Tems’ debut album Born In The Wild has surpassed 900 million streams on Spotify, making it the first of her projects to hit the mark on the platform.
The album came out on June 7, 2024, eighteen tracks deep, with Asake on “Get It Right” and J. Cole closing things out on “Free Fall.” By the time it dropped, the anticipation had been building for a while. Tems had already won a Grammy, performed at Coachella, written for Beyoncé and Rihanna, and racked up hundreds of millions of streams without a debut album to her name. Born In The Wild was her finally putting it all in one place, on her terms. Is Tems the Biggest Musical Export from Africa?
This project crossing 900 million streams was always expected, but it does not take away the significance. This feat puts her alongside a select few Nigerian artists who have cleared the same threshold on Spotify: Wizkid, Burna Boy (twice), Rema, Asake, Ayra Starr, and Omah Lay. Not a long list.
There are no surprising names on this list, as these are artists whose music do not just peak and fade but possess serious listener retention long after release cycles end.
Born In The Wild fits that pattern. It was not carried by one massive single or a viral moment. It travelled on the strength of the body of work itself, which is the harder and more meaningful way to accumulate numbers like this. Tems “Born in the Wild” Becomes First Nigerian Female Album to Spend 90 Weeks on Billboard World Albums Chart
This is her second project approaching the billion stream mark, alongside “FOR BROKEN EARS” which is on 800 million+ streams. With her ever increasing monthly listeners, that round figure is just a finger top away.