Rema’s ‘calm down’ falls off Billboard Hot 100 after making history

After an incredible record of 57 weeks, Afrobeats superstar Rema’s hit song featuring American star Selena Gomez has fallen off the global music chart, Billboard Hot 100.

This was confirmed in a post on X by music monitoring platform Chart Data which reads: “REMA and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” departs the Hot 100 this week.

It made history, becoming the longest-charting and most successful African song of all time.”

Rema’s Calm Down is the highest charting Nigerian and African song of all time and it broke the 35-week record previously held by fellow Nigerian Afrobeats star Wizkid’s song Essence ft. Tems and Justin Bieber.

The remix of the song which features Selena Gomez was released in August 2022 and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 2022, peaking at number three. It marked Rema’s first top-ten hit and Gomez’s ninth.

The Billboard Hot 100 is the most prestigious music ranking in the US, and Rema’s song is the highest-charting song on which an Afrobeats musician was the lead artist.

The song has also led the U.S. Afrobeats Songs for a record-setting 57 weeks, it reached number one on both the Billboard US Afrobeats Songs and the Billboard Global Excl. US charts, and peaked at number three on the Global 200 chart.

Calm Down also entered into the Guinness World Record as the First No.1 Hit on The Official MENA Chart (the world’s first regional streaming chart) and reached number one on the Canadian Top Songs chart.

The amazing song, which Billboard magazine music analysts described as “a melancholy slow jam with a subtle hypnotic draw”, has enjoyed massive raves amongst global music listeners and has also caught the attention of music enthusiasts worldwide since its release.

Vanguard also reviewed the song as a feelgood smash hit and noted that Selena Gomez’s “melodic tune complements Rema’s vibe perfectly, maintaining the same energy as the original release.”

Calm Down’s massive global popularity is partly due to American pop star Selena Gomez featuring on the song albeit for a short part.

The song has won a plethora of awards and has shattered more than a dozen records.

Last month, the song won the inaugural Best Afrobeats song at the MTV VMA Awards, edging out other popular Afrobeats artists and it also became the most streamed Afrobeats song on Spotify and the first African artist-led song to hit one billion streams on the music platform.

Calm Down is also the first song to spend one year on the Billboard Afrobeats chart and its YouTube video, with 673 million views, is the most watched music video by a Nigerian artist.

The massive recognition and success of Calm Down in the international music scene has placed 23-year-old Rema into the ranks of prominent Afrobeats superstars such as Wizkid, Davido, and Burna Boy.