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Afrobeats is taking over? Right, with the likes of Burna Boy, Wizkid, Tems, CKay and of course, Rema boldly representing the global scene, you wouldn’t agree less. Nigerian singer-songwriter, Rema is currently positioning himself in the midst of global superstars; thanks to his global hit record ‘Calm Down‘ and its amplified remix with pop culture icon, Selena Gomez.
When Calm Down was released earlier this year, housed under his debut album, Rave & Roses, it was met with mixed reviews from fans and critics in Nigeria, but the world had other plans. The song was highly accepted in France where it earned its first certification (SNEP). It also spread through other parts of Europe like the Netherlands, Belgium, and Portugal; thanks to Tiktok.
Calm Down was bolstered to new levels of recognition when Rema featured pop culture icon, Selena Gomez on the remix. Thanks to Selena’s support, it penetrated into the big market of the American continent, especially the United States where it earned an RIAA gold certification for selling 500,000 units, marking Rema’s first certification in the country. Rema also registered his first Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Global 200 entries with peak positions of 74 and 5 respectively.
Calm Down is the longest charting song at the No. 1 position on the Billboard Afrobeats chart at the moment spending 17 weeks on the chart. With certifications in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and the Netherlands, ‘Calm Down‘ is by every metric, one of the biggest and most successful African songs of all time.
On top of all that, Calm Down has hit a new milestone becoming the fastest Afrobeats song to amass 300 million views in 10 months. The record was previously held by CKay’s ‘Love Nwantiti‘ which garnered the same number of views but in 2 years. However, Love Nwantiti remains the most-viewed Afrobeats music video of all time with a staggering 343 million views.
Up next, Rema might be unlocking the deluxe edition of his debut album ‘Rave & Roses’ just as he revealed a while ago. Calm Down‘s remix with Selena Gomez will be added to the project alongside other new songs he plans to rule 2023 with.
