YouTube is hands down the leading streaming platform in Jamaica. Not to be confused with YouTube’s premium service YouTube Music, which is an app dedicated to music but not yet available in Jamaica.
YouTube has both music and music videos. In spite of the quality, these are the main ways Jamaicans have been streaming music for the last 4 years.
This year, there were some new faces on the streaming scene, as well as regular chart toppers who saw an increase in their streams on the platform.
YouTube outpaces all other streaming options accross the world and in Jamaica. It is the most accurate numerical reflection of artists and songs that are leading the culture.
Jah Vinci who had a mild year in terms of a public spectacle or music narrative is the artist with the most streamed song “Virgin”, produced by NotNice. He is carrying on the Gaza legacy set by the his mentor Vybz Kartel who is the most streamed artist for four years in a row. Skillibeng has two songs in the top ten and late comer Skeng made the top five with Gvnman Shift.
Noticeably absent from the list are roots reggae songs. Local reggae consumtion was almost non existent this year on the charts, except for Beres Hammond who had arguably the best concert this year. His breakthrough collaboration “God is Love” with Popcaan is the 20th most streamed song in Jamaica.
Also absent from the top ten artist list this year are Shenseea and Koffee who had the two biggest songs last year “Lock Down” and “Lighter”. No women made the top ten artist list and only three made the top twenty list with Shenseea at 13 with 26.6M, while Spice is at 16 with 21.2M and Shaniel Muir at number 17 with 17.9M local YouTube streams.
The release date of these songs are not factored in, only thing that matters is the amount of times the songs or artists were streamed during 2021. At least one song on this top ten list was released mid 2020 but the streams considered were gained during the period December 2020- December 2021.
See full top ten list below
10. Crocodile Teeth remix by Skillibeng and Nicki Minaj- 5.14M
9. Go Down Deh by Spice feat. Shaggy and Sean Paul- 5.41M
8. Humans by Nation Boss- 5.61M
7. Yahoo Boyz by Intence- 6.35M
6. Ambitions by Yaksta- 6.45M
5. From Rags To Riches – 6.79M
4. Not by Skillibeng ft. Street Gena, Quenga, F.S, One Sparkes- 6.88M
3. Gvnman Shift by Skeng – 7.06M
2. Chosen by Rytical – 7.07M
1. Virgin By Jah Vinci- 7.67M
The most streamed YouTube ‘artist’ in Jamaica is Cocomelon Nursery Rhymes. Which is an edutainment channel for children and families. They surpassed 80 million streams in Jamaica this year. Children are the highest streaming demographic in Jamaica and the younger they are the more they stream their favorite music.
For the artists in the music industry, the list bears similarities to last year.
Here is a list of the top ten most streamed artists across their entire YouTube catalog in Jamaica (minus Cocomelon).
10. Tommy Lee- 33.3M
9. Squash- 38.5M
8. Popcaan- 40.4M
7. Masicka- 40.4M
6. Teejay- 44M
5. Intence- 50.1M
4. Skillibeng- 55.2M
3. Alkaline- 61.1M
2. Chronic Law- 62.5M
1. Vybz Kartel- 66.4M
For more information on the most streamed songs and artists in Jamaica click worldmusicviews.com/streamawards
