Bob Marley Tops Billboard’s 2022 ‘Year-End’ Reggae Charts—For Third Year In A Row
Reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers have topped the Billboard Year-End Reggae Albums Artists chart, as well as the Year-End Reggae Albums chart with their greatest hits collection Legend: The Best Of Bob Marley & The Wailers—for the third year in a row.
Billboard also revealed that Legend, first released on May 8, 1984, holds No. 77 (down from No. 60 last year) on the Year-End Billboard 200 Albums chart, which ranks albums across all genres.
Released today (December 1), Billboard’s Year-End 2022 music charts recap aggregated metrics for artists and albums from their weekly charts dated Nov. 20, 2021 through Nov. 12, 2022, based on streaming equivalent albums units, airplay, and sales in the United States, as reported by sales tracker Luminate.
According to the publication, Legend has also copped No. 9 (down from No. 6 last year) on the Year-End Top R&B Albums chart and No. 41 on the Year-End Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart (down from No. 32 last year).
This year Bob Marley and The Wailers are also at No. 10 on the Year-End Top R&B Albums Artists chart (down from No. 7 last year), and No. 47 on the Year-End Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artists chart.
Marley’s three-year domination of the Reggae charts comes as no surprise because, on any given week, the 15x Platinum Legend album continues to sell (and stream) almost as much as the other 9 entries on the weekly Billboard Reggae chart, combined. Billboard had amended its rules in January 2020, allowing the 38-year-old album to dominate the weekly Reggae chart for the last three years, except for the one week in 2022 when it was deposed by Stick Figure’s Wisdom.
Legend is Marley’s highest-charting album in the US, peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. It is the best-selling reggae album of all time, with over 15 million copies sold in the US, over 3.9 million copies in the UK, and an estimated 33 million copies sold globally.
As of December 1, 2022, Legend has spent 1,057 weeks in the top 100 of the UK Albums Chart—the second-longest run in that chart’s history, and 758 weeks on the US Billboard 200 weekly chart—the second album after Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon (962 weeks), to hit over 14 years on that chart.
Meanwhile, back on the Year-End Reggae Albums chart, which covers metrics from the top 15 individual Reggae and Dancehall albums, Best Of Shaggy: The Boombastic Collection by Shaggy was at No. 2, followed by Dutty Classics Collection by Sean Paul at No. 3 and World On Fire by Stick Figure at No. 4.
Greatest Hits by UB40 is at No. 5, followed by Set In Stone by Stick Figure at No. 6, Dutty Rock by Sean Paul at No. 7, Gifted by Koffee at No. 8, and Wisdom by Stick Figure by No. 9.
Mad Love: The Prequel by Sean Paul is at No. 10, followed by Look For The Good by Jason Mraz at No. 11, Alpha by Shenseea at No. 12, Live At Red Rocks by Rebelution at No. 13, The Trinity by Sean Paul at No. 14, and Time Bomb by Iration at No. 15.
On the Year-End Reggae Albums Artists chart, which covers metrics from all albums released by each artist during the period, Stick Figure, Sean Paul, and Shaggy occupy the No. 2, 3, and 4 spots, respectively.
UB-40, Koffee, and Jason Mraz are at No. 5, 6, and 7, respectively, while Shenseea, Rebelution, and Iration are at No. 8, 9, and 10, respectively.