US entertainment magazine, Billboard, has sparked outrage on social media after resharing a 2025 article that described Nigerian music star Rema as a “one-hit wonder.”
The post, shared on Sunday via Billboard’s official X page, revisited a ranking of 25 artistes considered to have scored only one major hit. Rema was ranked sixth on the list for his global success, Calm Down, featuring American pop star Selena Gomez.
In the article, Billboard argued that although Rema had started gaining attention in the United States with the original version of Calm Down on the Afrobeats chart, his major international breakthrough came after he collaborated with Gomez on the remix. The publication noted that the remix peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 but claimed Rema had not returned to the chart since then.
“After releasing the original ‘lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-wo-wo-wo-wo’-ing version of ‘Calm Down’ in 2023, Nigeria’s Rema noticed it breaking on the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart. He took a swing and recruited Gomez for the female vocal and, shockingly, she agreed. ‘I had my fingers crossed,’ he told Billboard,” the article stated.
“The No. 3-peaking ‘Calm Down’ was obviously not veteran pop superstar Gomez’s only hit, but Rema has yet to make it to the Hot 100 again — although he has landed six top 10s on U.S. Afrobeats Songs, through the June 7, 2025, chart.”
The resurfaced post quickly triggered backlash, with many users accusing Billboard of downplaying Rema’s achievements and discrediting his global impact.
“All I could see is hate on Rema’s greatness, nothing more. Calm Down was a global hit before Selena asked to jump on it. Rema has countless hits that the world know, bro. Because Calm Down is heading to break more records, you’re planning to give Selena the accolade,” one user wrote.
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Another user linked the criticism to broader systemic issues, arguing that Africans often face disrespect globally due to leadership challenges.
“Una don really see Africans finish. Rema of all people one-hit wonder, make una enjoy. Any disrespect Africans get from any field of life is all because of the bad leaders we have — whether it’s sports, pharmaceutical, entertainment, oil and gas, aviation — na bad governance cause am,” the user said.
Rema, whose real name is Divine Ikubor, released Calm Down in February 2022 as part of his debut album, Rave & Roses. The remix featuring Gomez followed in August 2022.
The song went platinum in the UK in March 2023, became India’s second-longest-charting African number-one record, and in August 2023, set a new record as Billboard’s longest-charting US Afrobeats song with 52 weeks. In September 2023, it surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, and by June 2024, it was named the longest-charting African song on the Billboard Hot 100.
Prompt News reports as of February 2026, the remix stands as the most-viewed Nigerian music video on YouTube, amassing over 1.3 billion views.
