There are debut albums, and then there is Rave & Roses. Rema successfully created a balance between quality output, replay value, and commercial success on the album, etching it a place among the top albums globally on every scale possible.
We compiled a list of 5 of the major achievements of this era-defining album.
1. Streams:
Rema has continued to make giant strides with the streams on his album, garnering insane numbers over the course of a little over a year of the album being out. The deluxe edition Rave & Roses Ultra beat Burna Boy’s Love, Damini album as the most streamed album on Spotify a few months ago and instantly became the most streamed Afrobeats album, also breaking the record of the first Afrobeats album to cross 1 billion Spotify streams. The album jointly (OG and deluxe) currently sits at over 2.3 billion streams on Spotify.
2. Billboard 200 Chart
The charts records of Rema‘s Rave & Roses are insane, charting in virtually every continent of the world and surpassing every previous record effortlessly. On the Billboard 200 charts, Rema currently holds the spot for the second longest-charting Afrobeats album on the charts, only behind the King himself, King Sunny Ade. The record held by KSA is 29 weeks, with Rema currently on 28 weeks, stalking in the shadows behind. Next week, he will have equaled that record and hopefully surpassed it. The album peaked at a position of number 81.
3. Billboard World Albums Chart:
On the Billboard World Albums chart, Rave & Roses is the only debut Nigerian album to spend over 40 weeks on the charts and the fifth Afrobeats album in general. Currently, it is one of the only two Afrobeats albums on the charts, sitting at a comfortable number 5 on the charts, and has accumulated a total of 51 weeks.
4. Certifications:
The album broke ground in terms of certifications, setting seemingly impossible-to-break records being only a debut album. It was certified Gold in Poland (first African-certified album), Platinum in Canada (first African platinum certification), Gold in France (second in the region), and Platinum in Switzerland. It also has eligible gold certifications in numerous countries like Belgium, South Africa, USA (first debut) among others, and an eligible platinum certificate in Switzerland.
5. Calm Down:
Rave & Roses birthed the biggest Afrobeats song of all time, Calm Down. Calm Down dropped as a pre-released single in preparation for Rave & Roses, and it went on to become the greatest and most recognizable Afrobeats number globally. It has earned him numerous achievements, most notably:
• Over 1.3 billion Spotify streams on both versions, the most streamed Afrobeats song. • A Guinness World Record as the first number 1 song on the MENA chart.
• Over 20 million total units sold worldwide, with 13x Platinum in India, 7x Platinum in Canada, 4x Platinum in Switzerland, and 2x Platinum in the US among others.
• It also has over 13 million Shazams, #3 on Billboard Hot 100, the most viewed YouTube video with over 500 million views on each version and too many achievements to sum up in one video.
Rema struck gold with Rave & Roses and gave a project not short of iconic.
