Shenseea’s ‘Alpha’ First Week Album Sales Are In

Shenseea’s debut album Alpha will land at No. 2 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart tomorrow.  Though it could be considered a disappointing debut, the album picked up the best first-week numbers among Reggae/Dancehall albums since Popcaan’s FIXTAPE in 2020.

According to data provided to DancehallMag from Billboard’s sales tracker Luminate (formerly known as MRC DATA), Alpha’s total consumption from sales and streaming in the United States was 4,900 units during its first week of release.  This includes 800 copies in pure album sales.

The album’s total first-week consumption also included 2,000 copies in song sales, 4,616,400 in on-demand audio streams and 750,600 in on-demand video streams.  These figures are rounded to the nearest 100, according to a Luminate representative.

Alpha was released on March 11 via Rich Immigrants/Interscope Records and had featured Megan Thee Stallion, Tyga, 21 Savage, Offset, Beenie Man, and Sean Paul, in addition to a slew of hit-making producers including Murda Beatz, London On Da Track, Rvssian, Dr. Luke and Supa Dups.

The weekly sales and streaming-driven Billboard Reggae Albums chart, which will be released tomorrow, ranks the most popular Reggae albums in the US, based on consumption metrics that are measured in equivalent album units.  Each of those units represents one album sale or 10 individual tracks sold from an album or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscriptions streams from an album via audio or video streams.

Reggae legends Bob Marley & The Wailers are No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart this week for the 115th consecutive week, with Legend— a greatest hits collection first released in May 1984 by Island Records.   The compilation moved 11,200 total units from sales and streaming in the US last week, including 3,000 copies in pure album sales, according to data provided to DancehallMag by Luminate.

Shaggy’s Best of Shaggy: The Boombastic Collection is at No. 3 on the Billboard chart after having moved 2,800 units last week.

Sean Paul’s Dutty Classics Collection (1,500 units), Dutty Rock (1,300 units) and Mad Love The Prequel (1,100 units) albums are at No. 4, 8, and 9 respectively.

UB40’s Greatest Hits (1,500 units) compilation is at No. 5 followed by Stick Figure’s World On Fire (1,500 units) and Set In Stone (1,400 units) albums at No. 6 and 7, respectively.  Bob Marley’s son Damian Marley bookends the chart with his father, with his Welcome To Jamrock album at No. 10.  It sold 700 units last week.

In 2020, Popcaan‘s fourth studio album FIXTAPE had debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart.  With a hefty Drake stimulus package, the album moved over 8,000 units during its first week of release, according to Rolling Stone.

More recently, among Dancehall albums, Alkaline’s sophomore album Top Prize hit the second spot on the Billboard Reggae Albums Chart with a first-week total of 2,957 units.

Usain Bolt’s Country Yutes album with manager NJ debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart with 1,807 total units during its first week.

Spice’s Grammy-nominated 10 album which was released by VP Records, had opened at No. 6 on the chart with the equivalent of 1,447 total units.

Vybz Kartel’s Born Fi Dis album opened at No. 9 with the equivalent of 1,290 total units of consumption from sales and streaming during its first week.

Meanwhile, Masicka’s debut album 438 opened at No. 2 on the chart after picking up the equivalent of 2,864 units during its first week of release.