suit has been brought against Akon in the United States by Devyne Stephens for a debt of almost 4 million dollars borrowed as part of the implementation of his futuristic city project.

[67] Akon confirmed in an August 2007 interview with the Polish website INTERIA.PL that he worked on a movie called "Cocaine Cowboys", which tells the story of Jon Roberts, the main pilot of the Medellín Cartel.

He collaborated with music director duo Vishal–Shekhar and the English and Hindi lyrics of "Chammak Challo" as a part of the soundtrack for the 2011 Bollywood film Ra.One.

In 2014, he starred alongside Hayden Christensen and Adrien Brody in the action movie, American Heist,[70] directed by Sarik Andreasyan.

He stated on the show that he is a fan of the English Premier League club Chelsea F.C..[citation needed] In April 2007, Akon drew criticism for an onstage act that included simulated sex with Danah Alleyne — a 15-year-old girl at the time who is the daughter of a pastor and sister of Crime Watch host Ian Alleyne — at the Zen Nightclub in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, as part of a fake contest, despite the club's statement to have a 21-years-and-over age requirement.

[80] However, Universal Music Group did not take action against Akon, but rather simply ordered the video clip be removed from video-sharing site YouTube due to copyright infringement.

[81] Right wing political commentators Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham, and Bill O'Reilly criticized Akon for "degrading women".

[84] The Electronic Frontier Foundation joined Malkin in contesting the removal as a misuse of copyright law, citing fair use.

In 2010, Buddhist groups in Sri Lanka vehemently protested a planned concert by Akon, saying his music video with Guetta for "Sexy Chick" insulted Buddhism because of the Buddha statue that can be seen several times in the background.

However, in April 2008, The Smoking Gun website challenged his claim with court records and interviews with detectives involved in Akon's case, concluding that he was not convicted of any crime and did not serve time in prison.