The rapper’s second studio album debuted at the top spot this week with over 34,000 chart sales and an impressive 20.9 million streams. The release has beaten out the previous number one act, Inhaler, who dropped to number nineteen this week. The majority of the number one album’s sales were on physical configurations, 54% of sales came from CDs, Vinyls and cassettes, making the release the best-selling album on wax this week.

In the artist’s acceptance speech KSI celebrates his win, whilst thanking his fans, record label and creative team who helped him achieve the award. Within the video, the artist also gives a glimpse into the beginnings of his career as a YouTuber.

The 28-year-old artist released his second studio album on 16th July 2021 via the independent record label, RBC Records and its partner BMG. The album has sired five singles with three released before the album’s release and complete inception. The lead single ‘Really Love’, featured guest artists, pop icon Craig David and British DJ Digital Farm Animals. The single was released on 23rd October 2020 and debuted in the singles charts at number three. All but one of the album’s singles landed within the top three positions within the UK Singles charts, ‘Don’t Play’ and ‘Holiday’ reached number two and the third single ‘Patience’ landed at number three. The album’s latest single ‘Swerve’ released 2nd July 2021 landed within the UK singles charts at number sixty nine.

In the following interview with OfficalCharts.com, KSI discusses the process taken to complete the album. Within the interview the artist also discusses his progression within his career, whilst providing an insight into his personal and professional journey to further grow his musical talents.

The artist’s number one album features many collaborations including artists, Lil Durk, Rico Love, Deno, Future, 21 Savage and British singer and actor Yungblud. Much like Yunglud, KSI is also a man of many talents. The Watford born artist, otherwise known as Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji, began his career as a YouTuber and influencer and was named within the top 100 UK influencers by The Sunday Times in 2019. His YouTube career started at an early age in 2008-2009, in his teens, he would upload gaming commentary videos to his YouTube channel under his account name KSIOlajideBT. KSI would then go on to drop out of Sixth Form college to follow his passion and YouTube career. Despite his teacher’s disapproval and doubts, his channel went on to earn an income and eventually became an impressive revenue stream. After uploading more Vlogs and similar video game content to his channel, he reached a million subscribers in 2012.

After gaining traction within the industry, he was signed to Polaris, a subsidiary of American network Maker Studio in 2013 and was recruited to join British YouTube collective the Sidemen. The group would branch out from just video game commentaries and began to upload sketches and various challenges. KSI would publish his biography in 2015 titled ‘KSI: I Am a Bellend’, after he toured in support of his book, KSI published another book entitled ‘Sidemen: The Book’. His second book would go on to sell 26,436 copies and scored top billing within the hardback fiction charts. In 2017, KSI posted on social media notifying fans that he would be leaving Sidemen due to internal issues within the group.

Throughout his early YouTube career, KSI was also exploring his musical talent, this began with comedy rap songs in which he uploaded to his channel in 2011. He released his debut single on 23rd March 2015 entitled ‘Lamborghini’ which featured grime artist MC P Money, the single debuted in the singles charts at number thirty. KSI would start to achieve traction within the charts with his initial complete EP ’Keep Up’, released on 8th January 2016, the release charted at number thirteen within the UK album charts and debuted at number one within the UK R&B Album chart. Further releases would follow until his first studio album ‘Dissimulation’ was released on 22nd May 2020. The album was a critical and commercial success and was certified silver after achieving over 60,000 UK unit sales and charted at number two within the UK Album charts, giving the rapper his second-highest album chart position to date.

KSI is not just a YouTube star and musical artist, this talented individual has also held an amateur and professional career in boxing, where the star fought other YouTube personalities such as Joe Weller and Logan Paul. KSI has also tried his hand at acting professionally, he starred in the 2016 film ‘Laid In America’ alongside fellow YouTuber Casper Lee. A documentary about the multitalented star was also released in 2018 entitled ‘KST: Can’t Lose’, which charted his struggles and journey in the world of boxing.

Fans will be able to catch the vastly talented artist perform live at various events this year, including a UK tour this autumn and festival appearances. The rapper will be performing at this year’s Reading and Leeds festivals which was confirmed to be going ahead this Summer.

KSI UK Live Dates

26-29/08/2021 – Bramham Park – Leeds
26-29/08 – Reading Festival – Reading
10-12/09 – TRNSMT 2021 – Glasgow
01/10 – Glasgow Garage – Glasgow
02/10 – Riverside – Newcastle Upon Tyne
03/10 – Asylum Hull University Union – Hull
05/10 – O2 Institute Birmingham – Birmingham
06/10 – Old Fire Station Bournemouth – Bournemouth
07/10 – SWX – Bristol
08/10 – Brighton Concorde 2 – Brighton
10/10 – Waterfront – Norwich
11/10 – Cambridge Junction – Cambridge
12/10 – Manchester Academy 2 – Manchester
13/10 – O2 Forum Kentish Town – London
15/10 – O2 Academy Oxford – Oxford
16/10 – Liverpool Hangar 34 – Liverpool
25/02/2022 – SSE Arena Wembley – London

Who’s buying Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga and 5SOS on tape?

Cassette sales have doubled this year, with Lady Gaga’s Chromatica taking top spot.https://t.co/XyS9lMLNby

— BBC Newsbeat (@BBCNewsbeat) December 29, 2020

Even in the midst of one of the most unpredictable years the music industry has faced, few would have predicted a renaissance of the cassette. Nevertheless, tape sales increased by a staggering 103% in the UK market throughout 2020. The British Phonographic Industry project that 157,000 tapes will have been sold in the UK by close of play on December 31st, making 2020 the best year for cassette sales since 2003, when 243,000 tapes were sold. For context, the best-selling cassette album that year was Now 54 (some 53 Now compilations ago) which included tracks by Girls Aloud, Atomic Kitten and Mel C as well as Moscow duo t.A.T.u; Popstars: The Rivals winners One True Voice and inaugural Fame Academy champion David Sneddon.

In an interview with BBC News, Tallulah Webb of London-based independent label Sad Club Records described cassettes as the “way forward for DIY artists.” Webb acknowledged that the format’s return was partly-powered by a hipster audience looking for social media likes (“Some people are probably buying it to take pictures of it and put it on Instagram”) but also argued that a deeper longing for an escape from the instant gratification culture of streaming services was behind the unexpected comeback. She said “I think people genuinely like the format. The amount of times I listen to a playlist on Spotify, and I skip a song… And then you put a cassette on, and you can’t skip it. There is something really nice about that.”

While cassette sales still represent an incredibly small proportion of the UK music market – streaming services still account for a whopping 80% of the field – the surprise growth of the format this year was part of a wider resurgence in physical record sales. Indeed, a fifth of all album sales in Britain this year were vinyl records (some 4.8 million), making 2020 the thirteenth consecutive year that the sales of the much-loved format grew in the UK.

The best-selling vinyl album this year was the remastered version of Fleetwood Mac’s masterpiece Rumours. The transatlantic rockers’ iconic LP continues to bewitch listeners 43 years on from its release, and even gained a sizeable new clutch of teenage fans this year thanks to the success of a viral TikTok video featuring the band’s classic hit Dreams. New releases featuring in the end-of-year vinyl albums chart included Kylie Minogue’s Disco - which Clash described as “sheer escapism from start to finish” and “an exit point from the darkness that has fallen over 2020” – and AC/DC’s Power Up, which became the year’s fastest-selling album following its release in November.

Lady Gaga’s success in the annual cassette charts with Chromatica serves as another string to the bow of an album which had already attained a BPI Gold certification in the UK and topped the year-end Billboard Dance and Electronic Albums chart in the chameleonic artist’s native USA. NME described the record as a “pure pop celebration from an icon in a world of her own“; while Variety hailed it as a “rock-solid foundation for the next phase of (Gaga’s) remarkable career.”