Rema’s global smash “Calm Down” has been ranked No. 4 on Billboard’s 50 Best Afrobeats Songs of All Time, sealing the Benin City star’s place in the genre’s modern canon. The 2022 single from his debut album Rave & Roses marries a breezy guitar loop with an earworm hook crafted by producers Andre Vibez and London, turning a party meet-cute into a worldwide sing-along.
Rema
Six months in, the Selena Gomez remix rocketed the record from continental hit to crossover juggernaut—peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first African artist-led song to surpass one billion Spotify streams, and winning the inaugural Best Afrobeats trophy at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. The duet broadened the song’s audience without blunting its Afrobeats DNA, a feat that underpins its staying power on charts and playlists across continents.
Billboard’s staffers and contributors say the ranking weighed stylistic representation, local popularity, regional expansion, cultural impact, and commercial success, with a cap of three entries per artist to reflect the scene’s breadth. In that framework, “Calm Down” stands as a model crossover: rooted in Afrobeats rhythms, fluent in global pop, and loud proof of the movement’s rallying cry—“Afrobeats to the world.”
