Many fans expected Alkaline to get a Grammy nod following the obvious commercial success of his latest work, Top Prize. The album, which was released in May, has done well in both sales and streams, according to his manager Kereena Beckford.
It took off in the first week of its release pulling in 1,527 units in pure album sales. During that week of release, it performed better than any other dancehall album. Add that to the 600,000 radio spins it received by August, and it’s easy to see why fans felt it deserved some recognition at the 2022 Grammy Awards.
It may have been a bit of a disappointment for the Young Lawd. Still, according to Beckford, they remain focused on maintaining an international standard and keeping the fans at the core of everything that they do, even in the face of harsh criticism from critics. She made the comments while speaking with the STAR.
“So, when the team compiled the body of work to reflect where our talent was artistically, and meet the demands of the fans as well as stakeholders, we knew of the challenges and met them head-on,” she continued.
Beckford also noted that the album debuted at number two on the Billboard Reggae Album charts, number one on the US Current Reggae album chart, and 56th on the US Top Current Album sales chart. A sign that they had done something right.
Several in the industry have questioned why he didn’t get nominated. Still, many others have opined that nominations are given based on votes purely on the quality of music and not sales and chart performance.
Beckford added that it’s true that he may not have gotten enough votes from the Recording Academy but that they were still encouraged by the fact that the album remains “the people’s choice and his music is still ‘top prize’.”
Alkaline’s legacy will be judged by history, she added. That being said, Beckford took the time out to congratulate all who were nominated as well as those in the genre who keep grinding to deliver quality music to fans.
“We can’t say thank you enough to the Vendetta fans for their unrelenting defence and unwavering support,” she added. The STAR reached out to Alkaline for a comment on the issue, but he seemed to be focused on other things.
“Look out for new music. A song titled Bareback produced by Sponge Music. Work never stopped. New Rules coming to Miami in March. NFTs…yuh know me still ah meds it,” he went on to say.
