Rema & Selena Gomez’s ‘Calm Down’ Climbs to No. 1 on Billboard Global Excl. U.S. Chart
Written by djfrosty on January 9, 2023
Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” claims the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart, jumping from No. 8 and marking each act’s first leader on the list.
Plus, two songs reach the Global Excl. U.S. top 10 for the first time: NewJeans’ “Ditto,” up 11-4, and RAYE’s “Escapism,” featuring 070 Shake (32-9).
All songs in the top 10 of the latest Global Excl. U.S. chart, which reflects the Dec. 30-Jan. 5 tracking week, vault in rank as holiday hits melt away. (The only seasonal songs on the newest survey are Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which tumbles from No. 1, where it has spent eight total weeks over the last three holiday seasons, to No. 169, and Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” down from its No. 2 high to No. 190.)
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the U.S.
Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” jumps from No. 8, besting its prior No. 4 high set in September, to No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart, with 53.3 million streams (essentially even week-over-week) and 4,000 downloads sold (up 18%) in territories outside the U.S. Dec. 30-Jan. 5. Nigeria native Rema (real name: Divine Ikubor) released the original version of the song last February as the second single from his debut solo LP, Rave & Roses. Its remix with Gomez arrived Aug. 26, and that version’s official video premiered Sept. 7.
Rema tops Global Excl. U.S. in his first appearance on the chart – and becomes the first act from Africa to reign. Gomez also lands her first leader, among two top 10s since the chart began, after “Ice Cream,” with BLACKPINK, ranked at its No. 6 high on the inaugural list in 2020.
Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” rebounds 12-2 on the Global Excl. U.S. chart, following eight weeks at No. 1 beginning in October, and David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” jumps 16-3, after it reached No. 2 in September.
NewJeans’ “Ditto,” released Dec. 19, roars to No. 4, from its previous No. 11 peak, on Global Excl. U.S. with 41.9 million streams (up 12%) and 3,000 sold (up 35%) outside the U.S. Dec. 30-Jan. 5. The South Korean quintet, comprising members Danielle, Haerin, Hanni, Hyein and Minji, achieves its first top 10 on the chart, following prior entries “Attention” (No. 34 peak in August), “Cookie” (No. 198, August) and “Hype Boy” (No. 32, September).
Rounding out the Global Excl. U.S. top five, Harry Styles’ “As It Was” rises 19-5, following a record 13 weeks at No. 1 starting last April.
Elsewhere in the Global Excl. U.S. top 10, RAYE’s “Escapism,” featuring 070 Shake, soars 32-9, its new rank overtaking its prior No. 19 best, with 27.9 million streams (up 12%) and 2,000 sold (up 14%) outside the U.S. in the tracking week. British singer-songwriter RAYE and New Jersey native 070 Shake (aka Danielle Balbuena) each score their first top 10 hit on the chart, as the song simultaneously reaches No. 1 on the Jan. 14-dated Official UK Singles chart. “This is proof: back yourself, no matter what,” an emotional RAYE shared in a video posted to her social accounts of her accepting an award from the U.K.’s Official Charts Company in honor of the song’s coronation. “Thank you … this is mad. These are happy tears!”
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Jan. 14, 2023) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Jan. 10). For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard‘s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.