Some 23 years after it was released, ‘cheaters anthem’ It Wasn’t Me, by Shaggy and Ricardo “Rik Rok” Ducent, was on Friday certified 4x platinum in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

The certification commemorates streaming and sales equivalent exceeding 2.4 million units.

Singer Rik Rok, who resides overseas, said he did not envisage such global success.

“I feel incredibly grateful that this song we wrote over two decades ago still resonates with listeners. I had no idea this song that made us chuckle after every line we came up with would have had the global impact that it has had,” Rik Rok said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer on Friday.

It Wasn’t Me was co-written by Shaggy, while Shaun “Sting International” Pizzonia is the producer.

For Shaggy, there was something special about the song from the beginning.

“I couldn’t predict how huge it would’ve been, but I knew it was a special record,” Shaggy responded to an Observer query.

It Wasn’t Me almost wasn’t released as a single. The song, which is included on Shaggy’s Hot Shot album released in August 2000, was preceded by two singles which — although they made some impact at radio — failed to chart.

Those songs were Luv Me, Luv Me (which was featured on the How Stella Got Her Groove Back movie soundtrack) and the double-sided Dance and Shout/Hope.

Label executives at MCA Records were at first not enthused about It Wasn’t Me. But, according to Shaggy, after the song started to move numbers, the label came on board.

“Pure numbers. We were selling half a million a week at one point; that’s gold every week,” Shaggy reasoned.

The success of It Wasn’t Me, according to Shaggy, changed the course of his life.

“Everything changed! We became a mainstream household brand around the world.”

Robert Livingston, Shaggy’s former manager and who served as executive producer for the Hot Shot album, said Shaggy always believed It Wasn’t Me would have been a hit.

“Rik Rok did the demo after the song was written. The song was given to Tanto Metro and Devonte to record. I was telling Shaggy to do the song from day one. He always thought it was a big song. I never thought it was a big song at the time he wanted us to release it. And if we did at the time, I don’t think it would’ve been as big as it was at the time that it came out. That song wasn’t released because we had two singles. We knew Angel was going to be a hit, but we couldn’t release Angel until we had some momentum,” Livingston disclosed.

“Every hit record changes the dynamics of an artiste’s career. Oh Carolina did, Boombastic did, and It Wasn’t Me did. So, its impact was very good for us at the time, because we left Virgin Records with an album that didn’t hit, and we went to MCA Records and hit with an album. So it was a very good energy for Shaggy and myself to know that we left a label and went to another label and got a hit record,” Livingston continued.

It Wasn’t Me first picked up steam in Hawaii and then it gained momentum at pop and urban radio stateside. It was then released in November 2000 and, by the end of December, it was the number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The boom of It Wasn’t Me saw a surge in the accompanying album Hot Shot, which went on to hit number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart, number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, while making the top 10 on charts in Switzerland, Sweden, Scotland, New Zealand, Portugal, Ireland, Germany, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and Australia.

It was the second best-selling album of 2001 in the United States and the best-selling album of 2001 in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Hot Shot has been certified 8x platinum in the United States, while the single It Wasn’t Me has so far racked up gold certifications in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Austria. It has been certified 3x platinum in Australia and platinum in Belgium, France, Netherland, Norway and Sweden.

Said Livingston: “I feel very good to know that, after so long, the sales on It Wasn’t Me are constantly growing. It’s one of dem records that’s gonna constantly keep growing.”

In December 2001 Shaggy was nominated in seven categories of the Billboard Music Awards. At the awards show, which was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, he took home trophies for Male Artiste of the Year, Male Albums Artiste of the Year, and Male Hot 100 Singles Artiste of the Year.

At the 2002 American Music Awards, which took place in January, in California, Shaggy was nominated in the categories Artiste of the Year, Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artiste and Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artiste.