"Calm Down" by Rema and Selena Gomez has become the highest-charting single by an Afrobeats main artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100.
In its 40th week, the song, which debuted on the Hot 100 in September of last year, climbs 5-3 on the chart dated June 18 to reach a new peak.
It is Rema's first appearance on the chart and Gomez's second-highest-peaking single of her career, trailing only her 2019 No. 1 single "Lose You to Love Me."
The staff of Billboard weighed in as to why. One said that what probably benefited "Calm Down" the most is that it is not linked to a particular cultural moment.
The release dates for "Last Last" by Burna Boy and "Essence" by Wizkid & Tems are Summer 2021 and Summer 2020, respectively.
Massive cultural moments can certainly enhance a song's commercial success, but there is a risk that people will move on once the moment has passed.
During two or three months, "Calm Down" did not receive significant attention. Instead, the song grew alongside Rema's rising global profile, and Selena Gomez's remix arrived just in time to keep the song's momentum going.
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In addition, "Calm Down" has been chugging along for a while, so it was able to benefit from the groundwork that Rema laid with "Soundgasm."
The slow ascent of "Calm Down" reminds another staff of Glass Animals' "Heat Waves" climbing for months to the top of the Hot 100 a year and a half ago: what began as a TikTok sensation crossed over to major streaming platforms worldwide, and then exploded on U.S. pop radio.
"Calm Down" was a global hit in the months following Selena Gomez's guest appearance on Rema's song in August of last year, but it didn't reach the top 10 of the Radio Songs chart until early April, where its current No. 2 ranking is helping it climb up the Hot 100, despite the fact that it only ranks No. 18 on Streaming Songs.
The cross-platform transition is essential for comprehending a 40-week colossus like "Calm Down." Whenever a song performs so well so late in its lifespan, the answer is almost always radio-related. Radio was slower to embrace "Calm Down" than streaming audiences; it's only been on Billboard's Radio Songs chart for 20 weeks, or half of its Hot 100 run; however, it's currently at No. 2 on the chart, trailing only "Flowers." The song has been in the top five of Shazam's chart for all of 2023.
If fans are raring to hear more from Selena Gomez though, they're in for a treat. According to the singer herself, a new song is coming.
In a series of black-and-white images posted to Instagram on Tuesday (June 13), Gomez can be seen recording vocals for her unannounced next endeavor. In one photograph, she reads intently from a sheet of paper.
"Don't worry guys, it's coming," she captioned the photos. "Even from Paris."
It has been three years since the star released an album, though she did release an EP of Spanish songs in 2021 titled Revalación. In the interim, she has collaborated with numerous artists, including Rema on her 2022 hit "Calm Down."
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