Burna Boy and Rema Takes Top Afrobeats Awards At 2023 BBMAs

Rema and Selena Gomez won another major award for their song “Calm Down,” which took away the Top Afrobeats Song award at Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards. Burna Boy won Top Afrobeats Artist.

Selena Gomez was on hand to collect the award as she delivered a message on behalf of Rema, who was in Nigeria.

“This is honestly Rema’s doing. He chose me to be part of an incredible song, so I want to thank him and thank all of you for streaming and listening, and I wish we could be there,” Selena said in a video as she couldn’t attend the event in person.

Rema also shared his gratitude for fans loving the song.

“This honor for ‘Calm Down’ is a celebration of unity and the global domination of Afrobeats. I want to say a big shout-out to Selena Gomez, Mayhem Records… as well as the amazing fans who supported us to this point. I want to say big thank you to Billboard all the way from Nigeria, one love,” Rema said in a video of what appears to be him in his studio.

congratulations to rema and selena gomez for winning “top afrobeats song” at the #BBMAs calm down remix is a masterpiece ?? pic.twitter.com/kiBQlYiO75
— ana (@withluvselena) November 19, 2023

Congrats to @selenagomez & @heisrema on winning Top Afrobeats Song! ? #BBMAs pic.twitter.com/BsjgvSUX3G
— Billboard Music Awards (@BBMAs) November 19, 2023

“Calm Down” beat out several top Afrobeats artists, including Ayra Starr for “Rush,” Libianca for the ultra-popular “People,” Oxlade for “KU LO SA,” and Rema’s collaboration with Tempoe featuring Don Toliver, “Soweto” for the top spot.

The song was also nominated for Top Collaboration (won by Metro Boomin, The Weeknd and 21 Savage won that award for their song, “Creepin”), Top Radio Song, Top Billboard Global 200 Song, and Top Billboard Global (Excl. U.S.) Song (all won by Miley Cyrus‘s “Flowers”).

On the other hand, Rema was nominated for Top Afrobeats Artist, but the award went to Burna Boy. The other nominees for the category were Libianca, Tems, and Wizkid.

“Thank you I appreciate you. This is dedicated to Africa and for every artist coming out of Africa, this is for you. The future is bright, guys you will see the vision and this is just the tip of the iceberg, so you gotta see the whole vision,” Burna Boy said in a video posted to Billboard’s social media accounts.