Cast your mind back to 2019 and you can almost hear it: a teenager from Spanish Town toasting her way onto the world stage, a deejay behind bars still running the streets, and every dance from Kingston to London moving to a fresh crop of bad man anthems and fashion tunes.
It was a year when the music felt hungry again, split between global crossover ambition and the raw, local energy that keeps the culture honest.
So what were the best dancehall songs of 2019? Our ranking draws on the songs that owned radio, sound system sets and the YouTube trending page, from Grammy-bound breakthroughs to summer street anthems that turned a pair of shoes into a movement. Here are the 12 tunes that defined the year, strongest first.
1. Koffee, “Toast” (2019)
Technically, “Toast” landed in November 2018. In practice, 2019 belonged to it. The gratitude anthem rode a bubbling, bright production from Izybeats and Walshy Fire, and Koffee’s nimble, clear-eyed flow made thankfulness sound like a victory lap. She wrote it in Haiti in 2018. “Visiting Haiti years later was surreal for me,” she later recalled.
The Xavier Damase video, with Protoje and Chronixx dropping in, spread fast, and the song even surfaced in Jordan Peele’s horror film Us.
When it anchored the Rapture EP in March 2019 on Promised Land/Columbia, the project topped Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart and went on to win Best Reggae Album at the 62nd Grammys.
That made Koffee, at 19, the first woman and the youngest artist to take the prize. “Toast” was eventually certified Platinum in the UK, and it remains the sound of a generation saying thanks.
2. Squash & Vybz Kartel, “Beat Dem Bad” (2019)
If “Toast” was the year’s prayer, “Beat Dem Bad” was its swagger. Squash and Kartel traded bars over the Block Party Riddim for 6ix Real Records, with distribution through 21st Hapilos, and the result was pure 6ix camp chemistry: menacing, playful and made for a crowd to shout back.
The hook about a “Louis bag” became a quotable status line all summer.
When the video arrived on 8 June 2019, it raced past 600,000 views in 48 hours and kept climbing to around 12 million by the end of the year.
It cemented Squash as one of 2019’s breakout names, proving the mentor and the protégé could share a riddim as equals.
3. Vybz Kartel, “Any Weather” (2019)
Incarcerated or not, Kartel still led the pack in 2019, and “Any Weather” showed the gentler side of his output.
Built on Shabdon Records’ G6ixx Riddim, a mellow 94 BPM groove released on 8 April that also carried cuts from Chronic Law, Jahvillani, Squash and Teejay, the song stood tallest on the whole project. ReggaeMania called it a “conscious and uplifting” tune, and that warmth is what made it travel.
This is a loyalty song at heart, a promise to stand firm through rain and sunshine, delivered with that unhurried Kartel cadence.
It became a favourite for selectors looking to cool the temperature without losing the crowd.
4. Stylo G, Spice & Sean Paul, “Dumpling (Remix)” (2019)
The original “Dumpling” was already one of the summer’s biggest hits, a bouncy, food-themed whine-up tune that turned every party into a dance class.
Then Stylo G called in reinforcements. Released on 25 October 2019 through 3Beat, the remix added brand new verses from the Queen of Dancehall, Spice, and from Sean Paul, giving the song both bite and global reach.
It went to No. 1 on the iTunes Reggae Top Songs chart and debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s Reggae Digital Songs chart.
The video, packed with group dancing in Spanish Town, captured exactly why it worked: this was a song meant to be performed together, in the streets, with your whole crew.
5. Shenseea ft. Tyga, “Blessed” (2019)
Shenseea had just signed with Interscope’s Rich Immigrants imprint when “Blessed” dropped on 22 May 2019, and it played like a mission statement.
With Rvssian among its production team, the track blended dancehall bounce with glossy pop and hip hop polish, while Tyga’s verse opened doors to American audiences.
The Arrad-directed video, shot in Montego Bay, put Jamaica front and centre. The song had remarkable staying power, passing 58 million YouTube views by April 2022 and later serving as the first single from her debut album, Alpha.
In hindsight, “Blessed” was the moment Shenseea stepped from local star to international contender.
6. Sean Paul ft. Stefflon Don, “Shot & Wine” (2019)
Released on 17 January 2019 through Island Records, “Shot & Wine” opened the year with a clear purpose: bring dancehall back to the centre of the pop party.
Produced by Banx & Ranx and Shakka, it followed Sean Paul’s crossover outings “Mad Love” with David Guetta and “Naked Truth” with Jhené Aiko, but it felt more rooted in the yard.
Stefflon Don, the British star with Jamaican heritage, matched his energy line for line. MTV News praised “an infectiously good beat and the bars to match.”
The video followed on 15 February. Fans argued about it then and they still argue now, but the ambition to put dancehall on global playlists was undeniable.
7. Daddy1, “Anthem” (2019)
Every year produces a song that young men claim as their own, and in 2019 it was Daddy1’s “Anthem.” This was his breakthrough, and the chorus, built around a “6ix” line, became a rallying cry far beyond his core fanbase.
Even the Jamaica Observer, which ranked it fourth of the year, admitted the rest of the song was “basic”, and in a way that was the point. “Anthem” did not need complexity.
It needed one chant that a whole dance could scream in unison, and it had it. That hook carried Daddy1 from the underground into the national conversation
8. Munga Honorable, “Nah Mad” (2019)
Munga Honorable spent 2019 with a court case hanging over him, yet the music kept coming, and “Nah Mad” landed as exactly what the streets wanted.
It was a classic dancehall smash in the traditional mould, the kind of tune radio and the dances leaned on all year long.
Munga’s gruff, battle-tested voice gives the song its weight, and the title’s cool defiance suited both the man and the moment.
In a year dominated by crossover headlines, “Nah Mad” was a reminder that hardcore dancehall still had a loyal audience who simply wanted a big tune to forward.
9. Jahvillani, “Clarks Pon Foot” (2019)
Fresh off the momentum of “Nuh Reason”, Jahvillani tapped into one of dancehall’s great fashion traditions.
“Bad man a rock brand new Clarks pon foot” revived the old thrill of Kartel’s famous Clarks punchline and handed it to a new generation, and it worked so well that Clarks itself co-signed the single as its summer anthem.
That is a rare crossover, a street deejay and a heritage shoe brand on the same page.
Few songs in 2019 changed what people actually wore to the dance, but this one did, and it made Jahvillani one of the year’s most talked-about names.
10. Koffee ft. Govana, “Rapture (Remix)” (2019)
The title track of Koffee’s Grammy-winning EP, released on 14 March 2019, was already a bright, punchy showcase for her lyricism.
The remix brought in Govana, whose deeper, rougher tone gave the record a harder dancehall edge and set up a delightful contrast with Koffee’s crisp delivery.
Where “Toast” opened doors overseas, the “Rapture” remix spoke directly to the dance, proving the young star could hold her own beside the island’s hardcore deejays.
It became a staple on year-end playlists and on DJ sets alike, and it still sounds like two artists pushing each other to sharpen their bars.
11. Vybz Kartel ft. Afro B, “Shape Nice” (2019)
Kartel’s 2019 output was so plentiful that he appears on this list three times, and “Shape Nice” might be his most forward-looking moment of the year.
Linking with Afro B, the song bridged dancehall and Afrobeats years before that conversation became an industry obsession.
The video climbed high on YouTube’s trending charts, and fans voted it the top dancehall song of 2019 in one popular online poll.
Breezy, flirtatious and built for a slow, rolling wine, “Shape Nice” showed that the Worl’ Boss could still read the global mood from a prison cell.
12. Teejay, “Owna Lane” (2019)
Teejay was one of 2019’s steadiest hit makers, and “Owna Lane” was the tune that summed up his appeal.
The title says it all: this is a song about staying focused, minding your own business and moving at your own pace, delivered with the cheeky, catchy flow that made the Uptop Boss a selector’s favourite.
Fans ranked it among the year’s very best in online voting, and it found its way onto end-of-year playlists from radio to streaming.
As a closing pick, it fits perfectly, a reminder that 2019 rewarded artists who knew exactly who they were.
Why 2019 Still Matters
Looking back from 2026, 2019 feels like a hinge year. Koffee’s Grammy proved a young Jamaican voice could conquer the world without diluting a thing, while Shenseea, Stylo G and Sean Paul pushed dancehall deeper into global pop.
At the same time, the street side of the culture was thriving: Squash and Chronic Law were rising, Jahvillani turned footwear into folklore, and Daddy1 gave young men a chant to call their own.
Above it all hovered Vybz Kartel, still dominating from behind bars and already reaching toward Afrobeats.
That mix of homegrown grit and outward ambition is exactly what dancehall has carried into the years since.
Put these 12 songs on in sequence and you hear a genre confident in its roots and hungry for the world, which is the best place dancehall can be.
