For a week in September, you got the sense that Nigerian pop had stopped for SWAGUU. Seyi Vibez held the entire top five of the Official Nigeria Top 100 and most of the rest of its top ten, and Rema’s “Oh No,” a No. 2 debut the week before, slid to No. 11 with almost everything that wasn’t his.
On the chart covering Sep 25 to Oct 1, “Oh No” is back at No. 3.
Nothing new happened to the song in between. No remix, no second video. Its listeners just stayed. On Spotify in Nigeria, “Oh No” drew about 2.08 million streams in its first week, 2.09 million in the SWAGUU week, and 1.97 million in the week after, when only “Ilome” had more. Over that same week, “Volume” lost almost 1.5 million Spotify streams, and “Pansa,” “Diamonds” and “GOD” each gave back about a million. Radio held on to it as well: third on TurnTable’s airplay chart when the song arrived, seventh while SWAGUU had the room, fifth on the new chart, with 55.8 million in radio reach. When the album’s numbers came down, “Oh No” was still near the top, close to where it started.
The song gives people reasons to keep it on. Rvssian, who first worked with Rema on “Beamer (Bad Boys)” in 2020, built it from kompa, reggaeton and dancehall pieces, and the lyric is a familiar kind of mess: a girl who sends mixed signals, a man scrolling her friend’s Instagram stories and still picking up her late-night calls.
Rema told fans in August that his third album is finished and due before the year is out. Both solo singles he has put out since moved up on this chart, with “TEA,” the Mustard-produced first one, climbing from No. 24 to No. 17. The next big album week is close: FOLA’s 9 arrives Oct 9, carrying two songs that have already been No. 1. “Oh No” has been through one of those weeks.