Here Comes the Hotstepper is double platinum in America
Thirty years after it was released, Here Comes the Hotstepper by Jamaican reggae artiste Ini Kamoze has been certified double platinum by Recording Industry Association of America.
The certification, which commemorates sales and streaming equivalent to 2 million units, was issued on Friday August 9.
Here Comes the Hotstepper was released in August 1994 as the lead single from Ini Kamoze’s 1995 album of the same name, as well as the soundtrack to the film Pret-A-Porter (Ready to Wear), a fashion week satire film co-written, directed, and produced by Robert Altman.
Among the major Hollywood stars who appeared in the film are Sophia Loren, Kim Basinger, Forest Whitaker, Lauren Bacall, and Julia Roberts.
Here Comes the Hotstepper contains several samples including vocals from The Champ by The Mohawks, Hot Pants by Bobby Byrd, and La Di Da Di by Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick.
The song’s instrumental samples the drums and bass from disco singer Taana Gardner’s 1981 Billboard hit Heartbeat and guitar notes from Hung Up On My Baby by Isaac Hayes. The song uses the “na na na na na…” chorus from the Cannibal and the Headhunters version of Land of a Thousand Dances, and the verse vocal melody is reminiscent of The Beatles’ Come Together, which was inspired by Chuck Berry’s You Can’t Catch Me.
The song was a runaway success in both Europe and in North America. Overall, it charted inside the Top Ten of charts in 18 countries and topped charts in Zimbabwe, Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, and the Billboard Hot 100 (for two weeks) in December 1994.
In 2005, former American music trade magazine Blender ranked Here Comes the Hotstepper #492 in their list of The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born.
In 2017, BuzzFeed ranked it #46 in their The 101 Greatest Dance Songs of the 90s”.
In 2019, Billboard ranked Here Comes the Hotstepper #126 in their list of Billboard’s Top Songs of the 90s.
In June, Billboard magazine ranked the song #65 on its Top 75 movie songs of all time, based on weekly performance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Here Comes the Hotstepper has charted in recent months on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales and R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales charts, thanks to renewed interest following its inclusion in Starbucks commercial for their newly released Refreshers.
The song had previously racked up gold certifications in France and Germany and platinum in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
