Teddy Afro's Etorika tops US iTunes Reggae Chart after release

Teddy Afro just turned a long wait into a chart statement. Etorika surged to No. 1 on the U.S. iTunes Reggae Chart only days after its April 17 release, a rare kind of crossover moment for an Ethiopian artist in a lane usually dominated by Caribbean and diaspora heavyweights.

The numbers tell the story fast. Etorika arrives as an 18-song album running 1 hour and 35 minutes on Apple Music, and it marked Teddy Afro’s first full-length project in nearly nine years. The new release follows a stretch in which he largely worked through standalone singles, making the album’s arrival feel less like a routine drop and more like a reset. For reggae listeners watching where the genre’s audience is growing, a No. 1 U.S. iTunes placement for an Ethiopian star says the map is widening in real time.

The album also carries the weight of Teddy Afro’s track record. His 2017 album Ethiopia debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s World Albums chart, and Etorika now extends that global profile into reggae-specific territory. Reggaeville listed Etorika as an official Teddy Afro release, and the album lineup includes “Das Tal (Ansaw),” “Sememene (GuReggae),” “Jember,” and “Merema,” underscoring how the project folds reggae rhythms into Ethiopian sounds rather than treating the genre as a loose influence.

The digital response has been even louder than the chart move. One report said “Das Tal” reached nearly 8 million YouTube views in two days, while another said Etorika pulled in about 15 million YouTube views in its first hour. That kind of traffic is the sort of launch that can turn a regional comeback into a global talking point overnight, especially when the record is being framed in Ethiopian media as a major cultural moment for Ethiopia and the diaspora.

Taken together, the release says something important about reggae right now: the audience is not just listening from the usual centers, it is actively building new ones. Teddy Afro’s Etorika did not merely enter the conversation, it moved straight to the top of the U.S. reggae chart and dragged Ethiopia with it.