Sean Paul, Beyoncé’s ‘Baby Boy’ Certified 2X Platinum In US
Sean Paul and Beyoncé’s Baby Boy is now certified 2X Platinum in the United States, over two decades after its release.
The song was certified Platinum on Tuesday (December 17) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after it reached the sales and streaming equivalent of 2,000,000 units sold in the US. The track was first certified Platinum in 2022 and achieved Platinum status in the UK (600,000 units) in 2023.
First released on August 3, 2003, as the second single off Beyoncé’s Grammy Award-winning Dangerously in Love album, Baby Boy was later added to the September 2003 re-release of Paul’s Grammy Award-winning Dutty Rock album.
Produced by Scott Storch and Beyoncé, the song became an early success for her as a solo artist after the breakup of Destiny’s Child. It dominated the Billboard Hot 100 for 29 weeks, spending nine weeks at No. 1. In the UK, it peaked at No. 2 and charted for 17 weeks. It was the singer’s longest-running No. 1 single in the US, until 2007 when Irreplaceable surpassed it. The song remains Paul’s longest-running No. 1 record in the US, ahead of Cheap Thrills (with Sia), which was No. 1 for four weeks.
Bey’s Dangerously in Love album peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and the UK Albums chart and is currently certified 7X Platinum in the US, for selling over 7 million units, and 4X Platinum in the UK, for selling over 2.4 million units.
Paul’s Dutty Rock peaked at No. 9 on the 200 chart, No. 2 on the UK Albums chart and is currently certified 3X Platinum in the US and the UK, for selling 3 million and 1.8 million units, respectively.
Baby Boy‘s music video was directed by Jake Nava, who also shot Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love video. The two artists were featured in separate scenes in the video, which is currently at 219 million views on YouTube.
Sean Paul has said that it “would be cool” to team up with Beyoncé once again.
“The first time it was her asking me so maybe I should ask her now,” he told ET Canada in 2021. However, the two have been dogged by reports that her husband Jay-Z, who co-wrote Baby Boy, had somehow felt threatened by their working relationship.
When asked whether he did indeed “hook up with Beyoncé,” Sean laughed and told the Daily Beast, “Nah! I wish I did! She’s beautiful.”
Sean Paul’s other Platinum-certified hits in the US include:
- Temperature (3X Platinum).
- Shake Señora with Pitbull and T-Pain (Platinum)
- Cheap Thrills with Sia (9X Platinum)
- Rockabye with Clean Bandit and Anne-Marie (3X Platinum)
- Bailando with Enrique Iglesias (4X Platinum)
- Do You Remember with Jay Sean and Lil Jon (2X Platinum)
- We Be Burnin’ (Platinum)
- Get Busy (Platinum)