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Rema’s ‘Calm Down’ edges closer to becoming Africa’s first RIAA diamond record
Nigerian Afropop superstar Rema inches ever closer to a historic milestone, as his hit single “Calm Down” approaches RIAA diamond certification, potentially becoming the first African song to achieve this level of commercial success in the US.
“Calm Down,” one of the lead songs from Rema’s debut album “Raves & Roses,” was released in 2022 and has seen enormous global commercial success.
Testifying to its status as the most commercially successful African song in the United States, Rema’s “Calm Down” with Selena Gomez has now sold 7,000,000 units, earning it an RIAA 7-time platinum plaque.
This latest feat in the US follows its landmark achievement of becoming the first African song to surpass a billion streams in the country, marking a significant moment for both Rema and Nigerian music.
.@heisrema and @selenagomez's "Calm Down" has now sold over 7 million units in the US. pic.twitter.com/BYDHjRJpeA
— chart data (@chartdata) August 1, 2024
The “Calm Down” remix was hugely successful in the United States, where it spent over 52 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached No. 3 on the chart, making it the highest peak for a Nigerian song and the second-highest for an African song, trailing only Hugh Masekela’s 1968 album “Grazing In The Grass,” which peaked at No. 1.
Rema’s “Calm Down” holds multiple records, including being the most streamed Afrobeats song on Spotify with over 1 billion streams and surpassing 2 billion streams across both versions.
It is also the most viewed Nigerian music video on YouTube, with more than 928 million views.
With “Calm Down” becoming 7X platinum, Rema continues to edge closer to making history as the first African artist to have a diamond-certified song in the United States.
Following the huge success of “Calm Down,” Rema released the impressive EP ‘Ravage,’ which he has since followed up with the release of his sophomore album ‘HEIS.’