Skip Marley, Toots & the Maytals, Buju Banton lead Grammy nominations

The 2021 Grammy nominations were announced yesterday, and Jamaican artists Skip Marley, Toots & the Maytals, Buju Banton, Maxi Priest and The Wailers are up for the Best Reggae Album.

Skip Marley earns his first Grammy nomination with his debut EP Higher Place. The seven-track offering leads with the Billboard Adult R&B chart-topper Slow Down which features singer H.E.R. That single has also earned Marley his second Grammy nomination for Best R&B song.

Toots & the Maytals received their sixth Grammy nomination (fifth in this category) with Got to Be Tough. The 10-track album is the group's first in a decade, and also the last recorded by lead singer Toots Hibbert before he died in September. The reggae band won the award for their 2004 album True Love.

Banton enters with Upside Down 2020, a 20-track Roc Nation-Island Records project which marked his first album since being released from prison in 2018. This is Banton's sixth nomination. His last album, Before the Dawn, earned him the 2011 award in this category.

Maxi Priest earns his third Grammy nomination with his entry It All Comes Back to Love. The Shaggy-produced record bears 14 singles. The Wailers' album, One World, also has 14 tracks, and rounds off the contenders for the Best Reggae Album Grammy. One World is the group's first album in 25 years.

The prestigious industry award went to Koffee earlier this year for her 2019 EP Rapture.

The 63rd ceremony will be aired on January 31, 2021, from Los Angeles, California.