Nigerian star Tems earned two new music certifications on Wednesday October 4, 2023 for the singles Higher and Free Mind from her “For Broken Ears” debut EP.
Free Mind was the third single from the EP and is now certified Platinum in the US by the Recording Industry Association (RIAA) for selling one million streams and sales equivalent units. While the guitar driven Higher is certified Gold for selling 500,000.
Tems produced both songs with additional co-production by Omeiza on Free Mind which secured the 5th position on Billboard’s new Afrobeats Songs chart in April 2022.
The song peaked at number 1 on the US Afrobeats chart in late June and later, in October 2022, reached No. 46 on the Billboard Hot 100 two months after it was officially released as a single on August 9, 2022, and impacting US rhythmic contemporary radio.
The 28 year old is the first African woman to earn a solo Platinum single in the U.S. On the song she confesses about having ‘peace that you cannot buy’ over the recurring bass patterns every four bars. She reflects and explores issues of mental health then ultimately embracing the tranquility that comes with having a “Free Mind.” The song has surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify.
The song also entered the US R&B Songs chart at number 5 and reached number 22 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. “Free Mind” also entered the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at number 28, eventually reaching number 1 after 33 weeks, making it only the second song to achieve this feat. In the 23rd week of 2022, it secured the 60th position on the South African Local & International Streaming Chart Top 100. On the year end Billboard Afrobeats Songs Chart Year it came in at No. 4 on and No. 27 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Meanwhile the guitar driven “Higher” became the sample for Future’s No. 1 Billboard single “I’ll Wait For You” featuring Drake and Tems.
The Nigerian Alté song is co-pruduced by Tems and Tejiri Akpoghene and has surpassed 80 million streams on Spotify.
Tems is now the most certified African female artist in the US with her feature on ‘Essence’ by Wizkid and “I’ll Wait For U both being certified 3x Platinum as of November 11 and November 30 2022 respectively.
