Koffee’s ‘Toast’ Goes Platinum In The UK
Toast, the breakthrough single from Jamaican Reggae singer Koffee, was certified Platinum in the United Kingdom on Friday (February 10).
According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the song was issued the Brit Certified Platinum Award for sales and streaming exceeding 600,000 units in the UK, as measured by The Official Charts Company.
First released in November 2018, Toast later appeared on Koffee’s Grammy Award-winning Rapture EP in 2019.
It is her first song to be certified platinum in the UK.
W with rapper Gunna, the Rapture single, and her collab with rapper J Hus titled Repeat, are all currently certified Silver in the UK for sales and streaming exceeding 200,000 units.
Toast was also her first song to reach the Silver milestone in January 2019, before becoming Gold in the UK (400,000 units) in January 2021. It was certified Gold in Canada in August 2019 after exceeding 40,000 units sold in the country.
The song has spent 17 weeks on the UK Singles chart, where it peaked at No. 70.
It also spent three weeks on the Billboard Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, where it peaked at No. 37, one week on the Rap Airplay chart, where it peaked at No. 24, and two weeks on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, where it peaked at No. 47.
Notably, Toast has appeared on former US President Barrack Obama’s curated playlists twice, along with other Koffee songs such as Don’t Walk Away with John Legend, and Repeat collab with J Hus.
It also appeared on the soundtracks for Jordan Peele’s Us (2019) and the Netflix movie Fatale (2020).
The official music video has amassed 218 million views on YouTube, while the track has racked up 144 million plays on Spotify.
The song’s co-producer IzyBeats revealed that he did not use expensive equipment nor an elaborate studio to create the rhythm for the megahit. Instead, Izy explained that he created the beat using his “comfortable home set up where all the ideas reside,” using Pro Tools and low-budget Sam Ash equipment.
“Something about these small home rooms… You don’t need that much to make a “HIT” song. Just keep an open mind, stay consistent and it will all fall into place,” the produced noted in an Instagram post two years ago.
He also told the Observer that the Toast beat was initially never intended to be shared with Koffee and her team. He said that at the time he was working on the beat for another artist, but his manager accidentally sent it by email to several persons, including Walshy Fire, who later sent him the song with Koffee’s vocals.
“Once we heard it the first time it was clear. There was just something magical about the song and we couldn’t deny it. The label clearly didn’t expect it to take off in the way it did and used it as a kind of warm-up. But the song clearly had other plans and just kept going in an organic way, and is still rising,” Izy said.
The Rapture EP earned Koffee the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2020. She was the first woman and the youngest person to take home that award.
Her debut Gifted album, which featured the songs Pull Up, West Indies and Lockdown, was nominated for Best Reggae Album at the 2023 Grammy Awards.