5. R City – Locked Away
You heard it, you rocked to it, and you’re still rocking to it. Make no mistake, one of the top urban pop songs of the year was also one of the top dancehall tunes. Employing the tried and tested blend of beautiful vocals with hard-hitting lyrics over a tough riddim, R.City‘s “Locked Away” was a dancehall combination tune disguised as pop, with vocals from Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine, and production from Dr. Luke and Cirkut. (If that didn’t already register, the official dancehall remix featuring the likes of Popcaan, Assassin, Bunji Garlin and Kardinal Offishall, which just dropped, should make that crystal clear)
In its original form, the song placed high on just about every urban music list around the world, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, helping drive R City’s debut album What Dream Are Made Of close to one million downloads. —Kaya.lah