Tems performs at the BET Awards 2026 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on June 28, 2026.
Tems performs at the BET Awards 2026 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on June 28, 2026.
Chicago is where Don Cornelius launched Soul Train more than five decades ago, and it is where this year’s Soul Train Awards are being taped, with Anthony Anderson hosting. Before the show airs on November 27, fans get a vote for the first time in two categories, and one artist appears on both ballots: Tems, the Nigerian singer, songwriter and producer whose “What You Need” has been one of the year’s biggest R&B records on American radio.
BET began rolling out the nominations on Monday, October 5, Billboard reported. Tems is nominated for R&B/Soul Song of the Year with “What You Need” and for Spotify’s RNB X International Artist, and she is the only artist named in both fan-voted fields. Voting closes on October 16.
Two Awards the Fans Will Decide
The format is new. For the first time in the show’s history, fans will determine the winners of two categories, according to The Showbiz Journal and Billboard.
- R&B/Soul Song of the Year: 10 nominees, chosen from songs first released to the public between June 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026. Voting takes place on BET’s Soul Train Awards site.
- Spotify’s RNB X International Artist: seven nominees, inspired by RNB X, Spotify’s flagship R&B playlist, and selected on cultural relevance, streaming performance and overall impact on the genre. Voting takes place inside the Spotify app.
BET describes the international category as a spotlight for artists “pushing the genre beyond borders”. That phrase fits Tems better than almost anyone in the field. Her music has travelled from Nigeria to the top of American charts, which is exactly the journey the category exists to reward.
“We’re thrilled to put the vote in the fans’ hands for the first time,” said Connie Orlando, BET’s executive vice president of specials, music programming and music strategy. “From the biggest songs of the year to the artists taking R&B global, these categories show how far the genre reaches right now, and we can’t wait to see where the votes land.”
What You Need and Its Run on American Radio
“What You Need” is a top five hit on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, Billboard noted in its nominations report. The song, released through Since 93/RCA Records, comes from Love Is a Kingdom, the EP Tems released in November 2025.
Its strongest run has been on radio. In the summer, “What You Need” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, Tems’s fourth leader on that list, Billboard reported. In the same week it won the Greatest Gainer honour on the Adult R&B Airplay chart, climbing 23-16, and held at No. 3 on the combined R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, where its weekly audience rose 12% to 13.1 million.
Radio success across both the mainstream and adult R&B formats is a useful signal for a fan-voted award. It means the song has reached listeners well beyond streaming playlists, which is exactly the broad audience a public vote draws on.
The Field Tems Is Up Against
The R&B/Soul Song of the Year category is crowded with major names. According to The Showbiz Journal, the 10 nominees are:
- Brent Faiyaz, “Butterflies”
- Bruno Mars, “I Just Might”
- Chris Brown featuring Bryson Tiller, “It Depends”
- Daniel Caesar, “Who Knows”
- Justin Bieber, “Yukon”
- Kehlani, “Folded”
- Mariah the Scientist and Kali Uchis, “Is It a Crime”
- Olivia Dean, “Man I Need”
- Tems, “What You Need”
- Tyla, “Chanel”
Two African artists sit in that list, Tems and the South African singer Tyla, which says something about how firmly the continent’s stars are now placed inside American R&B rather than beside it.
The Spotify category has a different shape. Its seven nominees are Cleo Sol, FLO, kwn, Odeal, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Tems and Tiana Major9, The Showbiz Journal reported. It is a list of artists with audiences in more than one market, fitting for a category named for R&B’s international reach.
From Essence to Wait for U
Tems, whose full name is Temilade Openiyi, rose to wider fame after featuring on Wizkid’s 2020 single “Essence”, according to Cover Media, in a report carried by myTalk 107.1. In 2022 she became the first African artist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, as a featured artist with Drake on Future’s “Wait for U”.
Her airplay record traces the same route. She first topped the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart on “Essence”, a 10-week leader in 2021, Billboard noted, then followed with two chart-toppers in 2022: “Wait for U”, which led for a then-record 16 weeks, and her own “Free Mind”, which held the top spot for two weeks. “What You Need” is her first No. 1 on that chart in three years.
That arc, from a featured verse on a Wizkid single to her own songs leading American radio, is the story the RNB X category is designed to recognise. Leadership, the Nigerian daily, described her as a “Grammy-winning Nigerian singer”, a reminder of how closely her home audience follows each step.
How to Vote Before October 16
Fans have until October 16 to take part. Here is how each vote works, based on Billboard’s report:
- R&B/Soul Song of the Year: vote on BET’s Soul Train Awards site, choosing from the 10 nominated songs.
- Spotify’s RNB X International Artist: vote in the Spotify app, where fans can also stream the nominees and share their pick. Votes are subject to Spotify’s terms and conditions.
- The 20 Greatest R&B Songs of the 2020s: a separate poll of 64 songs. Fans can vote once every 24 hours, selecting up to 20 songs at a time.
The top 20 songs from that list will be revealed during the red carpet show, Back on Track, which streams live on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Twitch on November 27 ahead of the ceremony.
Soul Train Returns to Chicago
The ceremony airs on Friday, November 27, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on BET, with a simulcast on CBS, BET Her, VH1, MTV2 and LOGO. The CBS simulcast is a first for the franchise, The Showbiz Journal noted, and Spotify and Toyota are presenting the show, with Spotify serving as its exclusive music streaming partner.
Anthony Anderson brings hosting experience to the job. He previously led the BET Awards in 2015 and 2016 and hosted the NAACP Image Awards for eight consecutive years. Taping in Chicago ties the show back to the city where Soul Train began, which gives a ceremony about R&B’s global reach a very local anchor. Performers and further honourees have not yet been announced.
What a Double Nomination Means for the Scene
A double nomination in a fan vote is a different kind of recognition from a jury award. It tests whether listeners will turn up for an artist, not just whether industry voters respect her. For Tems, the two ballots measure two things at once: a single that has worked on American radio, and a career that has carried Nigerian R&B across borders.
Awards built around African music have been on the move too; afromusic.news recently covered how the Headies took Nigeria’s biggest music prize to Canada. Soul Train is a different stage, an American institution with its roots in Chicago, but the direction of travel is the same: the scene’s biggest names are now central to the conversation.
The results of both fan votes will be revealed on November 27. Until October 16, the outcome is in the hands of the listeners who put “What You Need” on the radio in the first place.
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