The Billboard Reggae Album Chart which appears weekly in Billboard Magazine, will not be discontinued. That assurance was given by Alex Vitoulis, the publication’s associate director and chart productions manager.
Responding to emailed questions from the Jamaica Observer about the chart’s immediate future, Vitoulis denied rumours Billboard was planning to drop it.
Rumour circulated on Caribbean radio in South Florida and New York that the publication would scrap its Reggae Album list due to farcical sales returns by leading Jamaican artistes.
But Vitoulis, without going into detail, said such speculation was unfounded.
The Reggae Album Chart reports on weekly sales in the United States from a combination of physical and digital sales as well as streaming. The first Reggae Album Chart appeared in Billboard on February 5, 1994. The Top 10 albums that week were:
1. Promises & Lies – UB40
3. Bad Boys – Inner Circle
4. 12 Inches of Snow – Snow
5. Songs of Freedom – Bob Marley
6. Voice of Jamaica – Buju Banton
7. Queen of The Pack – Patra
8. All She Wrote – Chaka Demus & Pliers
9. Pure Pleasure – Shaggy
10. Rough & Ready Vol II – Shabba Ranks
In recent years, the chart has been dominated by American reggae bands like Rebelution and SOJA, who consistently outsell their Jamaican counterparts. Top Jamaican artistes including Romain Virgo, Christopher Martin and Konshens show modest to poor returns on Billboard.
That is a stark contrast to the 1990s when homegrown acts like Shabba Ranks, Mad Cobra, Patra, Super Cat and Dawn Penn made the magazine’s mainstream chart.
In 2010, Billboard introduced the Reggae Digital Song Sales Chart which compiles top-selling digital singles. The Billboard Reggae Album Chart is updated on its website on Tuesdays.
Beast From The East by American band Bumpin Uglies is the current number one album.
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