We are one month away from the announcement of the nominees in the 66th Annual Grammys awards and first round voting will be open on October 11.
This year a number of reggae albums were released by both legends and new comers in the genre during the eligibility period of October 1, 2022 – September 15, 2023. All the rounds for submissions for the 2024 Grammy Awards came to a close at the end of August and on Wednesday (October 11), voters will begin to select their choices for nominees.
Grammys’ Voting Process
The Grammy Awards selection process is a multi-stage journey, starting with the Submission stage, followed by Screening, Nominations, and culminating in the Final Voting round.
- Submission: This initial step involves artists and industry professionals submitting their work for Grammy consideration. Each submission is meticulously reviewed during the Screening stage to ensure it meets eligibility criteria and is placed in the appropriate category.
- Screening: A panel of experts from various fields assesses each submission, verifying its eligibility and suitability for nomination.
- Nominations: This stage starts on October 1 and ends October 20 at 6:00 PT. Voting members participate in the first-round ballot, where they can nominate up to five selections in each category. This stage determines the final list of nominees to be announced in Nov. 10.
- Final Voting (Dec. 14, 2023 – Jan. 4, 2024) : The last leg of the process involves an independent accounting firm tabulating the votes from the members. The winners are kept under wraps until the Grammy Awards ceremony.
- Show Date- February 4, 2024: The 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards Show Date/Telecast at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The show will air live (8:00-11:30 PM, LIVE ET/5:00-8:30 PM, LIVE PT) on the CBS Television Network and will stream on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs).
Three new categories have been added to this year’s awards, ‘Best Pop Dance Recording’, ‘Best Alternative Jazz Album’ and ‘ Best African Music Performance’.
The criteria for this category is for tracks and single recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent. Highlighting regional melodic, harmonic and rhythmic musical traditions, the Category includes but is not limited to the Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, Afrobeats, Alte, Amapiano, Bongo Flava, Genge, Kizomba, Chimurenga, High Life, Fuji, Kwassa, Ndombolo, Mapouka, Ghanaian Drill, Afro-House, South African Hip-Hop, and Ethio Jazz genres.
After Kabaka Pyramids win at the 2023 awards, all eyes are on the Best Reggae Album category which has has been around since 1984. This year in particular has seen some heavyweights who dropped projects and already speculations have begun about who will walk away with one of music’s most coveted trophies.
Here are seven reggae-dancehall albums from artists who made an imapact during the eligiblity period and could possibly make the cut.
Rockers & Scorchers, the collaboration between the iconic Jamaican vocalist Horace Andy and the English dub maestro Adrian Sherwood was released December 1. 2022. The double disc 22 track LP was released via On-U Sound Records.
Julian Marley is the only member of the Marley family to release an album during the eligibility period this year. He has been twice nominated and his 5th studio album “Colors Of Royal” dropped on March 24, 2023 via Monom Records. His brother Ziggy Marley has been the most nominated Reggae artist and has won seven Best Reggae Album awards in total. Julian told WMV that his latest has been submitted for voter’s consideration at the 2024 Annual Grammy Awards along with the single “Roll-Rodando Remix” from the album co-produced and remixed by multi-Grammy winner Mr Sonic which has also been submitted for consideration in the Best Global Music Performance category. Julian has been touring North America, South America and Europe since last year.
Kranium released “In Too Deep” on November 18, 2022 via Atlantic Records, his last on the label. The 7 track project features Queen Naija and B-Lovee.
Buju Banton released his 13th studio album “Born For Greatness” just in time for the eligibility period on September 8, 2023 via Roc-Nation/Island Def Jam Records. Buju has been nominated six times in the Best Reggae Album category. First in 1998 for Inna Heights, then in 2003 with Friends For Life, 2007 for Too Bad, 2009 for Rasta Got Soul and he won in 2010 for the album Before The Dawn. He was again nominated for Upside Down 2020.
The Elovators “Endless Summer” is the highest Billboard charting reggae charted album released this year which debuted at No. 4 on the US Billboard Reggae Albums chart. It was released July 28, 2023 by Belly Full Records/Ineffable Music Group and sold 2000 equivalent units in its first week of release. Of that sum, 900 copies were in pure sales and 2 million in on-demand streams according to data received by WMV from Luminate. The album has sold a total of 12,000 over its lifetime and has 15 million on demand streams.
Newcomer Byron Messia “No Love” is the most successful dancehall album on the US Billboard Reggae Albums charts and the lead single Talibans peaked at No. 12 in the U.K. and No. 99 in the US after Burna Boy hopped on the remix for Talibans 2. The album released by Ztekk/Interscope debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard Reggae Album chart on June June 10, 2023 and has been on the chart for 17 weeks peaking at No. 3.
Dancehall artist Popcaan’s third OVO Sound project “Great Is He” which features Drake, Burna Boy, and Toni Ann Singh was released January 27 2023. The album sold 13,900 units (Including all on-demand streams from singles previous released) within a month of its release.
