The math and magic of the music industry is in making great songs that sell and Dancehall is among the most influential genres of music in the 21st century with some of the biggest songs ever made. 

There are 100 songs to have sold 10 million units in the U.S. and be certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA). Four of them are listed and/influenced by Dancehall rhythms and culture: “Shape Of You” by Ed Sheeran, Justin Beiber’s “Sorry”, French Montana’s “Unforgettable” featuring Swae Lee and Drake’s “One Dance” featuring Wizkid and Kyla.

These Afrobeats, Hip Hop and Pop artists incorporate elements of dancehall into their music, and they reaped massive sales success, while the mainstream music media blatantly whitewashes Dancehall’s influence on the popular music. Anytime dancehall succeeds, it is retitled and packaged as “tropical pop” or “tropical house,” which is a disservice to the artists and people who built the genre and culture over the years.

Here are the four RIAA Diamond selling Dancehall singles:

• Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran

Shape of You by English singer–songwriter Ed Sheeran was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the lead singles from his third studio album, ÷ (Divide). The song was written by Sheeran and Steve Mac, and produced by Mac. Shape of You topped the charts in more than 30 countries, including the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada. It was certified Diamond one January 24, 2019. The song is an up–tempo pop song, with dancehall beats and lyrics about falling in love with someone‘s body shape.  The song has received critical acclaim for its catchy and upbeat melody. Shape of You has become a massive success, becoming Sheeran‘s most successful single to date. It was the first song to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify, and it has also become the most–streamed song of all time on the platform. It has been certified platinum or multi–platinum in over 30 countries, and has further sold over 16 million copies in the United States alone. The song has been nominated for multiple awards, including the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Jamaican entertainer Ishawna did her own rendition of “Shape Of You” causing much uproar in the dancehall community. Since then Sheeran himself has given her the thumbs up for her remix and recorded new dancehall music with with Equal Rights singer.

Sheeran told Qmusic Nederland, “There are so many remixes of it, I was in the Caribbean, and I heard like a totally different song, It is really really filthy, but she is just singing about her man going down on her”. He said candidly.

• ‘Sorry’ by Justin Beiber

Sorry was certified Diamond on March 29, 2021 but Vulture called it “a Caribbean-flavored house beat over which Bieber flexes his best falsetto,” while the LA Times called it an “airy tropical-house banger,” and the RIAA labels it as Pop. However it is a dancehall song plain and simple.

Bieber did not appear in the Sorry video, which was the No. 1 most streamed video of 2016 and is currently the 11th most viewed video on YouTube with 3,626,928,607 views. It is and the 5th fasted to reach 3 billion views in YouTube history.

Parris Goebel and her dance crew, ReQuest took Justin’s place in the video and when asked by Rolling Stone about the origin of her dance movements, Goebel completely failed to acknowledge that she had used well-established Dancehall moves like Gully Creepa, Muscle Wine, and Cow Foot throughout the video’s routine. Goebel also told Cosmopolitan that as far as the moves, she didn’t overthink it. “The word that comes to mind is ‘spontaneous.’ Nothing was planned too much, not even the dancing. It was more like, ‘How do we feel on the spot?’” she said.

After she came under fire from Jamaicans for failing to credit the culture, the New Zealander defended herself on a Facebook post, saying that she had “huge respect and passion for [dancehall]”, according to Stuff.  “I also didn’t expect us to also be judged of the colour of our skin, because to my understanding, dance is one love and I believe it is what brings us together,” she added.

In the HuffPost article “Enjoy Dancehall Sounds, But Don’t Let Enjoyment Be Erasure”, Rasheena Fountain warns that Dancehall’s broad influence on popular music may result in a repeat of the “whitewashing” that happened to other black music genres. “While musical genres should be inclusive, the problem comes when progression and mainstream acceptance comes with erasure of the culture that created the music, lessening the authenticity.”

Bieber has never addressed the allegations of cultural appropriation or given a salute to Jamaica and Dancehall culture for its influence on his music.

The success of Sorry helped to reignite popular music’s interest in Dancehall and several Dancehall-influenced hits followed, including Drake’s Controlla, Rihanna’s Work, Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You, and Tory Lanez’s LUV.

As a show of support and acknowledgement, several Dancehall artists even dropped Sorry remixes on the Skillrex and Bloodpop riddim, including Vybz Kartel, Konshens, Busy Signal, Mr. Vegas.

If it sounds like dancehall and has a riddim like dancehall, regardless of the singer, it is dancehall. 

In an episode of DJ Khaled’s First One Podcast on Amazon Music, Bieber was asked whether he was directly inspired by Dancehall and Reggae in the making of Sorry, which has distinct Dancehall drum patterns and an accompanying music video that drew heavily on Dancehall fashion and dance moves dating back to the 1990s.

When the song was released off Bieber’s fourth studio album, Purpose, it sparked much controversy among some Dancehall artists and fans, who viewed it as cultural appropriation.

DJ Khaled, in the interview, said that “the record ‘Sorry’ has that Dancehall feel, I love Jamaica, I love Reggae, I love Dancehall music, there wouldn’t be no DJ Khaled if Khaled didn’t break out of Dancehall, it’s part of my story and who I am.”

After which, he asked Justin, “what inspired you to make that record, are you inspired by Reggae music, Dancehall music?”

Justin Bieber, DJ Khaled

Justin further explained why he dabbled in other cultures, “When you put on that type of music if you are sad it uplifts your spirit and makes you feel good…I want to make music for the world, and for all ethnicities…(I want to make) music that uplifts your spirit and makes you feel good.”

• ‘Unforgettable’ by French Montana feat Swae Lee

Moroccan-US rapper French Montana joined the short list of songs to have gone Diamond with his hit Unforgettable featuring Swae Lee. The song was certified by the RIAA on Thursday August 8, 2022 for selling 10 million units in the United States.

Released on April 7, 2017, Unforgettable was previously certified 9x Multi-Platinum | April 8, 2021, 8x Multi-Platinum | April 16, 2020, 7x Multi-Platinum | September 17, 2019, 6x Multi-Platinum | September 28, 2018, 5x Multi-Platinum | January 31, 2018, 4x Multi-Platinum | November 14, 2017, 3x Multi-Platinum | September 8, 2017, 2x Multi-Platinum | August 9, 2017, Platinum | June 20, 2017, and Gold | May 26, 2017.

The music video which was shot in Uganda has now surpassed 1.4 billion streams on YouTube and featured the Ugandan youth dance troupe Triplets Ghetto Kids. “Most of the them live in the States now,” according to Montana.

To celebrate his rare accomplishment, the Coke Boys artist hosted friends and associates at his home on Wednesday night for an intimate dinner and plaque presentation with members of his record label.

In attendance was Epic Records chair and CEO Sylvia Rhone, XO Records co-founder and CEO Sal Slaiby, SALXCO VP of A&R Rahsaan “Shake” Phelps and producer C.P Dubb.

Global Citizen partnered with French to visit the rural health clinic Suubi Health Centre as they paired a social cause with the single’s release raising over $500,000.

“It was an amazing experience to be a part of,” said Rhone of “Unforgettable.” “This doesn’t happen every day. This only happens when you have a special song. It’s a big achievement.”

“He had the vision for this record from even the demo,” added Slaiby.

Although the song is listed as a dancehall hip hop song French noted that the diamond plaque is a big win for his home country Morocco, where he moved from to the US at age 13.

“Unforgettable” was the lead single from “Jungle Rules,” released by Epic Records/Bad Boy Entertainment in July 2017.

The Coke Boys rapper released the No. 1 iTunes Hip Hop mixtape, “Montega,” with producer Harry Fraud which featured a​ ​credited​ but uncleared​ sample of Jamaican singer Everton Blender’s Higher, produced by Tony Rebel.

World Music Views reported that the Rebel Salute director Tony Rebel was not aware of the sample, even though it was released on his Flames Record label. Upon hearing Montana and Fraud’s sample of “Higher” with Blender’s voice echoing and the distinctive horns, he initially responded in shock by saying, “me a send it to my lawyer dem a New York right now.” He then contemplated, “I wonder if somebody clear it, who would be the one to clear it?”

The Nazarite Vow artist says he will be pursuing legal action to seek recompense for the unauthorized use of the song.

• “One Dance” (2016) by Drake featuring Wizkid & Kyla

2016 was a year that dancehall flourished on the charts and One Dance took the world by storm. The bop from Drake’s 4th studio album Views was certified Diamond(10 million) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 8, 2022. It was previously certified 8x Multi-Platinum September 25, 2019 and it is also certified Diamond in France (233,333) and Canada (800,000).

It made Wizkid the first African artist to be certified Diamond in the U.S. with a single by the Recording Industry Association of America®.

The Dancehall, Afro-fusion, hip hop single is co-written by the artists is co-produced Nineteen85 and Noah “40” Shebib, with production assistance from Wizkid. Crazy Cousinz and Kyla received songwriting credits for the sampling of their 2008 UK funky song “Do You Mind”.

The track reached number one in 15 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, becoming Drake’s first number-one single in all 15 countries as the lead artist. It topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for 10 non-consecutive weeks and became the joint-second longest consecutive number one in the UK Singles Chart with 15 consecutive weeks at the top.