When it comes to the Nigerian music industry, there is the famed Big 3—Wizkid, Davido, and Burna Boy—but they have held the spot for way too long. Even though Rema sang that it’s no longer the Big 3 but a Big 4; the person who should take the number a spot, or have one person fall off for her, is Tems.
She’s often overlooked, but has she dethroned at least one person from the Big 3 position?
All-Time Spotify Streams
Davido, Wizkid, and Burna Boy started their careers in the early 2010s; cumulatively, they ought to be doing way better than Tems, whose first EP dropped in 2020. Yet, Tems surpasses them monthly and even cumulatively for one of them. 
Tems
Tems has over 6.7 billion Spotify streams (including features and credits). “WAIT FOR U” (with Drake) has over 1.2 billion streams. Additionally, her most recent album, “Born In The Wild”(2024), crossed 700 million streams in less than two years. Moreover, she currently has 29.2 million monthly Spotify listeners.
Davido
As of January 2026, Davido has surpassed 3.5 billion total streams on Spotify across all credits. However, his monthly Spotify listeners are only 9.6 million. Tems has double the cumulative streams of Davido and almost 3 times his monthly streams.
Burna Boy
Burna Boy has surpassed 7.8 billion total streams on Spotify across all credits; he also has 23.2 million monthly Spotify listeners.
Wizkid
Even though Wizkid has officially surpassed 10 billion total streams on Spotify across his entire career. He became the first African artist to achieve this milestone as of January 2026, but he only has 14 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
ALSO READ: Wizkid is The First African Artist to Exceed 10 Billion Streams on Spotify
Awards Especially The Most Prestigious Grammy Awards
Tems
Tems has two Grammy Awards (making her the first Nigerian with multiple wins: one in 2023 for ‘Wait For U’ with Drake and Future; in 2025, she won it solo for ‘Love Me Jeje’).
She also has a Billboard Women in Music Award (2024), BET Awards, NAACP Image Awards, and Soul Train Music Awards. She has won these awards multiple times.
Wizkid
Even though Wizkid has the most awards, he has only one Grammy, and it wasn’t even for his own project; it was for his feature with Beyoncé on ‘Brown Skin Girl’.
He has also four BET Awards (the most by an African artist), six MOBO Awards, and three Billboard Music Awards.
Burna Boy
Burna Boy has one Grammy Award (Best Global Music Album for ‘Twice as Tall’). He has won the BET Awards, MOBO Awards, and MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs), but Tems still has more Grammys than he does.
Davido
Davido has been nominated many times for a Grammy Award, but he has never won one; even if he wins one, Tems still has more Grammys than he does. However, Davido has won BET Awards (including Best International Act), MTV Europe Music Awards, MOBO Awards, and NAACP Image Awards.
ALSO READ: Africa’s Most Awarded Artists of 2025: See Who Tops The List
Touring
Touring is one example of how the top three outperform Tems. Burna Boy has sold out the Stade de France in Paris with over 80,000 people, while Wizkid has sold out the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London which seats between 62,000 and 80,000 people.
Davido has sold out numerous stadiums, including the more than 50,000-seat Loftus Versfeld Stadium in South Africa.
Even the 20,000 capacity 02 Arena in London that’s child play to the three of them hasn’t been reserved by Tems for such a large tour yet.
Cultural Relevance
One of the ways people argue is that what they lack in other aspects, they make up for in popularity, fame, and cultural relevance.
For instance, Davido has 31. 3 million followers on Instagram; he is among the top 3 most followed African on the platform. Davido is famous and influential in the truest sense of it.
However, when you look at it from the number, hasn’t Tems done better than these three men in several respects? It seems like the Big 3 is an all-boys club—a club established and antiquated that cannot be changed.
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