GIMS Earns First No. 1 on a Billboard Chart With World Cup Song ‘Arhbo’: ‘I Can’t Even Believe It’s Real!’

Rapper GIMS celebrates a new career achievement thanks to “Arhbo (Music From fhe FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022),” his collaboration with Ozuna, which leads Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart (dated Dec. 17). The song ascends 8-1 and becomes Congolese-French rapper GIMS’ first No. 1 on any Billboard U.S. chart.

“To be a French artist that is No. 1 on a Latin Billboard chart is a great honor, it’s amazing,” GIMS tells Billboard. “I can’t even believe it’s real! It was something that I always dreamed to achieve, and I can’t believe it happened. I’m also very proud and happy to have achieved this goal with Ozuna, who is a great artist whom I respect and cherish.”

“Arhbo” takes the Greatest Gainer honor of the week boosted by a 48% in audience impressions, to 9.5 million, earned in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 11, according to Luminate. It becomes GIMS’ first leader on a Billboard U.S. chart a week after the rapper secured his first top 10 on a Billboard Latin chart when the song lifted 29-8 (Dec. 10).

As “Arhbo” lands at No. 1 on the all-genre Latin Airplay ranking, it trades places with another of Ozuna’s tracks: “Monotonía,” with Shakira, after two weeks in charge. Plus, the new champ secures Ozuna a 31st No. 1, six of which arrived in 2022. Here’s a look at the leaderboard since the chart’s inception in 1994:

“Ozuna and I worked on a track in the past that was never released, but then we were caught up in a World Cup offer so we decided to work together again and focus on this project,” GIMS adds. “We can find many similarities in our music such as with reggaeton sounds. For a sound to work and be a success, you must make the right choice. The combination of Redone, Ozuna and I was the perfect match.”

Further, Ozuna ensures his fifth straight year with at least four No. 1s on Latin Airplay. Here’s the Puerto Rican’s scoreboard:

About the song, GIMS adds” “I was supposed to sing with different artists, names changed a lot before the final decision. Then the whole discussion in regard to the FIFA World Cup started again, and ultimately, RedOne asked Ozuna and I to be on the soundtrack. Fun fact, the partnership wasn’t decided until the very end. You should know that this song may have never seen the light of day!”