After one of the busiest album cycles for Jamaican music in years, dancehall has multiple heavyweight contenders — but an increasingly crowded Best Reggae Album race could make predicting the nominees harder than ever.
It has now been 22 years since a full-length dancehall project won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album, a gap that has increasingly defined the genre’s relationship with a category that once recognized its biggest commercial successes.
The last victory came in 2004, when Sean Paul’s now 3x Platinum sophomore project Dutty Rock won at the 46th Grammy Awards. The album, which had helped carry dancehall into the international mainstream, prevailed over fellow reggae and dancehall releases that year, including Buju Banton’s Friends for Life and Wayne Wonder’s No Holding Back.
Since then, dancehall has remained a recurring presence among the nominees, but without another win. Shaggy’s Clothes Drop was nominated in 2006, followed by Buju Banton’s Too Bad in 2007. In 2009, Shaggy’s Intoxication and Elephant Man’s Let’s Get Physical were both nominated. Sean Paul returned to the category in 2010 with Imperial Blaze, while Shaggy’s Summer in Kingston received a nomination in 2012 and Sean Paul’s Tomahawk Technique followed in 2013.
The nominations became less frequent in the years that followed, but dancehall continued to reappear. Spice’s 10 and Sean Paul’s Live N Livin’ were nominated in 2022. Sean was back again with another dancehall project Scorcha in 2023, followed by Beenie Man’s Simma in 2024. Shenseea got her first Reggae Album nomination in 2025 for Never Gets Late Here. Vybz Kartel then became a prominent part of the category’s recent history, with Party With Me earning a nomination in 2025 and Heart & Soul following in 2026.
Kartel released God & Time this year, Masicka issued Forever Reign, Alkaline released NPT, and Buju Banton released Too Too Bad. All four projects fall within the eligibility period for the 2027 Grammy Awards, putting several of dancehall’s leading voices in contention for another opportunity to break a two-decade-old pattern.
The Recording Academy’s eligibility window for the 69th annual Grammy Awards ran from Aug. 31, 2025 through Aug. 28, 2026, putting an unusually deep field of reggae and dancehall albums in contention. First-round voting begins Oct. 12, with nominations scheduled to be announced Nov. 16.
And unlike some Grammy categories where dancehall competes on the margins, Best Reggae Album explicitly encompasses reggae, roots reggae, dancehall and ska.
Masicka enters the conversation with the strongest recent Billboard showing among dancehall’s new releases. His third studio album, Forever Reign, debuted at No. 4 on Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart and spent two weeks on the ranking, giving him the highest debut among all the new Jamaican dancehall studio albums released during the year.
The performance comes at an important stage in Masicka’s career. Released Aug. 14, Forever Reign arrived as the follow-up to his Def Jam debut and continued an international expansion that included a headlining appearance at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Then there is Vybz Kartel.
God & Time, released June 5, debuted at No. 6 on Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart, becoming Kartel’s 12th entry on the ranking and his 10th top 10 album there. The 14-track project included collaborations with Wizkid, Spice, Shenseea, Skillibeng, Mavado and Farruko.
For Kartel, however, the Grammy storyline is bigger than another chart entry.
At the 2026 Grammys, Heart & Soul earned him a Best Reggae Album nomination, ultimately losing to Keznamdi’s BLXXD & FYAH. Kartel enters the new voting cycle not as a stranger trying to convince Grammy voters of his importance, but as a returning nominee with another eligible album.
Buju Banton has an even longer history with Grammy voters. His Too Too Bad debuted at No. 8 on Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart and remained on the ranking for two weeks. It was Banton’s 13th charting album and his first Billboard Reggae Albums appearance since Upside Down 2020.
Alkaline also added another major dancehall release to the cycle with NPT. The album entered Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart at No. 10, placing four of contemporary dancehall’s most recognizable names — Masicka, Kartel, Buju and Alkaline — in the same broad Grammy conversation.
But chart position alone has never determined Best Reggae Album.
A Crowded Reggae Field
The dancehall heavyweights are competing against a field extending well beyond Jamaica’s hardcore dancehall market with Billboard charted reggae albums in the mix such as:
The Elovaters — Shark Belly Motel — No. 5 (1 week), Iration — Where It All Began — No. 8 (1 week),
Protoje — The Art of Acceptance — No. 9 (1 week).
One of the more intriguing names in that conversation is Runkus.
His SUPERNOVA, released May 1, did not make the Billboard Reggae Albums Chart but it blends roots reggae, dancehall, bass-heavy production and experimental elements, with guest appearances including Sean Paul and Peter Tosh. He has been running a campaign with noted Grammy insiders and that makes him the kind of candidate who could emerge as a breakthrough story even without the commercial profile of Kartel, Buju or Masicka.
Grammy voting is peer-based, meaning commercial performance is neither the sole qualification nor necessarily the deciding factor. Voting members include music creators such as artists, producers, songwriters and engineers.
Never Count Out Ziggy, Chronixx — Or Shaggy
Ziggy Marley who carries one of the strongest Grammy résumés in reggae history released his ninth solo studio album Brightside earlier this year. The Recording Academy currently credits him with nine wins and 16 nominations across his career, including multiple victories in reggae categories.
Shaggy’s Lottery is similarly familiar territory for voters. He has eight career nominations and two wins, including his landmark victory for Boombastic and the Best Reggae Album win he shared with Sting for 44/876. His Com Fly Wid Mi was also nominated as recently as 2023.
Both albums did not make the weekly Billboard charts, but even when new projects from artists of that stature don’t produce major Billboard Reggae Albums chart runs, Grammy voters know their names.
Dancehall Has Numbers. Can It Turn Them Into Nominations?
The genre has no shortage of star power this year because its biggest stars showed up.
Now the voters have to decide which version of reggae’s present they want the Grammy ballot to represent. First round voting begins Oct. 12, 2026 — Oct. 22, 2026 and nominations will be announced November 16, 2026.
