Shaggy makes it to ‘China’
NEW YORK:
SHAGGY PROCLAIMED“it wasn’t me”on his 2000 smash hit single from his multiplatinum studio album Hot Shot, but it seems the reggae/dancehall superstar is everywhere these days. It Wasn’t Me is featured prominently on China, a catchy, Spanish/reggaeton/EDM adaptation that samples the hit single.
The song was recorded by Anuel AA, Daddy Yankee, Karol G, Ozuna & J Balvin for Anuel AA’s upcoming studio album Emmanuel. The Latin pop banger was released last year and has quietly amassed over one billion views on YouTube, having achieved over 53.6 million views globally during the week of August 23-29, 2019. This was enough to make China a number-one single on the Global YouTube music videos chart. The song has since peaked at number one in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Spain and has topped the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. It has been certified five times platinum in Spain, platinum in Italy and gold in the United States, Portugal and France.
IMPRESSIVE HISTORY
It Wasn’t Me, which features Rickardo ‘ RikRok’ Ducent, has its own impressive history. It is regarded as Shaggy’s breakthrough single in the pop market and is his highest-charting song to date on Billboard. It was his first number-one hit in the US and subsequently topped charts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Poland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. It Wasn’t Me has sold over 1.5 million copies to date.
In the past two years, ‘ Mr Bombastic’s’ success has quadrupled. His 2018 European Summer concert ticket sales with pop/ rock legend Sting, as reported by Billboard Boxscore, grossed over US$10 million, placing him at number four on the Hot Tours tally. Celine Dion was number one. In 2018, he was among a galaxy of stars who performed at Queen Elizabeth’s 92nd birthday party at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England. The London performance was one of many high-profile appearances by the reggae star, which included performances on both the CBS Grammy television special, as well as the NBC Superbowl finals that year. The Grammy winner teamed with Sting to win the Best Reggae Album at the 2019 Grammy Awards at the Staple Center in Los Angeles and wrapped 2019 with an appearance on the ABC-TV and Disney Channel’s Thanksgiving and Christmas specials in the US.