Grammy nominated Jamaican artist Spice continues to make history in music as her song “Guh Down Deh,” featuring Shaggy and Sean Paul, has sold 688,000 equivalent units in streams and sales in the US, according to data provided exclusively to World Music Views by Billboard sales tracker Luminate on Thursday, February 1, 2024.
Of that amount, 21,000 are in pure sales, according to Luminate.
The single from the Love and Hip Hop star’s debut album “10” is the first song to be led by a female dancehall artist to reach the milestone in the US and is now eligible for Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association Of America. It will be Spice’s first music certification and the first time a female Jamaican has earned Gold for a lead song this century.
The Queen Of The Dancehall follows in the footsteps of Diana King, whose solo single “Shy Guy”(Columbia Records) sold 500,000 copies in the US and was the first song by a female Jamaican to be certified Gold in the US on July 5, 1995.
“10,” released by VP Records on August 6, 2021 has sold 125,000 album equivalent units in streams and sales in the US according data provided exclusively to WMV by Luminate. Of that amount, 2000 are in pure sales, and 230 million are in Demand streams as of February 1, 2024, according to Luminate. The slow-burning album now ranks as one of the highest-selling dancehall albums released in the last two years after it debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard Reggae albums chart with pure album sales of 676 copies and 1,447 total units with streaming, according to MRC Data. It was nominated for Best Reggae Album at the 64th Annual Grammy awards.
“Guh Down Deh” peaked at number one on Jamaica’s weekly YouTube Chart after its global premiere on May 1, 2021. The Jay Will-directed music video has reached over 250 million views on YouTube and 197 million Spotify streams.
The song is currently charting at No. 79 on Apple Music Montserrat, #49 in Cambodia on iTunes, and #178 in Denmark on Shazam.
“Guh Down deh” really resonated with her core fans but also opened the door to actually receiving new fans. The song is doing well in Russia and Italy, and now South America is catching on to it,” Shaggy told Winford Williams of Onstage. Adding, “I think culturally it made a nice statement for us.”
Shaggy told WMV that the song was originally supposed to be his solo effort, until he started working as the executive producer of “10” and decided to give the track to Spice, later adding Sean Paul.
Romanian producer Constantin “Costi” Ioniță said he incorporated influences and diverse cultural sounds of Romania, particularly the Balcanica rhythm, to find universal appeal. Costi Ioniță’s previous successes, including the Billboard Hot 100 hit “I Need Your Love” by Shaggy. He told WMV that he encourages artists to be open to diverse vibes and genres.
