“Distasteful” “demeaning” “ignorant”, these are just some of the reactions to American music publication Billboard’s recent decision to tag Rema a ‘one-hit wonder.’
The controversy stems from a Billboard article listing the remix of Rema’s global hit ‘Calm Down’ featuring Selena Gomez as one of ‘the 25 biggest one-hit wonders of the 21st century.’ Although Billboard included a caveat—arguing that appearing on the list is an achievement in itself—the explanation has done little to soothe the displeasure of African music lovers.
This backlash is understandable. As a central figure in the global rise of Afrobeats, Rema’s impact goes far beyond a single chart entry. This explains why industry voices have dismissed Billboard’s claim as ‘ridiculous’ and ‘a joke.’ 
Still, a question remains: can Billboard technically justify this inclusion based on U.S. data, or is this yet another example of the West overlooking African creative value?”
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According to Billboard, “Here at Billboard, we view being a one-hit wonder as an achievement, and not just for the streaming, sales, and airplay: So many songs that fall into this category are classics in their own right, and it’s only a coincidence of timing, culture, and business that their performers did not manage more hits. Anyway, unless you’re a baseball pitcher, being a one-hit wonder is better than being a no-hit wonder.
This statement in the introduction of the article frames the list as an achievement, no matter how brief (one-time) it is. Also, the list features only songs that made it into the top 10 or 20 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Hence, it is easy to see this as being better than “a no-hit wonder” as the publication frames it. And that for a global platform that Billboard is can seem like an achievement indeed.
But, for certain reasons, this isn’t the only or prevalent reception across Africa.
What Nigerian Music Critics Are Saying
Adeayo Adebiyi – “(Rema) is one the most important stars in the exportation of Afro Pop”
Renowned music journalist Adeayo Adebiyi have painted a different picture of this event.
In a reactionary tweet, he bemoans the delivery of this claim and questions the validity of such a claim from a global platform.
For him, if this is how Billboard judges it, then TurnTable Charts, the African equivalent, might as well tag American stars like Lil Durk a one-hit wonder. This is as Lil Durk “hasn’t managed to replicate the chart impact of ‘All My Life’ in this part of the world.”
To him, the geographical consideration should strike out such unflattering tags. Billboard can describe an American music artist as a one-hit wonder. But it’s wrong to say the same about an African artist who broke the US charts and climbed as high as Number 3 on a list of 100 hottest songs in the country.
Instead, there should be praises for these songs and their performers, even achieving that cross-border and global reach at all.
Anthony Udugba Calls It a Reminder to Own Ours
Another seasoned entertainment journalist, Anthony Udugba, reminds Africans of the need to start taking these international platforms less seriously.
He states that breaking into the American music industry and peaking at Number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts “is a big deal.” However, Rema is one of the biggest acts in Africa. Therefore, despite not replicating this feat since he did in 2023, he’s still far from a one-hit wonder.
Tony DGB, as he’s known on social media, believes there’s a “disparity in how that region contextualizes our music.” Therefore, for him, this is another reminder that they cannot be the metric for our own music.
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Was It an Issue With Billboard’s Claim or Delivery?
Another common theme across the responses from African music stakeholders and other netizens is the delivery of this claim.
- Adeayo describes the tone as “barely concealed and condescending.” He raised concerns about the use of the tag “one-hit wonder” to describe one of the country’s best.
- Other netizens bemoaned lines in the article like “the original ‘lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-wo-wo-wo-wo’-ing version of ‘Calm Down’” used to describe the original version by Rema before the remix with Selena Gomez.
- Also, a sentence like “He took a swing and recruited Gomez for the female vocal and, shockingly, she agreed.” questions the value and worthiness of the original single.
As Adeayo opined, these phrasings water down the actual feat Rema achieved with this song. Adeayo believes ‘Calm Down’ is “perhaps the most ubiquitous African song of all time.”
But, on the bigger scale, as Anthony stated, claims like this one from Billboard explain the need for Africans to own our narrative.
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