Popcaan’s TWIST & TURN, featuring Drake and PartyNextDoor, has officially been certified Gold in the U.S., marking his first Gold single as a lead artist in the country. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the song has now reached 500,000 units in combined streams and sales as of November 14, 2024.
Released in August 2020, TWIST & TURN was the lead single from Popcaan’s FIXTAPE album(2020), produced by Nineteen85, known for hits like Hotline Bling and Too Good. This achievement adds to Popcaan’s success as a collaborator; he previously earned a Gold certification for his feature on Jamie xx’s I Know There’s Gonna Be Good Times with Young Thug. He is also credited as a writer on Drake’s Too Good featuring Rihanna, which is certified 5x Platinum (5 million units) and samples his song Love Yuh Bad, establishing him as one of Jamaica’s most accomplished songwriters.
On the charts, TWIST & TURN peaked at No. 47 on the Canadian Hot 100 and No. 69 on the U.K. Official Singles Chart. Although Popcaan has never travelled to the U.S., to promote the song, it reached No. 19 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 and No. 36 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart.
Globally, the track has surpassed 102 million streams on Spotify and was certified Silver in the U.K. in 2022 for exceeding 200,000 units in sales and streams.
Popcaan, who first gained international recognition with his 2010 breakout single Clarks alongside Vybz Kartel, is now one of Jamaica’s highest-streaming artists on Spotify, surpassing 1.6 billion streams. He is set to be part of the reunion performance at Vybz Kartel’s Freedom Street concert set for December 31.
The Unruly Boss recently declared himself an “independent act” while reaffirming his loyalty to Drake’s OVO Sound, saying, “OVO Unruly same way fi life.” Speaking on Unruly Tash’s YouTube Live, he reflected on his journey under OVO/Warner Music, where he released two albums: Fixtape , which sold over 100,000 units in the U.S. and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart, and Great Is He(2023), which debuted at No. 3.
Previously, Popcaan expressed frustrations with the label system, hinting at his desire for independence in a 2023 interview with Crack Magazine, stating, “I love the label but I don’t like them… I’ll be independent soon.”
