Afrobeats sensation Rema continues to rewrite music history with his smash hit “Calm Down,” which has now achieved the milestone of becoming the most-streamed Afrobeats song in the United States.
The accolade was confirmed by music monitoring platform Chart Data, marking it as the first Afrobeats track ever to surpass one billion on-demand streams in the US.
Last year, Chart Data had already hailed “Calm Down” as the “most successful African song of all time,” underscoring its unprecedented popularity across global music charts.
Billboard magazine’s music analysts attribute the song’s success to its “melancholy slow jam with a subtle hypnotic draw,” describing it as the kind of music that resonates deeply with listeners and compels repeated plays.
Released in February 2022 as a single from Rema’s debut album “Rave and Roses,” “Calm Down” quickly gained traction.
The track’s remix featuring American singer Selena Gomez further propelled its reach, achieving the billion-stream mark on Spotify.
The song’s impact extended to the Billboard Hot 100, where it spent an impressive year and peaked at number three, setting a new benchmark for Afrobeats artists as the highest-charting song with a lead artist from the genre.
The remix’s music video, which boasts nearly 894 million views on YouTube, has also become the most-watched by a Nigerian artist, cementing Rema’s status among the elite ranks of Nigerian Afrobeats alongside icons like Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Davido.
Known for his distinctive style dubbed “Afrorave,” Rema expressed gratitude for the song’s reception and its role in defining his musical journey. His innovative blend continues to resonate globally, earning him recognition as the most streamed African artist in US history.
