Ferdinand Ekechukwu
From having one of the most streamed songs of the year and standing tall on the Billboard Chart in 2022 with his hit single ‘Calm Down’ to being the most viewed music video, Divine Ikubor, aka Rema, no doubt, has had it big this year. The Mavin/Jonzin artiste recorded major feat as the hit song reaches new heights on YouTube as the No. 1 spot on the 2022 Most Viewed Nigerian Music Videos on the platform.
The list was compiled by renowned data intelligence and digital eco-system firm, Dataleum, and released on Friday, December 30th. The list, which analysed views from official music videos released in 2022 on YouTube, revealed that Rema’s ‘Calm Down’ video got close to 300 million views. Following closely was Burna Boy’s ‘Last Last’ which garnered over 140 million views, and Kizz Daniel’s ‘Buga’ with 107 million views.
Also on the list is Burna Boy’s collaboration with Ed Sheeran, ‘For My Hand’, which came fourth with 70 million views while Pheelz ‘Finesse’ featuring BNXN got 61 million. Ayra Starr, who featured as the only female on the list came sixth with ‘Rush’, which garnered 53.1 million views on YouTube. Other videos on the list include No Wahala remix(1da Banton ft. Kizz Daniel, Tiwa Savage) with 53 million; Bandana (Fireboy ft Asake), 44 million; Overloading (Mavin All Stars), 44 million; and Sungba remix (Asake ft Burna Boy), 35 million.”
Rema’s ‘Calm Down’ continues its dominance on the US Afrobeats chart as it remains at No. 1 for the 17th straight week. Rema has been scoring international recognition for his music as far back as 2019, and 2020 after he was featured on ex-US President, Barack Obama’s end-of-year music of the year and his workout music list.
Since its release, ‘Calm Down’ has enjoyed impressive reception performing well in Nigeria and internationally. The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 while also surpassing over a billion streams on all platforms making it one of the biggest Afrobeats songs of 2022. With ‘Calm Down’ crossing the 300 million views mark on YouTube, it will joining an exclusive list of Afrobeats songs that includes CKay’s ‘Love Nwantiti’ and Burna Boy’s ‘On The Low’.
