Top Nigerian musicians, Burna Boy and Tems, have become the first African Artistes to have 8 entries on the Billboard Hot 100.
This is according to statistics from the Billboard Hot 100, the music industry standard record chart in the United States for the most popular current songs across all genres, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), online streaming, and radio airplay in the U.S.
Burna Boy and Tems, who missed out on winning the recent Grammys, have pushed themselves to become relevant, thus having numerous collaborations with foreign artists in the global music space.
At the Billboard chart, J Cole’s Bunce Road Blues ft. Tems & Future debuted at #34, while J Cole’s Only You ft. Burna Boy debuted at #73.
Also, Burna Boy is the first African artiste to have a song on the Billboard Hot 100 for 6 consecutive years. The songs include
Loved By You — 2021, Last Last — 2022,
SOTOTW & Talibans II — 2023, Just Like Me & We Pray — 2024, WGFT — 2025, and
Only You in this year, 2026
It is interesting to note that Burna Boy also has the Most Entries for an African Artiste on the UK Singles Chart (25) and the Canadian Hot 100 (12).
Indeed, timing and preparation, apart from hard work, are key to excelling in the music industry. Temilade Openiyi, Tems’ real name, has not spent up to a decade in the industry as she rose to prominence after being featured on Wizkid’s 2020 single ‘Essence’, which peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart following the release of the remix version with Justin Bieber
The 2025 Grammy award winner for Best African Music Performance for her hit song “Love Me JeJe, has earned 3 Billboard HOT 100 Entries in 2026, the most for any African artist this year.
The song entries are in Raindance, What You Need, and Bunce Road Blues
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