Beenie Man And Bounty Killer Streams Surge Since Verzuz Battle
Beenie Man and Bounty Killer, two veterans of dancehall, keep winning since their Verzuz Battle last week, May 23.
According to Billboard Magazine and data from Nielsen Music/MRC, both deejays are now living their best streaming life days of 2020 following the clash.
The stats come as fans around the world continue to relive the show and have been going back to the feed to take in their favorite moments. Both artistes have achieved the best single-day streaming for the year 2020. The boost came on Sunday, May 24, as fans added to the already impressive show of 500,000 viewers.
According to Billboard, Beenie Man pulled 622,000 U.S. on-demand streams on the day mentioned above. Bounty Killer also scored big, with about 256,000 registered clicks. Previous to the online battle, Bounty had not yet broken 300,000 mark for the year.
Billboard further shared that: “For the full Verzuz impact, Beenie Man’s totals on both the battle day (23rd) and the following day (24th) give him 906,000 U.S. streams, a 187.5% increase from his 315,000 streams in the two days preceding the event. “Girls Dem Sugar” was his top streaming tune, with 219,000 clicks on the 23rd – 24th. “Who Am I” (75,000), “King of the Dancehall’ (64,000), “Dude” (62,000), and “Romie” (48,000) rounded out his top five.”
The figures are astounding for both deejays. Bounty Killer also received a significant jump in his numbers.
“Bounty Killer, too, experienced triple-digit percentage growth. His catalog accrued a combined 367,000 U.S. on-demand streams on the 23rd and 24th, compared to 94,000 in the two days before, a surge of 291%. “Living Dangerously” was his best streaming track for the 23rd- 24th, with the next four highest in this order: “Look” (27,000), “Benz & Bimma” (25,000), “Suspense” (21,000) and “Worthless Bwoy” (13,000).”
Even one of the organizers of the show Swizz Beatz said that it was by far the best on the platform since its launch. It’s also a big win for Jamaica because this clash pulled in over 3.5 million viewers total and 1 billion brand impressions for the island, according to Verzuz.
The success should come as no surprise, though, as both deejays have collaborated with major international acts throughout their career and are aware of what it takes to put on a show to gain global appeal.
A call has been issued by fellow veteran artiste Shaggy to have both artistes granted permission to perform in the U.S. as it’s clear that’s what the fans want. Both men had their visas revoked about a decade ago. Shaggy also recently said that they and other major acts like Popcaan and Buju Banton need to be allowed to represent dancehall in the U.S. He added that dancehall was being shackled because these major performers were not being allowed to ply their trade.
“We have five major players in dancehall now that are not mobile, that cannot represent the culture: Vybz Kartel, Buju Banton, Popcaan, Beenie Man, and Bounty Killer. Five massive columns, pillars of dancehall culture that cannot move to go and promote the culture, and we need to start having the conversation,” Shaggy said.
Ever the entrepreneur, Beenie Man, has already begun to capitalize on some of the exposure from the battle and has launched The Verzuz Collection, which consists of 15 pieces of clothing, that also include his viral slogan: ‘Do you want to be that guy?”