Tems’ ‘Born in the Wild’ Makes Striking Debut on U.S. Afrobeats Songs Chart
The singer-songwriter’s highly anticipated debut album lands 11 tracks on the chart. Songs from Tems’ ‘Born in the Wild’ album illuminate Billboard’s U.S. Afrobeats Songs Chart.
On the Afrobeats Songs chart dated June 22, the artist’s genre-blending debut LP makes its first chart appearances. Released by Since ’93/RCA Records, the album begins with 16,000. The album earned equivalent album units in the U.S. during the tracking week of June 7-13, as reported by Luminate. It debuted at No. 5 on the Top R&B Albums chart and No. 56 on the Billboard 200, encompassing all genres.
.@temsbaby’s ‘Born in the Wild’ Bursts Onto U.S. Afrobeats Songs Chart https://t.co/DB9Xqvzi0k
— billboard (@billboard) June 20, 2024
The latest single from “Born in the Wild,” titled “Love Me Jeje,” rises from 4th to 3rd place, achieving the album’s highest chart position on the U.S. streaming and sales charts. On the Afrobeats Songs chart, it also emerges as the album’s top-streamed track this week, amassing 3.2 million official U.S. streams, marking a 32% increase from the previous period. “Free Fall,” featuring J. Cole, begins at No. 5 and secures the highest of 11 Born in the Wild debuts. Here’s a full recap of the album’s placements on U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart this week, including two previous releases – the aforementioned “Jeje” and “Me & U” at No. 6, after it peaked at No. 3 last October. No. 3, “Love Me Jeje”
No. 5, “Free Fall,” featuring J. Cole
No. 6, “Me & U”
No. 12, “Wickedest”
No. 13, “Get It Right,” featuring Asake
No. 15, “Born in the Wild”
No. 16, “Unfortunate”
No. 17, “Gangsta”
No. 20, “Forever”
No. 22, “Hold On”
No. 23, “Turn Me Up”
No. 24, “T-Unit”
No. 25, “You in My Face”
In addition to her own album’s avalanche, Tems claims one more appearance on U.S. Afrobeats Songs through a feature on Tyla’s “No. 1.” The prior No. 5-peaking hit slips 13-18, due to the Born entries. Born in the Wild represents Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems’ debut full-length album. Anticipation for this body of work had been building among fans and music industry insiders following her international breakthrough as a featured artist on Wizkid’s “Essence.” The remix of the song with Justin Bieber propelled it to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2021, marking the first top 10 hit for an Afrobeats genre track. Subsequently, Tems garnered notable collaborations, including an appearance on Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” track “Fountains” in 2021. Her collaboration with Drake on Future’s “Wait for U” debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in May 2022. Concurrently, Tems’ song “Free Mind,” from her 2020 EP “From Broken Ears,” began gaining increased streams, leading to an official radio campaign for the track two years after its release. This effort resulted in a significant achievement—“Free Mind” dominated the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart for 22 weeks in 2022-23 and was named the chart’s No. 1 title on the year-end recap for 2023.
Oluchi Okwuego
