Tems becomes the first Nigerian artist to debut at #1 on Billboard 100

Nigerian afrobeats artists Tems and Wizkid have been racking in impressive firsts for over a year now since they both properly exploded onto the global scene last year with their hit single, “Essence”.

Billboard shared the most recent major accomplishment last night when she posted that “Wait For U”, a song by Future featuring Drake and Tems, had debuted at No 1 on this week's Billboard Hot 100.

"@1Future, @Drake and @temsbaby's ‘Wait For You’ debuts at No.1 on this week's #Hot100 💯," posted @Billboard.

The chart blends all-genre US streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data.

“Wait For U” is from Future’s new album “I Never Liked You”, which also debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Afrobeats commentator Joey Akan shared on Twitter: "Congratulations to Tems, for being the first Nigerian artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“The fact that her record was sampled to get here, continues to prove that our only problem in the past was access and distribution. We have world-beating music right here!"

Congratulations to Tems, for being the first Nigerian artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The fact that her record was sampled to get here, continues to prove that our only problem in the past was access and distribution.

We have world-beating music right here!
— Joey Akan (@JoeyAkan) May 10, 2022

Last year, was filled with landmark moments for Tems, not least achieving gold status in the US for her feature on Drake's Certified “Lover Boy” hit “Fountains” and became the first Nigerian artist (alongside Wizkid) to reach platinum-selling status in the US for “Essence”.

The two were pictured together performing the song last night at the Broccoli City Festival in Washington DC a few hours after the latest Billboard charts were announced.

"Wizkid and tems performs Essense at #BroccoliCityFestival," shared @celeblovebigwiz.