British artist KSI has clinched the Number one spot this week with his new album, ‘All Over The Place’.
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
