Some years in dancehall drift by. 2024 roared. Vybz Kartel walked out of prison and straight onto the charts, Squash came back from the wilderness with the biggest record in Jamaica, and the shared riddim returned to the centre of the culture.
Rvssian’s Dutty Money and the Fiesta riddim had selectors juggling again like it was the early 2000s.
Any honest list of the best dancehall songs of 2024 has to account for all of it: the comebacks, the crossovers and the street records that ran the dances from April to New Year’s Eve.
Two years on, the picture is clearer. Some songs burned out with the summer. Others are still pulling forwards in every session from Kingston to the Bronx. These are the twelve records that defined dancehall in 2024, ranked from the very top.
1. Squash, “Big Breeze” (2024)
Nobody had Squash on their 2024 bingo card. He had dropped out of view after reports that he was detained in Florida by ICE on immigration-related charges.
Then, on April 21, he came back swinging with “Big Breeze.” It is a cold, confident return that even nods to Shottas by sampling the film’s “Extortion” scene. Critics were split, but the streets were not.
Fans kept it at the top of YouTube trending for weeks, pushing it past 21 million views, and selectors voted it the No. 1 dancehall song of the summer in the Jamaica Observer’s poll.
Released through Attomatic Records and 6ix Real Records, it finished the year at No. 1 on Richie B’s Jamaica Music Countdown year-end dancehall chart and earned a Caribbean Music Awards nomination for dancehall song of the year.
2. Shenseea feat. Masicka & Di Genius, “Hit & Run” (2024)
Some duets are love songs. “Hit & Run” is a standoff. Shenseea plays the woman who wants to keep things casual, Masicka plays the ex calling her heartless, and Di Genius builds a sleek, pressurised beat between them that lets every barb land.
Released on January 26 through Rich Immigrants and Interscope as the lead single from Never Gets Late Here, it set the tone for the entire year and went to No. 1 on Apple Music in six Caribbean nations, Jamaica included.
On November 29 it crossed 100 million YouTube streams, the fastest by a female Jamaican artist that year.
The parent album earned a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album, and the song swept dancehall song, video and collaboration of the year at the Caribbean Music Awards.
3. Vybz Kartel, “The Comet” (2024)
On July 31, 2024, Vybz Kartel walked free. The Privy Council had quashed his conviction, and the Court of Appeal declined to order a retrial.
Six weeks later, on September 13, the Worl’ Boss answered the question everyone was asking with “The Comet,” his first single as a free man, released on his own Vybz Kartel Muzik imprint.
The reaction was instant. It topped YouTube Trending in Jamaica, pulling 677,000 views within hours, and climbed to No. 5 on the iTunes Top 100 Reggae chart.
By late November it had spent three weeks at No. 1 on Richie B’s dancehall chart, and it finished the year at No. 7.
When Spice served up a saucy remix at Freedom Street on New Year’s Eve, the comet’s tail was still blazing.
4. Armanii, “HAAD (Fiesta)” (2024)
The Fiesta riddim was the sound of summer 2024, and Armanii owned its biggest moment. HAAD,” released April 17, rides a beat from DJ Mac Music and Crash Dummy Productions that flips R. Kelly’s “Fiesta” into something bright and bouncing. The producers were chasing an old-school summer vibe with a modern finish, and they got it.
The track sent Armanii to the top of playlists and several iTunes charts and became the biggest record of his career so far. Selectors placed it at No. 2 in the Observer’s summer poll.
It closed the year at No. 6 on Richie B’s year-end chart and carried him to a Caribbean Music Awards nomination for dancehall song. It was proof that one shared riddim can still move a whole island at once.
5. Kranium feat. Chronic Law, “Higher Life” (2024)
Kranium and producer CjTheChemist already had a finished song. What they did not have was Chronic Law. Chemist felt a verse from Law would lift the record somewhere else entirely, and he was right.
Released April 25 on the UK’s Out Deh Records, “Higher Life” is melodic and aspirational, a slow-burning anthem about ambition and success that pairs Kranium’s smooth delivery with Law’s grit.
It reached No. 5 on Spotify’s Dancehall Official playlist soon after release, logged two weeks at No. 1 on Richie B’s chart, and ended the year at No. 8 on the year-end countdown. The song travelled, too. It picked up a UK remix with Wretch 32, followed by a November 7 version featuring Jahyanai.
6. Valiant & DJ Mac, “Lumbah” (2024)
Few songs got the year started like “Lumbah.” Valiant teamed with DJ Mac on a production shared between DJ Mac Music, Diplomats Records and Rockit Muzik, with the riddim itself credited to YoRockit.
The result gave one of the genre’s most talked-about young voices plenty of room to flex. It dropped in the opening weeks of 2024, and it had the staying power that early releases often lack.
It held its place in the dances and on the radio long enough to finish at No. 5 on Richie B’s year-end dancehall chart. For Valiant, it was confirmation that the hype had substance.
It was also an early reminder of how many of 2024’s biggest records would pass through DJ Mac’s hands before the year was out.
7. Kraff Gad, “100 Watt” (2024)
If “HAAD” was the Fiesta riddim’s headline act, Kraff Gad’s “100 Watt” was the encore nobody wanted to end.
The Observer’s selector poll put it at No. 3 for the summer, called it “another big joint from the Fiesta rhythm,” and named it Kraff’s standout track of the year.
Built by DJ Mac, Crash Dummy and Budu Dem Records, it is a party record from first bar to last, all bright energy and lyrics made for the dancefloor. It had legs, too. It was still holding a place on Richie B’s dancehall chart in late November, long after the summer heat had faded.
Kraff had several songs in rotation at once that year, but this was the one that made him a voice of the season.
8. Tyla, Gunna & Skillibeng, “Jump” (2024)
Call it the year’s crossover statement. “Jump” belongs to Tyla, a blend of Afrobeats, dancehall and hip-hop produced by Sammy SoSo for her self-titled album on Epic and FAX, but Skillibeng’s verse gives it a Kingston backbone.
The record was partly cut during Tyla’s October 2023 visit to Jamaica. She told Apple Music, “I really just wanted to tell people who I am, and I had to show my confidence through the song.”
It debuted at No. 14 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs and No. 6 on US Afrobeats Songs, reached No. 18 in South Africa, and became Tyla’s second UK top 40 hit. It finished No. 5 on Billboard’s year-end US Afrobeats Songs chart and earned a Billboard Music Awards nomination for Top Afrobeats Song.
9. Masicka, “Whites” (2024)
Masicka released “Whites” on Halloween, which left it barely two months to make its case for 2024. It made the case anyway.
Riding the Rooster Riddim and issued through Dan Sky Records, Attomatic Records and 1 Syde Records, the song arrived with a sharp video directed by Ruppi and entered Richie B’s dancehall chart before Christmas.
What came next was bigger still. “Whites” owned 2025, ranking No. 2 on the Gleaner’s Reggae and Dancehall Top 15 for that year, and Billboard counted it among the smashes that followed his 438 album, alongside “Hit & Run” and “Mute.”
A Jumpin Jack Frost remix kept it moving through sets. It belongs here as the 2024 release that pointed straight at the future.
10. Busy Signal, “Happy Birthday” (2024)
Not every big dancehall record needs a war lyric or a bad mind. Busy Signal’s “Happy Birthday” goes the other way. It is a pure celebration tune, the kind of song WORLMAG described as one that people of all ages can enjoy.
That warmth is exactly why it lasted. Busy has always had a gift for records that cross from the dance into the living room, and this one made the trip with ease.
It finished the year at No. 9 on Richie B’s Jamaica Music Countdown year-end dancehall chart and earned a Caribbean Music Awards nomination for dancehall song.
It also cracked a top 10 of the year’s most streamed dancehall records. Expect to hear it at birthday parties for a long time to come.
11. Masicka, “20 Matic” (2024)
Masicka’s 2024 was so crowded that “20 Matic” could almost get lost in the pile. It shouldn’t. Released through Def Jam Recordings, it gave him a solo street record in a year when his biggest moment was a duet.
Selectors ranked it No. 4 in the Observer’s summer poll. It was still on Richie B’s dancehall chart in December and finished at No. 14 on the year-end countdown.
Put it alongside “Hit & Run,” the late surge of “Whites” and the November chart run of “Who Fi Stop We,” and you see an artist working at full capacity. He released at a pace that kept him in every conversation from the summer through Christmas.
12. Kraff Gad, “Ikation” (2024)
Kraff Gad earns a second spot because “Ikation” shows another side of him. Where “100 Watt” is all party lights, this September release leans into his grittier style over production from Slingerz Records, The Budu Dem and BlackSpyda Records.
Fans responded fast. By December it had become his second most viewed song of the year, with more than 8.8 million views and 68,000 likes on YouTube, and it was already charting on Richie B’s dancehall chart in late November.
For a deejay who spent 2024 proving his range, landing a hard record this late in the year was the clearest sign that his run was no fluke.
Why 2024 Still Echoes
Look back at 2024 from late 2026 and the shape of the year is striking. It began with Shenseea and Masicka trading barbs, peaked with Squash’s return and the Fiesta riddim summer, and closed with Kartel free and back on top of the charts.
The depth went beyond this twelve. RajahWild’s “Go Go” sat at No. 2 on Richie B’s year-end chart, and Nigy Boy’s “Continent” came in at No. 4, both evidence of a new generation pushing hard.
Above all, 2024 reminded everyone that dancehall works best as a shared conversation. Riddims were passed around, rivals ended up on the same records, and songs released in October went on to rule the following year. The genre did not just survive that year. It reloaded.
