Divine Ikubor known popularly as Rema has become the first Nigerian to enter the top 5 of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart as a lead artist. Even though artists such as Wizkid and Tems topped the chart with Drake’s ‘One Dance’ and Future’s ‘Wait 4 U’ previously, they received the credit as featured artists.
On May 8, 2023, the Nigerian superstars’ ‘Calm Down’ remix on which he features American superstar, Selena Gomez peaked at No. 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and made him the first Nigerian to record a top 5 song as a lead artist. This beautiful melodic song became the longest charting African song in the history of the chart with 35 weeks, tying it to Wizkid’s ‘Essence’.
Equivalently, Rema recorded another milestone with his hit song ‘Calm Down’ which peaked No. 1 on the Canadian Billboard Hot 100 putting him as the first Nigerian to top the chart as a lead artist. The Nigerian artist was recently entered into the Guinness World Record book receiving recognition for securing the first number 1 hit on the world’s first regional streaming chart, and first-ever official chart in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with the same record ‘Calm Down’.
The MENA chart was launched in 2020 by Anghami music streaming service in partnership with the Guinness World Records. Its main purpose is to showcase the best music from the Middle East and North Africa. The most popular songs are ranked on the chart based on streaming data from Anghami’s platform which happens to be one of the largest platforms in the region.
