Tems and Tyla Join Spotify’s Billions Club

Two African artists have joined Spotify’s Billions Club this week. Nigerian singer Tems joined the distinguished list for her contribution to American rap artist Future’s “WAIT FOR U,” which also features Canadian superstar Drake. Pop-piano princess Tyla became the first African artist to reach the billion streams milestone with a solo effort, for her 2023 smash hit “Water.”

As routine as it has become in these conversations, it’s still impossible to understate the role of streaming in the global reach of pop music by African artists. Spotify especially has been instrumental, creating dedicated playlists and programming for Afrobeats and amapiano, while also expanding its footprint on the continent.

Of course, all of it is traceable to “One Dance,” Drake’s megahit featuring Nigerian singer Wizkid and Filipino artist Kyla. It was the first song to hit a billion streams on Spotify, a milestone helped by its dalliance with Afrobeats (and dancehall). While it foreshadowed subsequent years of Afrobeats’ growth as a major part of the global pop music landscape, it still took some time for a song by an African artist to reach that milestone.

There are now 887 songs that have accrued over a billion streams on Spotify, a very tiny fraction of the millions of songs on the streaming platform. It points to how difficult it is for a song to reach that coveted number. A quick scroll through the Billions Club playlist doesn’t reveal any trends beyond the fact that these are incredible songs people really, really like.

Expectedly, there are the recent pop smashes like Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” and The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” and rap slappers like Kendrick Lamar’s “HUMBLE” and J. Cole’s “No Role Modelz.” What’s perhaps even more striking is the significant amount of older songs on the list, many predating the prominence of streaming by years and decades. This contingent includes Coolio’s rap classic “Gangsta’s Paradise,” MAGIC!’s reggae-pop fare “Rude,” Toto’s mid-1970s hit “Africa,” Coldplay’s arena rock classic “Viva La Vida,” and many more.

The first song on the Billions Club to be headlined by an African artist was Rema’s “Calm Down.” Originally released in early 2022 as the lead single to the Nigerian superstar’s debut album, Rave & Roses, the remix with American Mexican singer Selena Gomez, released months after, gained stronger traction months later. The remix peaked at No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in June 2023, and it crossed the billion streams threshold on Spotify less than three months later.

Chart success is not a guarantee that a song will reach a billion streams (songs like Frank Ocean’s “Pink + White” and Tame Impala’s “The Less I Know the Better” weren’t huge chart successes) but it definitely plays a huge role in reaching the milestone.

Future’s “WAIT FOR YOU,” which samples Tems’ “Higher” as its hook, debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, meanwhile, Tyla’s “Water” peaked inside the top ten of the chart nearly six months after its release. “Water” has also hit the top of the U.S. Billboard Afrobeats chart, where it stayed for 55 non-consecutive weeks.

Similar to “Calm Down,” Tyla’s hit song also got a remix, this time with American rap artist Travis Scott. However, it can be argued that the remix didn’t contribute that much to the uber-popularity of “Water.” Unlike Rema, it’s the original version of Tyla’s smash hit that crossed into the billion streams territory.

It’s remarkable that, this week, Africa doubled its number of representatives on Spotify’s exclusive club, perhaps even more special that it’s two women – with Tyla joining Tems days after the Nigerian singer became the first African female artist to reach the milestone. It’s not so lonely at the top after all.