Shenseea Overtakes Spice As Dancehall Artist With The Most Followers On Instagram

Shenyeng ringleader Shenseea is now the most followed living Jamaican artiste on Instagram. The Blessed singjay now has 3.4 million followers, also making her the most followed Jamaican Dancehall artiste on the ‘Gram.

Her social media boost comes as the Romeich Entertainment signee is overseas working on new music. To her Instagram credit, the artist has curated a feed that boasts glamorous photos and has upped the ante by participating in various TikTok challenges, tapping into that growing audience. Be it hilarious antics by herself or with her son, her video uploads rack an average of at least a million views, which boost her visibility and works in her favor where online algorithms are concerned.

Surely, her recent viral freestyle which found residence on popular American blog TheShaderoom helped to boost her following. Similarly, the artiste recently landed a brand deal with Trinidadian company Carib Beer, no doubt attracting new audiences to her page.

Within the last year, Shenseea has also landed brand deals with other heavyweight companies including clothing outlets PrettyLittleThing and Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty.

It hasn’t been a smooth-sailing year for the artiste, but the bad has accompanied some good. The singjay received a boost in support from longtime and new fans when her mother died in June. Her subsequent Lighter collaboration with Tarrus Riley also made her a dominant topic on social media, with celebrities and folks across the world participating in the Lighter challenge.

To top it off, the singjay appeared as part of a Jamaican cypher for the 2020 BET Hip Hop Awards, alongside Skip Marley, Koffee, Bounty Killer, and Beenie Man, which again exposed her to a wider audience.

Call it coincidence or hard work, but Shenseea’s cyber winning streak also comes after spiritual advisor Nardo ‘RT Boss’ Smith declared that the young star is the new ‘Queen of Dancehall’, overthrowing deejay Spice who uses the title.

Spice currently has 3.3 million Instagram followers, and was the first living Jamaican artiste to reach the million milestone on the platform. She was also the first living national artist to hit two and three million followers respectively.

Reggae icon Bob Marley reserves the spot as the most followed Jamaican artiste on Instagram, with 5.7 million followers.

Meanwhile, Popcaan has 2.4 million followers, Jada Kingdom has 1.6, Vybz Kartel has 1.5, Koffee has 1.3, Sean Paul, Damian Marley and Konshens each have 1.2, Ding Dong and Dexta Daps have a million, while artistes like Mavado, Alkaline, Shaggy, Chronixx and Masicka have under a million followers.

Many will ponder “what’s in a following?” and some artistes will even dismiss social media figures when compared to streaming numbers. Revenue from audio streaming is indeed lucrative, but so too are the opportunities that emerge from having a high social media engagement. An artiste can attract bigger brand deals and partnerships with a large following, and will also be at an advantage when it comes to the marketing and visibility of their products.