Ahead of Saturday’s BRIT Awards ceremony where Sam Smith is up for Song of the Year and British Pop/R&B act, the singer’s British label is celebrating their Grammy win, fiery performance and more than 1.6m sales for Gloria worldwide. The team has a few hosannas for the “Unholy” artist.

The 1.6m figure is “massively positive, especially when we have a full year of promotion ahead of us,” enthuses EMI co-President Jo Charrington and Capitol Records U.K. MD, Tom Paul. Their target is 5m and beyond.

Following the success of Grammy-winning “Unholy” with Kim Petras, which has racked up over 2b streams and hit #1 in the U.S. (a first for Smith) and U.K., Gloria debuted at #1 in the U.K., Australia and Ireland last week. It was #2 in the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland and Top 5 in Norway and Belgium.

On this campaign, Smith is also reaching peaks in new territories, including Brazil and Southeast Asia, thanks in part to the UMG international marketing team, Nickie Owen and Holly Shaw. “They’ve done an incredible job of spreading it,” Paul says. Charrington adds: “We’re getting a lot of new fans for Sam, which is unusual for an artist at this stage in their career. We’re really excited about that.”

Discussing the making of Gloria, Charrington says it lands Smith “exactly where they should be at this moment, culturally and musically, and as a human being. It's a brilliant record and Sam has really taken the reins in making it. It’s probably the most involved they’ve been and that comes across in the music.”

Nick Raphael, who departed the helm of Capitol U.K. at the beginning of 2022 (and has since started a new venture), also deserves props. “None of us would be here without Nick's involvement,” says Charrington. “Nick has left Sam in the most incredible place where Sam can take the reins and we’re here to elevate. I feel like we’ve all done, alongside Nick, a great job at getting Sam to this stage in their career where they’re really flying.”

Next steps are continuing to work latest single, “I’m Not Here To Make Friends,” across the world. Smith has a world tour from April to December that includes multiple nights in London, New York, L.A. and Mexico City.