Billboard, the US entertainment magazine, has come under fire online after resharing an article from June 2025 that branded Nigerian singer Rema a “one-hit wonder”.
The post, shared on Sunday via Billboard’s X account, resurfaced a ranking of 25 artistes deemed one-hit wonders.
Rema was placed at number six on the list for his global smash ‘Calm Down,’ which featured American pop star Selena Gomez.
In the resurfaced article, Billboard argued that while Rema was already gaining traction in the United States with the original version of ‘Calm Down’ on the Afrobeats chart, his mainstream breakthrough came after recruiting Gomez for the remix.
The publication acknowledged that the remix peaked at No. 3 on the prestigious Hot 100 chart. However, it noted that despite the success, Rema has not returned to the Hot 100 since.
“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 reads.
“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 drew immediate and widespread criticism, with many social media users accusing the publication of being disrespectful and dismissive of Rema’s broader achievements.
A user wrote: “All i could see is hate on Rama’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 bro calm down is heading to break more records you’re planning to give Selena the accolade”.
Another user linked the remark to poor leadership in Africa, arguing that the perceived disrespect toward Africans across different sectors stems from bad governance rather than a lack of talent.
“Una dun 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 n gas, aviation..na bad governance cause am,” the user wrote.
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Rema, whose real name is Divine Ikubor, initially released the track in February 2022 from his debut album ‘Rave & Roses’.
He later partnered with Gomez for the song’s remix in August of the same year.
The song went platinum in the United Kingdom in March 2023, and also became India’s second-longest-charting No. 1 African song.
In August 2023, ‘Calm Down’ became Billboard’s longest-charting US Afrobeats song with 52 weeks, while in September of the same year, it hit one billion streams on Spotify. It was named the longest-charting African song on Billboard Hot 100 in June of 2024.
As of February 2026, the song’s remix is the most-viewed Nigerian music video on YouTube with 1.3 billion views.