South African music sensation Tyla has made history by debuting on the prestigious Billboard Hot 100 chart with her viral hit song, “Water.”
This achievement comes after the track trended on TikTok for several weeks.
At just 21 years old, Tyla has become the youngest South African musician to ever grace the Billboard Hot 100.
The last South African solo artist to achieve this feat was jazz legend Hugh Masekela 55 years ago.
The Billboard Hot 100 is a well-known music ranking chart in the United States, published weekly.
Tyla’s debut on the chart landed her at number 67, marking her first appearance on this influential list.
Tyla, born and raised in Johannesburg, expressed her excitement on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “I’m a South African girl born and raised in Johannesburg. This is crazy.”
“Water” gained popularity when Tyla, whose full name is Tyla Laura Seethal, began sharing TikTok videos of herself dancing to the song.
The track blends various music genres, including Afrobeats, pop, R&B, and Amapiano, a style of electronic dance music from South Africa.
The infectious song took TikTok by storm and even sparked the viral “water dance challenge,” with over 500,000 videos featuring the track.
This challenge also brought South African dance choreographer Lee-ché Janecke’s Bacardi dance routine to a global audience, incorporating vibrant moves like hip shaking, belly dancing, twerking, and pouring water down the dancer’s back.
One of Tyla’s TikTok dances to her song garnered over 70 million views. Additionally, the song’s music video received over one million views on YouTube within a day of its release on October 6.
This achievement makes Tyla the first South African female artist to achieve such a feat, according to the World Music Awards.
“Water” has accumulated over 3.6 million views on YouTube and boasts 10.7 million monthly Spotify listeners for Tyla.
Furthermore, “Water” has made its mark on other music charts in the US and UK, including the Billboard Afrobeats and R&B charts.
While “Water” has propelled Tyla into mainstream success and cemented her status as one of Africa’s rising musical talents, her previous songs, such as “Been Thinking” and “Girl Next Door” (featuring Nigerian Afrobeats star Ayra Starr), have also enjoyed success.
Earlier this year, Tyla had the honor of being the opening act for Chris Brown’s “Under the Influence” music tour in Europe.
As Tyla continues to ride the wave of success brought by “Water,” she plans to release her first album in November, contributing to the new generation of global musical talents that are putting South Africa and the entire continent on the global music map.