7/6. Lumidee, “Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)”/Kevin Lyttle, “Turn Me On”
The explosion in dancehall’s popularity and visibility in the early 2000s resulted in numerous hits, including several by non-reggae artists hailing from elsewhere in the Caribbean. Few songs capture the cross-cultural energy of that era more succinctly than Spanish Harlem-raised, Puerto Rican-American singer Lumidee’s “Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh),” one of the biggest hits (along with Sean Paul’s “Get Busy” and Wayne Wonder’s “No Letting Go” on the era-defining Diwali riddim. Meanwhile, Vincentian soca singer Kevin Lyttle found his way into every mainstream DJ’s dancehall set (and the playlist of every R&B/hip-hop station worldwide) with the dance mix of his soca tune “Turn Me On.” Originally recorded in 2001, the tune had a loooong commercial shelf life, impacting England in 2003 before crossing over to the US (where it reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100) the following year.