Nigerian singer Tems becomes first female African artist to earn a US RIAA Diamond single, as “Wait For U” crosses 11 million units sold.
Nigerian singer Temilade Openiyi, known professionally as Tems, has achieved a historic milestone after her collaborative single “Wait For U” with American rappers Future and Drake was officially certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, an honor awarded to songs that sell over 10 million units in the United States.
Chart Data, a global music monitoring platform, confirmed the song has surpassed that baseline, recording over 11 million units sold in the American music market. That figure makes the certification one of the most decisive in recent Afrobeats crossover history.
Chart Data disclosed the figures via its official X handle, writing the following: “US Certifications (@RIAA): Future (@1future) Feat. @Drake & @temsbaby, WAIT FOR U 11x Platinum (11,000,000).”
With this result, Tems joins Afrobeats star Wizkid as one of only two African artists to achieve a Diamond single certification in the United States. But her place in that pair carries a distinction no other African woman has held before Saturday.
Wizkid previously earned his Diamond certification through his guest appearance on Drake’s global hit “One Dance,” making Drake the common thread connecting both African artists to the RIAA’s highest single honor.
“Wait For U” is a song by Future featuring Drake and Tems, released as the second single from Future’s ninth studio album, I Never Liked You, on May 3, 2022.
Four years after its release, the track has now crossed into the rarefied category of Diamond-certified recordings.
The song debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Future’s second chart-topping single as a lead artist, Drake’s tenth, and Tems’ first number-one hit on the Hot 100. That debut confirmed its commercial scale. Saturday’s RIAA announcement confirmed its endurance.
RIAA awards Diamond status to singles that surpass 10 million certified units through a combination of digital sales and eligible streams. By clearing 11 million, “Wait For U” now sits one million units above the minimum threshold, as gathered by Westtrybe from ChartData figures released Friday.
For Openiyi, the certification builds on a career trajectory that has placed her at the intersection of Afrobeats and mainstream American pop. Her voice appears on a track that now ranks among the most commercially certified singles in United States recording history, a category occupied by very few non-American artists.
Diamond certifications remain uncommon despite the rise of streaming, requiring years of sustained popularity across multiple audiences. Reaching 11 million units in a country where Tems is not a domestic artist places the achievement in sharper relief.
Wizkid’s “One Dance” certification stood alone as the African benchmark for years. Tems now shares that distinction but does so as the first African woman to break into the category, a record that no other female artist from the continent had previously held.
Documents seen by Westtrybe confirm the Chart Data announcement originated on the platform’s verified X account and referenced the RIAA’s official certification database. No separate statement from the RIAA was issued to the press on Saturday.
The song samples Tems’ earlier track “Higher,” drawn from her debut extended play, For Broken Ears, released in 2020, meaning her own catalog provided the sonic foundation for what has now become a Diamond-certified collaboration in the world’s largest single music market.
Tems, Future, and Drake each hold songwriting credits on the record, and the Diamond certification belongs collectively to all three artists. Yet for Nigerian music and Afrobeats specifically, the RIAA’s confirmation on Saturday registers as a generational marker.
The first female African artist to earn a US RIAA Diamond single has now been certified.
