The Kalling by Kabaka Pyramid has surged to No. 1 on the U.S. Reggae iTunes Chart following its Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album on Sunday. The album previously peaked at No. 2.
The album was released on the final eligibility date for this year’s Grammy Award- September 30.
Before the win it earned lifetime album sales equivalent units of 2900. This includes 400 pure copies and total on-demand streams (audio + video) during its lifetime equalling 3 million.
He was in disbelief when his name was called and started out his YouTube broadcasted acceptance speech with the words “Me cyah believe.”
The first time nominee was among 5 Jamaicans to be nominated in the Best Reggae Album category at this year’s Grammy Awards. The others include two time Grammy winner Shaggy nominated for “Come Fly With Me, Sinatra Songbook”, Protoje’s Third Time’s The Charm, 2020’s winner Koffee’s Gifted, and Sean Paul, Island Records debut Scorcha.
Blvck Hero is the single Jamaican nominated for Best Global Performance for his feature on Neva Bow Down by Rocky Dawuni. Other nominees in that category are Last Last by Burna Boy, Gimme Love by Matt B & Eddy Kenzo, Udhero Na by Arooj aftab & Anoushka Shankar, Bayethe by Wouter Kellerman, Zakes Bantwini & Nomcebo Zikode.
Kabaka Pyramid’s “The Kalling”, was the fourth most consumed album among the Grammy nominees in the category this year . Produced by Damian Marley and released on Ghetto Youths International and Pyramid’s Bebble Rock Music, the project sold 620 album equivalent units with sales and streaming in the US during its first week of release. It only recorded 280 pure album copies and 423,700 in total on-demand audio and video streaming in the US, according to our Data sales trackers Luminate.
Sales and streams are not factors in the selection of the Grammy nominations according to Harvey Mason Jr. Recording Academy CEO.
The Grammy Awards are a peer group awards with nominations and winners selected by registered Grammy voters.
Last year’s winner SOJA, the US based reggae group sparked controversy when they walked away with the coveted trophy.
Their wining album Beauty In The Silence had debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Reggae Albums charts upon its release in 2021 and it also debuted at No. 34 on Billboard’s Current Albums Sales chart. It peaked at No. 52 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart.
The album has so far sold 35,000 album equivalent units (Pure album sales 7K, Streams: 37M)
