For over a decade no Jamaican has been in the top 10 on the UK charts.  It is hard to believe that reggae and dancehall has been in a drought for that long but it is true.  The last Jamaican to make it on the UK top 10 album chart was Sean Paul with “Dutty Rock” in 2003.

The long drought has now ended, thanks to Popcaan and Grace Jones, albeit they were only features on a non-Jamaican album.  Hey, when the drought is that long you take it how you get it. When Vybz Kartel and Buju Banton is released from prison they won’t care if that first woman they get is black, white, slim, fat, ugly or pretty.  So it does not matter that Popcaan and Grace Jones only have one song each on the album, it is still a cause for celebration.

The album is Humanz, which is the fifth studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz and it debuts at number two behind Ed Sheeran’s Divide. Humanz has 20 songs, including Saturnz Barz featuring Popcaan and Charger featuring Grace Jones.

In an interview a Jamaican media outlet, Popcaan explained how the collaboration with Gorillaz came about.

“Their team contacted my management last year, so that’s basically how the collaboration came about,” Popcaan said.

Hopefully this is just the smoke before the fire and Jamaicans will soon start climbing the British charts again and into the top 10.  With Alkaline’s popularity in the country as evident by his selling out of the Brixton Academy, his upcoming album might just find its way into the UK top 10 album chart.