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Chart watch - Billboard | Ziggy leads three newcomers in top five

Published:Wednesday | May 30, 2018 | 12:00 AM
Ziggy Marley

Ziggy Marley leads three new albums in the top five of the Billboard Reggae Albums Chart for this week, ending Saturday, June 2, making a number one debut with Rebellion Rises. The other new sets in the top half of the listing are Iration's self-titled project at number two, and the fourth-placed EP Made in California by Josh Heinrichs and Skillin Jah.

The titles on the Marley set lean towards fulfilling the promise of the name. The title track is saved for the last of 10 songs (a short collection, measured by the yardstick of the 15-plus song records to which we have become accustomed).

Among the individual song titles are the opening See Dem Fake Leaders, World Revolution (featuring Samuill Kalonji) and The Storm is Coming (featuring Gideon Marley). However, there are also the milder (though not necessarily less effective) I am a Human, Circle of Peace (featuring Stephen Marley) and Your Pain is Mine.

The influx of high-placing new releases has clipped the chart-topping run of the 44/876 Sting and Shaggy combination but has not pushed it down too far as it is now in the third spot. And last week's number three, the Sister Caro EP by Henricci, closes off the top five.

There are two Jamaican performers in the lower half of this week's Billboard Reggae Albums Chart. Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley's Stony Hill is at number six, down from the second spot last week, and is closing in steadily on a year on the listing without falling out of the top 10 as it is now at 44 consecutive weeks. The other Jamaican entry, Chronixx's Chronology, is in the 10th position. The number seven and eight albums Box Full of Steel (The Dubplates) and Marching Orders (The Green) respectively are both making their way back into the chart.

And the number nine album, SOJA's Poetry in Motion, has slipped considerably from last week's fifth spot.