Shaggy and Rik Rok’s classic “It Wasn’t Me” has officially surpassed one billion streams on Spotify.
The song was released in 2000, decades before the era of streaming, which makes this achievement all the more impressive. “It Wasn’t Me” was released on Shaggy’s landmark album Hot Shot, which was released on November 7, 2000. The track, which arguably put the dancehall star on the global stage, was produced by Shaun “Sting” Pizzonia. Despite not earning any official certification in the United States, the song sold millions of copies worldwide.
Shaggy noted its achievement in a video shared on Instagram while thanking Spotify for the recognition and thanking his fans for still listening to the timeless song after 25 years.
“So I just want to say thanks to Spotify For recognizing over a billion streams of our single ‘It Wasn’t Me’ from the ‘Hot Shot’ album,” Shaggy said. “You know the crazy thing about this record is or this award. This is a billion streams after it already sold millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of hard copies.”
“So to have a record over you know 25 years selling millions and millions of hard copies and coming back and selling over a billion and streams again it’s just phenomenal,” the dancehall legend continues. “I just like to say thanks to the fans 100% of the fans the fans that made this record.”
Shaggy also took a slide dig at the record labels for not believing in the song until it became a mainstream success. “You know it wasn’t any record company that pushed this or anything it was just straight fans that love this record and they made that record live on and on and become a part of pop culture now,” he said. “So I just like to say thanks to Spotify, thanks to everybody that was involved and thanks to the fans. Much love.”
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Shaggy’s Hot Shot album was certified 6X platinum in the United States by the RIAA in June 2001. “It Wasn’t Me” was the biggest song on the project and peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song also climbed to the top of several other Billboard charts, including the US Hot Rap Songs, US Pop Airplay, and US Rhythmic Chart.
