More Love for Shaggy in the United Kingdom
Habibi (I Need Your Love), a 2014 release by Shaggy featuring Congolese-Swedish singer Mohombi, Lebanese-Australian singer Faydee and Romanian singer Costi, has been certified silver in the United Kingdom for sales of more than 200,000.
The certification was made Friday by the British Phonographic Industry.
The song was first released as “Habibi (I Need Your Love)”. In a later specially released version targeting English language markets, the song was retitled “I Need Your Love” crediting Shaggy as main performer featuring Mohombi, Faydee and Costi. The song was written by the Australian recording artiste of Lebanese origin Faydee and Romanian recording artiste Costi. The song is in Arabic, English and Spanish. “Habibi” means “my love” in Arabic language.
Additionally, a number of mixed language versions were released including Bulgarian, French and Russian.
The song was released in 2014 becoming very popular in night venues internationally and it enjoyed success in the Middle East and the Arab world, Australia, Continental Europe, particularly the Balkans, Eastern Europe (most prominently Romania and Moldova). Various local versions also became popular in Russia and on the Asian continent.
In 2015 the song peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Shaggy’s first Hot 100 hit since 2001’s Angel. The song also charted on Billboard’s Mainstream Top 40, Dance/Mix Show Airplay and Rhythmic charts.
In the United Kingdom, the song reached number 36, after hitting number one in Poland and denting charts in several European countries.
Habibi (I Need Your Love) was certified gold in the United States.