South African singer-songwriter Tyla has made a resounding debut on the US Billboard Afrobeats Chart, dated April 6, with her self-titled album, “TYLA.”
Released on March 22, the album has quickly risen to dominate the chart, lodging seven spots within the top ten.
Leading the charge is the lead single “Water,” which clinched the top position, accompanied by an impressive array of tracks: “Truth or Dare” (#3) “Art” (#4), “No.1,” (#5) “Jump,” (#6) “Safer,” (#8) and “On My Body” (#10).
The only other non-Tyla tracks in the top ten were Rema’s “Calm Down” (#2), Tems’ “Me & U” (#7) and the still viral “Tshwala Bam” (#9) by South Africa’s TitoM and Yuppe.
This achievement places Tyla among the elite ranks of artists with multiple tracks simultaneously charting in the top tier of the US Afrobeats Chart.
Overall, she debuted seven songs on the charts, with “Breathe Me” and “Priorities” barely scraping the top ten at #11 and #13 respectively-marking a total of nine songs from her album charting simultaneously.
Tyla matched her Afrobeats charts success with global success at the Billboard World Albums Chart as evidenced by her album’s debut at number one on the Billboard World Albums Chart, marking her first entry on this chart. She also broke into the top 30 of the Billboard Artist 100 in the United States, landing at #23 and becoming the highest-charting African artist on the chart.
Tyla is no stranger to chart domination as evidenced by the unbridled success she found last year with her break-out single “Water,” an ampiano-inspired hit that reached the top 10 on the U.S. Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and top 5 in the U.K.
This track’s popularity -amplified by the #WaterChallenge- contributed to Tyla’s Grammy win last month, solidifying her status in the international music scene.
The 15-track album “TYLA,” which features collaborations with prominent artists including U.S. rapper Travis Scott and Nigerian singer Tems, has been met with critical acclaim. Pitchfork awarded the album an impressive 8.0 out of 10.0
The album is an accumulation of different genres and sub-genres such as Afrobeats, Amapiano and R&B with the singer herself describing the project as “a melting pot of all the influences” of her childhood and youth.