Fans Slam Billboard for Calling Rema a “One-Hit Wonder” Despite Global Success

<p>Fans Slam Billboard for Calling Rema a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;One-Hit Wonder” Despite Global Success<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that American music giant Billboard is facing backlash after resurfacing a 2025 article labeling Nigerian Afrobeats sensation Rema as a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;one-hit wonder&comma;” a claim fans and industry insiders are calling misleading and dismissive&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The controversy reignited when Billboard reshared the piece on its official X &lpar;formerly Twitter&rpar; account on Sunday&comma; spotlighting a list of 25 artists under the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;one-hit wonder” banner&period; Rema appeared at number six&comma; largely because of the international smash success of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Calm Down&comma;” particularly the remix featuring American pop icon Selena Gomez&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the original article&comma; Billboard acknowledged that Rema’s career in the U&period;S&period; had already begun to build momentum with the original version of Calm Down&comma; but the remix propelled the track into worldwide mainstream success&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The article notes that the song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100&comma; yet suggested Rema hadn’t returned to the chart since&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;After releasing the original &OpenCurlyQuote;lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-wo-wo-wo-wo’-ing version of Calm Down in 2023&comma; Nigeria’s Rema noticed it breaking on the Billboard U&period;S&period; Afrobeats Songs chart&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He took a swing and recruited Gomez for the female vocal and&comma; shockingly&comma; she agreed&period; &OpenCurlyQuote;I had my fingers crossed&comma;’ he told Billboard&comma;” the story recounted&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The article continued&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The No&period; 3-peaking Calm Down was obviously not veteran pop superstar Gomez’s only hit&comma; but Rema has yet to make it to the Hot 100 again although he has landed six top 10s on U&period;S&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Afrobeats Songs&comma; through the June 7&comma; 2025&comma; chart&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Fans quickly flooded social media&comma; arguing that the label overlooked Rema’s consistent chart presence in Afrobeats and the global impact of his music beyond the Hot 100&comma; reigniting the debate over how success is measured for non-Western artists in mainstream U&period;S&period; media&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;