Alkaline had one of the biggest dancehall albums last year and he has his fans to thank.
Detta fans are over the moon as their beloved artiste Alkaline received his Billboard plaque for his sophomore album Top Prize, which had reached the number two position on the Reggae charts last year for the week ending May 29. Both his official fan page as well as that of his sister Kereena Beckford, who happens to be his manager, was sharing the good news far and wide on social media as they highlighted yet another accomplishment by the “Young People Time Now” artiste.
Billboard’s sales tracker MRC data revealed that the album grossed 17,000 units in total consumption from US streaming and sales from its release date on May 4th to December 15, 2021. This included a total of 2,000 in pure albums sales, 2,000 in digital song sales, and 17,747,000 and 3,264,000 in On-Demand audio and video streams, respectively. Top Prize was also ranked at No. 24 on the Billboard Reggae Albums Year-End chart.
As the artiste tried to find a wall big enough to hold and properly showcase the plaque, his sister dedicated her Instagram posts not only to him but also to the fans who put their money where their mouths were and actually purchased the album and made its success possible. “Detta City this is for y’all. Thanks for the tremendous support… we are in this together…we love the fans and we appreciate how y’all care for us. Forever grateful,” she wrote.
Alkaline, real name Earlan Bartley, is riding a wave of affirmations about the versatility of his music and the strength of his growing fan base. He was recently endorsed by Grammy winner Koffee on a UK radio station when she named him as one of her musical influences. Koffee stated that he was one of the artistes in the industry whose continued musical growth was a testament to true work ethic. His recent achievements, coupled with his album sales, can be seen as a step in the right direction. The “Move Mountains” singer increases his visibility on the international market.
To some fans, his recent successes were not being rightfully recognized. This was heightened when Top Prize failed to make it to the list of nominations for now delayed 2022 Grammys. Some critics weighed in that a Grammy nomination was not based on album sales but album appreciation. Fans, however, dismissed this line of argument, remaining resolute that the album was among the best produced in 2021 and therefore felt that the artiste was getting ‘a fight’.
They were, however, pleased with the presentation of the Billboard plaque along with his latest musical offering, “Sense.” The track was dropped less than a month ago and has been getting good rotation internationally with close to one million views while hugging the number 26 song trending on YouTube.
