Shaggy’s ‘I Need Your Love’ Collab Certified Silver In The UK
I Need Your Love, Dancehall megastar Shaggy’s international collaboration with Romanian singer/producer Costi Ioniță, Congolese-Swedish singer Mohombi, and Lebanese-Australian singer Faydee, is now Brit Certified Silver in the United Kingdom.
According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), I Need Your Love was issued the Silver Award today, October 29, 2021, after it sold over 200,000 copies in the UK, as measured by The Official Charts Company.
First released in 2014, the song was originally called Habibi (I Need Your Love), and featured Arabic vocals from Faydee. “Habibi” , which means “my love” in the Arabic language, currently has 233 million views on YouTube.
Another version released for the US, UK, Japanese and Australian markets in early 2015, currently stands at 25 million views on YouTube. That version removes “Habibi” from the title and credits Shaggy as the main performer with Faydee singing his segments in English instead of Arabic.
Following the re-release, the song peaked at No. 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and at No. 36 on the UK Singles Chart. It became Shaggy’s first major hit since Angel, which had peaked at No. 1 on the Hot 100 fourteen years prior.
By November 2016, I Need Your Love was RIAA certified gold after it sold more than 500,000 units in the United States.
In addition to songwriting credits, Costi also produced the international hit. The Romanian producer has since teamed up with Shaggy again on Spice’s Go Down Deh , which featured Sean Paul and was released last summer before appearing on her debut album 10 .
“I met Shaggy a few years ago and he is now one of my best friends in the International music market,” Costi told DancehallMag earlier this year. “He brought me into the Ranch Studio in New York, and there I met Spice. And I played some beats and then we started to flow and play and that’s it. They liked the vibe and energy and here it is ‘Go Down Deh'”.
I Need Your Love is Shaggy’s sixth single to be certified in the UK. It follows Boombastic, which is currently Platinum, It Wasn’t Me (3x Platinum), Angel (Gold), In The Summertime featuring Rayvon (Silver), and Me Julie with Ali G (Silver).