Spice Becomes First Jamaican Female Dancehall artist to have a Lead Song sell Gold in the US this Century

Spice Becomes First Jamaican Female Dancehall artist to have a Lead Song sell Gold in the US this Century

Spice becomes the first Jamaican female dancehall artist in 30 years to have a lead song become eligible for Gold certification in the US according to the RIAA database. She is also, the first Jamaican female dancehall artist to have a single from their album to sell over 500,000 equivalent units in the United States since 1995.

Jamaican recording artist Diana King’s “Shy Guy” off her “Tougher Than Love” album certified gold in the US after selling 500,000 copies in 1995. According to the RIAA database, no Jamaican female dancehall artist has met this milestone with a lead song since. Well, Spice who started her musical journey at just 14 years old has ended the drought and becomes the first since then to have a lead song become eligible for Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association Of America.

The hit single off her Grammy-nominated debut album “10”, which has now sold over 125,000 album-equivalent units in the US, and is the most streamed dancehall album released in the last 2 years with 273 million streams is now one of the fastest reggae/dancehall songs to meet this milestone in the US in dancehall’s history.

Since its release, the collaboration has been streamed 200 million times on Spotify and viewed more than 3 billion times on YouTube through millions of YouTube short videos which contain the song. The audio version on Spice’s YouTube channel has 52 million streams, while the official music video has 250 million views.

How the Song Came About?

There’s no question that the song is one of the biggest hits to come out of Jamaica in the last decade. Spice told Good Morning America that the song came about from a simple DM. Spice decided to send the two legends Shaggy and Sean Paul a message to bring this masterpiece together. Both were receptive and did not hesitate to jump on the track.

The song was produced by Grammy-nominated Romanian producer Costi Ionita and co-produced by Shaggy. Written by Spice, Sean Paul, Shaggy, Costi and Shane Hoosong.

More Interesting Numbers

Since its release, “Go Down Deh” has charted in 163 countries on Apple Music, peaked #1 in 91 countries on iTunes and #1 in 60 countries on Apple Music.

“Go Down Deh” was ranked #6 on the 50 Most Played International Songs, revealed by Amazon Music Experts along with songs from Harry Styles, The Weekend, Charlie Puth, Taylor Swift and other mainstream heavyweights.

The single entered Spotify Global’s Dance/Electronic Chart in January of 2023, peaking at #40 and remained on the charts for over 22 weeks. Making it the longest charting song from a Jamaican female artist on the platform’s chart since its existence.

The single became a trending sensation on social media platforms such as TikTok where it has 8 billion views and Instagram with over 3 million reels combined.

It has been in the top 10 on Shazam’s Reggae/Dancehall: Global chart since its release and peaked top 10 on the worldwide Shazam global charts. Shazam is a chart dedicated to the most searched songs globally. Since its release, It has remained on iTunes, and Apple Music reggae sales chart and is the longest-charting #1 on the platforms for a Jamaican Female artist.

On April 30, 2021 “Go Down Deh” entered the Overall iTunes chart in the US, UK and Canada for all genres and remained for two weeks.

Last year, Spice dominated three Spotify global charts. She was the only female to enter the top 10 most-streamed dancehall albums and songs on the platform for 2023. Definitely a great look for the independent artist who started her musical journey in the late nineties.

Spice is set to headline Utopia’s Carnival Cruise & Festival in April 2024 alongside the African giant Burna Boy, she is also expected to drop her 3rd studio album in the second quarter of the year.