2011 was the year the Gaza empire peaked and then, almost overnight, lost its general. For most of the calendar, dancehall belonged to Vybz Kartel and his young protégé Popcaan.
They traded verses on a breezy Swedish riddim, filled YouTube with summer anthems, and pushed the music onto playlists far beyond Kingston.
By the end of the year Kartel was behind bars, and the question of who would wear the crown hung over every session.
The best dancehall songs of 2011 tell that whole story. There are the Gaza summer smashes and Mavado’s hardest-hitting riddim cut.
There is a London-born yardie anthem, a pop-world takeover from Sean Paul, and a Spice record that sounds ahead of its time even now. Here are the twelve tunes that defined the year, ranked.
1. Vybz Kartel, “Summertime” (2011)
Few records have bottled a season as perfectly as this one. The riddim came from an unlikely place: Andreas Nilsson, the Stockholm producer known as Adde Instrumentals, released it through Adidjahiem Records and Adde Productions in June 2011.
Over its bright, rolling keys, Kartel sounded loose and celebratory, a world away from his darker material. The Kirk Lee-directed video, all poolside partying and sunshine, became one of the Worl’ Boss’s last public appearances before his arrest later that year.
That timing gave the song an aching afterlife. It became a permanent marker of freedom and good times, and by June 2023 it had passed 100 million YouTube views.
Gaza Slim’s “Always” and Shawn Storm’s “Naa Lie” rounded out a riddim that owned the summer.
2. Popcaan, “Ravin” (2011)
“In 2011, I told Kartel he should have Popcaan and the other Gaza members voice the ‘Summer Time’ riddim I built,” Nilsson later recalled, and Popcaan answered with “Ravin,” which the producer simply called “a big hit.” That undersells it.
A year after “Clarks” made the British shoe a national obsession, Popcaan proved he was no novelty. His melodic, half-sung flow floated over the riddim with total ease.
In November the song landed on the BBC 1Xtra playlist, making him the first dancehall star to reach that milestone since Sean Paul.
It had passed three million YouTube views by year’s end. LargeUp later paired it with “Summertime” at number 20 on its list of the decade’s essential dancehall tunes.
3. Popcaan, “Only Man She Want” (2011)
“There comes a time in the career of any prodigy where they must outshine their mentor to earn respect,” LargeUp wrote, and for Popcaan that moment arrived here.
The song rode the Lost Angel riddim from Elvis “So Unique” Redwood. Its brooding, minor-key backdrop pulled something more tender and assured out of the young deejay. It runs just over three minutes, every second of it hooks.
The record charted at home and abroad and passed two million YouTube views within months. VP then put it on Reggae Gold 2012, a compilation that reached the Billboard 200 and topped the Reggae Album chart.
LargeUp placed it at number 24 of the 2010s. Many fans still name it as the moment Popcaan became a star in his own right.
4. Mavado, “Settle Down” (2011)
When Justus Arison’s JA Productions unleashed the Overproof riddim in August 2011, the whole dancehall landscape lined up to voice it.
Beenie Man brought “Let’s Go,” Supahype brought “Gone” and Khago brought “Tun Up Di Ting.” But Mavado’s “Settle Down” was the anchor.
Over a 100 BPM bounce built for the dance, the Gully Gad delivered a slick, commanding vocal that turned a simple instruction into a catchphrase.
The tune was big enough to draw an answer record: Baby Tash cut “Nah Settle Down” on the same riddim.
LargeUp ranked it number 26 of the decade and noted that the riddim dominated dances across the first half of the 2010s. It still detonates any old-school juggling today.
5. Mr. Vegas, “Bruk It Down” (2011)
By 2011 Mr. Vegas had been making hits for over a decade, and he showed no sign of slowing down. “Bruk It Down” was produced by Teetimus with Vegas’s own MV Music.
It is pure party engineering: a direct instruction to the dancefloor from an artist who has always understood what makes a crowd move.
Vegas’s elastic, playful delivery carries the tune, and its simple, chantable title made it a selector’s dream. Its standing has only grown with time.
LargeUp ranked it number 16 on its list of the most essential dancehall tunes of the 2010s, ahead of both Gaza summer anthems. That says a lot about how long this tune has kept dances moving.
6. Stylo G, “Call Mi A Yardie” (2011)
This was London’s year to answer back. Stylo G was a Jamaican-born, UK-raised deejay, and he cut “Call Mi A Yardie” with his brother Kody Starr on production.
When it dropped in April, the UK bashment scene took it straight to heart. The Heatwave reported that it got huge forwards in Jamaican-heavy sets all summer.
Its official video arrived on 12 September, and one blogger called it “one of the biggest tunes in UK bashment for 2011.” It may have been one of the most remixed tracks of the year.
The Heatwave’s own refix ran Stylo over 15 riddims and tore through clubs and festivals. Two years later his “Soundbwoy” entered the UK Singles Chart at number 18.
7. Spice, “Jim Screechy” (2011)
Long before the wider world caught up with Equiknoxx, the Kingston production crew built Spice a beat with genuine cinematic sweep. “Jim Screechy” begins sotto voce, almost tiptoeing into its adulterous subject.
Then it explodes into a full-throated hook that shows exactly why Spice had already earned her title as Queen of Dancehall.
It is playful and filthy, and it was sharper in its arrangement than almost anything else on the radio that year. LargeUp ranked it number 30 on its 2010s list.
The magazine praised the way it channelled sexual energy and lyrical firepower into arrangements of real complexity. Fifteen years on, it still sounds like dancehall from some slightly stranger future.
8. Sean Paul, “She Doesn’t Mind” (2011)
Purists will argue whether this belongs on a dancehall list. Shellback and Benny Blanco’s production for Atlantic leans hard into electropop, with no Jamaican riddim underneath.
But no Jamaican artist moved more units in 2011 than Sean Paul, and his patois was all over the global pop charts. Tomahawk Technique had launched in July with “Got 2 Luv U,” featuring Alexis Jordan.
“She Doesn’t Mind” then hit French radio on 29 September and did even bigger business. It peaked at number 2 in the UK over 18 weeks, debuted at number 1 in Switzerland and topped Austria.
It went Platinum in the UK, Canada, Sweden, Denmark and Austria, and triple Gold in Germany. The video, shot at Long Island’s MacArthur Airport, even featured a TSA cameo from Lisa Jackson of America’s Next Top Model.
9. Popcaan, “Party Shot” (2011)
Popcaan earns a third spot because 2011 really was his year. On TJ Records’ Smudge riddim, he shared space with Bugle, Demarco and Propa Fade, and “Party Shot” stood tallest.
It is a bright, bouncy celebration with the carefree energy that was fast becoming his trademark, and it later earned a place in LargeUp’s decade ranking.
The same label also had him on the Snap Back riddim with “Clean,” another record getting heavy rotation in the dances.
With Kartel gone by year’s end, observers were already calling the young Gaza deejay “tipped to be the next big deejay.” These TJ Records cuts showed he had enough range to carry that weight.
10. Mavado, “Delilah” (2011)
2011 was a year of reinvention for Mavado. He signed with DJ Khaled’s We the Best Music Group, and he also set up his own imprint, Mansion Records.
“Delilah” was the new label’s first single, and it showed a smoother, more romantic side of the Gully Gad. The song was built on a slinky groove and the timeless pull of a dangerous woman. It became a fixture in clubs and sessions and passed a million YouTube views.
It also caught the ear of Akon, who jumped on a remix and helped carry the song into international R&B circles. That was exactly the kind of crossover reach Mavado’s new deals promised.
11. I-Octane, “Badmind Fi Di Year” (2011)
I-Octane came into 2011 with momentum from a strong 2010 and turned it into a run of hits. “Badmind Fi Di Year” was the biggest of them.
It takes aim at the haters and grudgeful people every rising artist meets. Octane delivers it with the gritty, conscious-edged conviction that set him apart from more slackness-minded peers.
The message clicked across borders. The song topped several charts in the Caribbean and Europe and stayed there for weeks, becoming one of the defining records of his career.
It also showed that, even in a year dominated by party tunes, a defiant anthem about rising above the badmind still had a home.
12. Vybz Kartel, “Go Go Wine” (2011)
Kartel’s 2011 was not only about riddim singles. In June, Mixpak Records released Kingston Story, a full-length project that took the Gaza boss into more experimental territory and introduced him to new audiences overseas.
“Go Go Wine” became one of its most widely played tracks. It is a slinky, minimal invitation to the floor that worked as well in Brooklyn as it did in Portmore.
Looking back, it captures Kartel at a creative peak: prolific and restless, and pushing the sound outward even as his legal troubles closed in.
By December, one year-end roundup was noting that the King was “currently otherwise occupied.” That made this album cut feel like a parting gift.
Why 2011 Still Matters
In hindsight, 2011 marked a turning point. It was the last full season of Vybz Kartel as a free man and the first in which Popcaan proved he could stand alone.
It was also a year when dancehall’s reach stretched from Stockholm studios to London clubs to European pop charts. The riddims were huge, from Summertime to Overproof, and the songs on them still anchor sets today.
The music kept rolling into the new year, too. Cham’s raw, catchy “Wine Pon Di Buddy” arrived late in 2011 and carried the party into 2012.
Most of all, 2011 left a vacant throne and a generation of artists hungry to fill it. Play these twelve back to back and you can hear that changing of the guard happening in real time.
