Teejay’s “Drift” has made the Billboard charts. The song debuts at No. 47 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart dated October 7, 2023 — the first entry on any Billboard chart for the Montego Bay deejay, who turns 29 today, DancehallMag reports. On the same chart, Byron Messia’s “Talibans” sits at No. 22 after 15 weeks.
Both “Drift” and the later remix are in the JamaicansMusic library, sourced from Teejay’s official channel: press Play all above, open the “Drift” release page, or jump to the player below.
A throwaway that blew up
Recorded in Miami and released on June 30 with production from DJ Mac, Panda (PXNDX) and Topbraff Music, “Drift” travelled on a TikTok dance created by a Kingston choreographer known as Gabbidon, and its success brought Teejay — Timoy Janeyo Jones, “Chippy” to his St James community — a record and publishing deal with Warner Records and Warner Chappell Music. He opened his hometown Reggae Sumfest set with it in July, with Culture Minister Olivia Grange doing the dance in the crowd. The official video passed 12 million views over the summer, and a second visual, released September 20, spotlights Jamaica’s underground “drift” car meets and bike culture.
“Ah swear to God, mi happy! Happy, happy, happy,” he told DancehallMag in July. A debut EP, I Am Chippy, executive-produced by Shaggy for Warner, is next.
Update, December 22: Speaking to BET, Teejay says the song was nearly discarded. “It was a shocker. I swear, it was a shocker because ‘Drift’ was a throwaway song. It was going in the bin,” he said. “I’m a hardcore dancehall artist, but after I recorded the song, everybody in the team loved it so we just decided to release it and then it just blew up on TikTok.” BET puts the tally at more than 60 million global streams, 15 million YouTube views on the official video and over a quarter of a billion TikTok views for the dance, with Chris Brown, Cardi B, Offset and Burna Boy among those filmed doing it. Nigerian star Davido reached out to jump on a remix — released December 15 with a video shot in Lagos — and a French Montana remix followed on December 21. “Shaggy has been there from the jump, from before we found ‘Drift,’” Teejay said. “Shaggy is like a guardian angel watching over me.”
Listen and dig deeper
- Play “Drift” — the official visualizer from Teejay’s channel, with the extended official music video as an alternate — and the Davido remix (official audio, with the Lagos video from Davido’s channel).
- Browse the Teejay artist profile and Shaggy in the JamaicansMusic library.
- Related: Teejay opens with “Drift” at Sumfest 2023; Byron Messia’s “Talibans” enters the Hot 100.
Sources: DancehallMag — “Teejay’s ‘Drift’ Enters Billboard Airplay Chart” (Dani Mallick, Oct 3, 2023); BET — “How TikTok ‘Drifted’ Teejay’s Success Beyond Jamaica” (Dec 22, 2023); Apple Music — Drift (Single) (release date and label). Editor’s note: “Drift” was named JaRIA Song of the Year in March 2024; see our report.
Editor’s note: This story is part of an archive backfill covering Jamaican music news from 2022 to 2026. It is dated to the events it reports.