Tony Matterhorn has earned his first U.K. Silver certification for the dancehall anthem “Dutty Wine,” nearly 20 years after the track first set dancefloors ablaze.
According to the British Phonographic Industry, the song—originally released March 22, 2006 via Greensleeves—has surpassed 200,000 in sales and streaming equivalents as of August 15, 2025 with data measured by the Official Charts Company.
VP Records acquired Greensleeves in 2008. This acquisition made VP Music Group the largest reggae label and publisher in the world, due to the combined catalog of master recordings and publishing copyrights. Greensleeves continues to operate as a label under the VP Music Group.
In March, VP Records released a remastered edition of “Dutty Wine,” complete with a Dolby Atmos mix, an uncut raw version, a clean mix, and an instrumental. The reissue coincided with a viral dance trend that has propelled the song into a new wave of popularity on TikTok and Instagram, introducing it to audiences who were in grade school—or not yet born—when the original dropped.
Matterhorn stated recently in a live video that Dutty Wine was written for Bounty Killer, “for those who didn’t know Dutty Wine was written for Bounty Killer.”
A Dance That Shook the World
One of the most recognizable moves to emerge from Jamaica’s dancehall scene, the Dutty Wine is a high-energy, neck-twisting routine that became a global phenomenon in the early 2000s. Performed most often by women, the dance combines rapid head rotations with synchronized wrist, leg, and hip movements—sometimes punctuated by splits.
Its exact origins remain a matter of debate. Mad Michelle, the 2003 Dancehall Queen champion, has claimed she was the first to perform it on camera. Others credit Dyema “Attitude” Grey of Montego Bay, or the Montego Bay trio The Attitude Girls, whose member Shalara Gayle became famous for executing the fastest and longest Dutty Wine ever recorded.
Matterhorn first encountered the move in Montego Bay’s “Skin Out” sessions and saw its potential. In 2006, he immortalized it with “Dutty Wine,” built on Stephen “Supa Hype” Davis’s electrifying Smash Riddim. The track topped charts in Jamaica, became a staple at Caribbean carnivals, and reached as far as Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 in the United States.
Controversy and Cultural Impact
The dance’s extreme neck movements quickly drew medical warnings. Jamaican physician Winston Jadusingh told the BBC at the time, “The body was not designed to undergo that type of stress,” cautioning against muscle and ligament damage. The concern didn’t slow its spread. The Guardian even published a “How to Dutty Wine” guide during its peak, while dance crews from London to New York to Tokyo incorporated it into their routines.
