Joining the exclusive Billions Club on Spotify, “Calm Down” is in the company of only 472 tracks out of the 100 million songs available on the platform.
The year and reign of Rema continues as “Calm Down” featuring Selena Gomez, has become the first song with an African lead artist to reach one billion streams on Spotify.
“Calm Down” also made history as the first African song to spend 1 year on the Billboard Hot 100 chart – peaking at No.3 behind Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers”. It also becomes the first-ever No.1 hit on The Official MENA Chart.
Seven years ago, in 2016, Drake made history by becoming the first artist to achieve one billion plays on Spotify with his chart-topping hit “One Dance” featuring Wizkid. And now, adding to an esteemed list of songs in Spotify’s Billion Club, Rema’s “Calm Down” is in the company of Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer,” Rihanna’s “Diamonds,” Doja Cat’s “Need to Know,” Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” etc.
Remarkably, “Calm Down” achieved this feat about 381 days after its release, putting it in a league of its own.
How much money did “Calm Down” generate on Spotify?
On average, Spotify pays artists between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream. Taking a look at Spotify Data, “Calm Down” streams are predominantly driven by listeners in the UK, US, India, Mexico, and Brazil.
Based on these figures, the song would generate approximately $4,000 for every one million streams. It’s important to note that Spotify typically keeps 30% of the revenue, with the remaining 70% going to the song’s rights holders, including the publisher, songwriter, and master recording owners.
Per my rough estimate and considering the streaming rates and regions where Rema is hot, “Calm Down” should generate around $4 million from one billion Spotify streams.
How much money has “Calm Down” generated on other platforms?
While other streaming services may pay a higher rate per stream, they don’t come close to Spotify’s large number of users. Therefore, “Calm Down” might not accumulate similar streaming numbers on platforms like Apple Music or Tidal, but it could still generate a comparable amount of revenue, as the buzz is seemingly ubiquitous.
Let me break this down some more:
If “Calm Down” generates $0.004 per Spotify stream on average. With 1 billion streams, it’ll be making $4m in total. Now, while platforms like Apple Music and Tidal do not command the same user base as Spotify, they pay relatively more (say $0.006). So, while “Calm Down” may not have amassed 1 billion streams on Apple Music or Tidal, it could still generate a comparable amount even with half a billion streams.
PS: It is worth noting that royalty rates can vary depending on the country the streams originate from.
What could this success mean for Rema’s affiliated labels?
For the most part, content is what drives the music business and companies. Music, as the content, is an asset and a combination of these assets is what makes a catalogue. As we know, a music company or artist’s true worth is often tied to the size and performance of their catalogue, and these days, streaming has replaced physical sales as the primary means of consumption.
To draw a parallel, let’s take a look at the impact of BTS member Jungkook‘s song “Seven” on HYBE‘s share performance. Following BTS’ hiatus, HYBE’s share price hit a record low of $82.51 (109,500 KRW) in October 2022. However, the release of Jungkook’s latest single, “Seven,” featuring Latto, became a significant test for HYBE’s post-BTS strategy worldwide.
According to Spotify, “Seven” garnered an impressive 16 million global streams on its debut day. By the end of that week (Friday, July 14), HYBE’s share price skyrocketed to $193.27 (256,500 KRW), more than doubling the price from the all-time low in October 2022. That weekend, HYBE’s investors must have kept a close eye on the performance of Jungkook’s “Seven” as a crucial indicator of whether HYBE’s post-BTS strategy was on track. It was evident that the markets were pleased with what they saw, as HYBE’s share price experienced a 3.12% rise on Monday (July 17), closing at $199.30 (264,500 KRW in Korea). In hindsight, that 3.12% rise in share price following the early success of Jungkook’s “Seven” added approximately USD $260 million to HYBE’s market capitalization valuation on Monday (July 17).
Now, in similar vein, Rema’s “Calm Down” is released under a Mavin Global Holdings and Jonzing World partnership, with an exclusive license to Interscope Records. Mavin is a portfolio company of Kupanda Holdings, a joint venture between pan-African investment company Kupanda Capital and TPG Growth, which is also a significant investor in companies like Spotify, CAA, Uber, and Airbnb.
Now unlike HYBE, Mavin and Jonzing World are not publicly traded companies, which means we can’t gauge the real-time impact of this achievement on these companies from an external perspective. However, it’s worth imagining the potential impact that such success could have on the rightsholders of a song like “Calm Down” and their investors.
Also worthy of note is Mavin currently has two other songs racing to join the One Billion Club on Spotify; the original version of “Calm Down” with 447M Spotify streams and Ayra Starr’s “Rush” currently gaining momentum in Europe with 246M Spotify streams.
What could this success mean for the African scene?
Since 2019, my boss Tega Oghenejobo (COO, Mavin Global) would stress the importance of streaming success in today’s music era; earmarking it as one of the company’s foremost priorities.
While this is a full circle moment for the visionary, that emphasis is more glaring as I observed how HYBE, the South Korea-based entertainment giant, experienced a 3% increase in its share price after BTS member Jungkook achieved about 16 million global Spotify streams on the debut day of his new single, “Seven“.
According to Goldman Sachs, Spotify claimed a significant market share of 34.8% in terms of total global music subscribers by the end of 2022, with a reported 205 million global paying subscribers. Moreover, in the first half of 2023, Spotify successfully reached 220 million subscribers worldwide.
This development is particularly significant for African music, as it continues to mature and achieve noteworthy milestones with each passing week. The accomplishments serve as a testament to the remarkable talent present in African music and will attract international recognition and investment to the African entertainment scene.
As the momentum builds, we can expect to witness the allocation of more resources, bringing about economic benefits not only for artists but also for other key players within the ecosystem.
Africa to the Billion Club: Africa’s Next Unicorn?
There are other songs from African artists with millions of Spotify streams racing to join the One Billion Club such as:
- CKay – Love Nwantiti – 749M (Nigeria)
- CKay – Love Nwantiti (Remix) ft DJ Yoel, AX’EL – 550M (Nigeria, Mauritius)
- Rema – Calm Down – 447M (Nigeria)
- Libianca – People – 441M (Cameroon)
- Master KG feat. Nomcebo Zikode – Jerusalema – 368M (South Africa)
- Amarae – Sad Girlz Love Money – 366M (Ghana)
- Burna Boy – Last Last – 317M (Nigeria)
- Fireboy & Ed Sheeran – Peru (Remix) – 271M (Nigeria, UK)
- Ayra Starr – Rush – 246M (Nigeria)
- Oxlade – Kulosa – 239M (Nigeria)
- Burna Boy – On The Low – 238M (Nigeria)
Who do you think will be the next Afro-Unicorn?
