Rema's Calm Down Becomes the Most Watched Afrobeats Video of All Time

Photo: Rema/Instagram

By Kinyua Mwangi

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Barely a year after the release of ‘Calm Down’ by Rema, the Afrorave star is reaping big, with the song making history by being the most streamed Afrobeats tune on YouTube. 

Calm Down, the lead song from Rema's debut album, "Raves & Roses," was released on February 11, 2022. Since its release, the song has had enormous success on a global scale, which was amplified by the remix featuring Selena Gomez.

The Afrobeats song "Calm Down" became the quickest to gain 100 million views, doing so in less than three months and it currently has over 355 million YouTube views. 

Following the Selena Gomez remix with over 251 million streams on YouTube which saw the song peak at No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song also enjoys massive airplay from Asia and the Middle East. 

‘Calm Down’ dethroned ‘Love Nwantiti’ remix by CKay which broke the record a year ago by a small margin of fewer than 1,000 views. The new feat comes after topping the Indian charts as the most-played song in India. Rema also enjoyed unlikely success in Saudi Arabia where the song is now an Arab favourite.