Aged reggae albums dominate Billboard

Friday, November 20, 2009 8:55 PM

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Entertainment

By Steven Jackson Observer writer

Sunday, October 04, 2009

More than half the entries on Billboard's Top-15 Reggae Albums chart are older than three months, yet these old tunes still soar.

Matisyahu's Light sits at number one since debuting five weeks ago, but eight of the top 15 reggae albums are not that current. These reggae albums chart twice as long as their counterpart on the R&B albums chart. The aged reggae albums currently include:

. UB40's Greatest Hits which debuted 52 weeks ago, now at seven;

. Mishka's Above the Bones 30 weeks on the charts, now
at 15;

. Easy Star Lonely Heart's Lonely Heart Dub Band which debuted 24 weeks ago, now at 13;

. Ziggy Marley's Family Time which debuted 21 weeks ago, now at four;

. Julian Marley's Awake which debuted 18 weeks ago, now at 14;

. Soca Gold which debuted 15 weeks ago, now at 15;

. Bob Marley's B is for Bob which debuted 14 weeks ago, now at three; and

. Reggae Gold by various artistes debuted 14 weeks ago, now at 6.

The Billboard R&B chart currently has only 3 of its Top-15 albums older than three months. They include:

. Maxwell's Black Summer's Night which debuted 12 weeks ago, now at six;

. The Black Eyed Peas' The END which debuted 16 weeks ago, now at nine; and

. Eminem's Relapse which debuted 19 weeks ago, now at 15.

In March, Billboard reggae albums were even more aged with eight of 15 older than five months. Currently World Album charts have this dubious statistic, for instance Celtic Thunder's Act 2 debuting 54 weeks ago currently at 4.

Clyde Mckenzie, entertainment consultant, told the Observer in March that although Jamaica produces a barrage of singles annually this does not translate into albums.

"The reason these albums stay on the charts so long is that we do not have an album culture, the genre is relatively small in size and there is the slow pace of releases," Mckenzie, former Shocking Vibes director, said at the time.

Richard Roache, who is on the management team of Busy Signal at JukeBoxx, stated that aged charts allow current hits to be ignored.

"I do not think Billboard is reflecting the talent of the industry," said Roache. "Is it that we do not have the contacts, or we are not good enough. That is a question the industry has to ask."

Billboard album charts comprise sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan from merchants who represent more than 90 per cent of the US music retail market, states Billboard on its methodology. SoundScan compiles sales via CD bar codes.

"The sample includes not only music stores and the music departments at electronics and department stores, but also direct-to-consumer transactions and Internet sales (both physical albums via Internet, and ones bought via digital downloads). A limited array of verifiable sales from concert venues is also tabulated. All sales charts use the entire Nielsen SoundScan panel, with the exception of the R&B/Hip Hop charts which uses a panel of core stores that specialise in the genre. The Nielsen SoundScan system utilises that same point-of-sale that music merchants use to track their inventory, so you can think of the itemised receipt from your last trip to the music store as a ballot cast for our charts," stated Billboard.

Billboard also has radio charts compiled using information tracked by from Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS), which electronically monitors radio stations in more than 140 markets across the United States. It mingles sales numbers with radio data on only three signature charts: The Billboard Hot 100, Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs and the Billboard Pop 100.

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