Billboard Labels Rema a One-Hit Wonder. Here’s What We Think.
When Billboard recently named Rema one of “The 25 Biggest One-Hit Wonders of the 21st Century”, with an obvious condescending tone, the reaction across Afrobeats circles was swift and incredulous. The list, designed to spotlight artists whose careers appear to orbit around a single defining smash, leans heavily on U.S. chart performance, particularly peaks on the Billboard Hot 100. In Rema’s case, the runaway global success of ‘Calm Down’—especially its Selena Gomez-assisted remix—is framed as the towering moment that defines his commercial story.
But that framing feels reductive.
To describe Rema as a one-hit wonder requires isolating one metric and inflating it into the whole narrative. It requires ignoring the context of his rise, the structure of his catalogue, and the cultural weight he carried long before American radio caught up. Years before “Calm Down” became a global streaming juggernaut, Rema had already carved a distinct lane with records like “Dumebi”, “Iron Man”, “Woman”, and “Corny”. Those were not accidental sparks but early signals of an artist with a sharp melodic instinct and a willingness to blur the lines between Afropop, trap, and alternative textures.
His debut album, ‘Rave & Roses’, did not hinge on a viral fluke. It was expansive, deliberate, and global in its ambition. More importantly, his sophomore album, HEIS, introduced Afrorave as a self-defined sonic identity. The project positioned Rema as more than a hitmaker; it cast him as a young artist intent on shaping his own sub-genre within an already fast-evolving scene.
“Calm Down” undeniably shifted the scale of his career. The record climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the most streamed Afrobeats songs in history. It dominated charts across continents and lingered there with unusual stamina. Few African records have sustained that level of cross-market visibility. That achievement deserves acknowledgement. But a global breakthrough does not erase prior consistency; it amplifies it.
The danger of the “one-hit wonder” label lies in how it simplifies trajectory. Rema’s career has not been a flat line punctured by a single spike. It has been a steady ascent, marked by regional dominance, youth-cultural relevance, and international expansion. He has toured extensively, headlined major festivals, and maintained streaming strength across multiple releases. His influence on Gen Z listeners — from fashion to slang to sound — extends beyond one chart statistic.
There is also the matter of perspective. When Western publications evaluate African artists primarily through U.S. chart peaks, they risk flattening careers that were culturally dominant in Lagos, Accra, London, and Paris long before New York radio rotation became the benchmark. Afrobeats is no longer a niche export; it is a global force with its own ecosystems of success. Measuring its architects by a single crossover moment ignores that reality.
Calling Rema a one-hit wonder may generate clicks, but it does not fully account for the ecosystem that built him nor the one he continues to shape. “Calm Down” is the loudest chapter of his story so far. It is not the only one.
