OMI is a Jamaican singer whose career is defined by one song and, just as importantly, by one remix of it. He first released "Cheerleader" in 2012, where it was a local hit. The version that conquered the world came in 2014, when the young German DJ Felix Jaehn reworked it into a sunny, trumpet-led tropical-house track.
That remix became a phenomenon, topping the charts in more than twenty countries, including the US Billboard Hot 100, through 2015. It was one of the defining feel-good sounds of its summer. Nothing OMI released afterward came close.
On streaming, the "Cheerleader" remix sits near 2.1 billion plays, while his next most-streamed track, "Hula Hoop", trails at around 285 million. That puts the ratio above 7, past our 5.0 line.
By our measure OMI is a certified one-hit wonder. His story is also a neat parable of the streaming age: a modest original song transformed by the right remix into a global smash, after which the spotlight moved on and left one tropical-house hit to carry the catalogue. The remix did not just make the song; in streaming terms, it made the artist.