Chart Watch: Shaggy, Sting bounce back, Popcaan tumbles

 
When it comes to the Billboard Reggae Album charts, a week is ages, especially in the heat of summer when the new releases are fast, furious — and sometimes fleeting. Through all the flurry, Sting and Shaggy are proving resilient with their ‘44/876’ set, which has rebounded from its slip to number four last week, to sit second to only the number one debuting I Don’t Want: The Gold Fire Sessions (Santigold). The Sing/Shaggy combo is now in its 15th week on  the listing, the current chart valid up to Saturday, August 11.
 
Although it is early days yet, the same resilience cannot be applied to Popcaan’s Forever  album which, in its second week on the chart, has tumbled from its second place debut to number six. In that spot it anchors a trio of albums which have fallen out of the top five from last week: that threesome beginning at number four with Slightly Stoopid’s Everyday Life, Everyday People, which debuted in the number one slot which it retained  last week. At number five is Free Rein (Rebelution), which was at number three last week. It is now in its seventh week on the chart.
 
In addition to Santigold’s pole position debut, and Sting and Shaggy’s fresh pair of legs, the Reggae Gold: 25th Anniversary collection’s streak from number nine last week to third this time around, has contributed to the slipping of those three sets. The Reggae Gold collection is not a looking back at a quarter century of the series — but a continuation of its focus on collating what is hip now. So it has the explicit versions of Walking Trophy (Hoodcelebrity), Dweet (Genna Bounce)’ (Ding Dong, featuring Bravo), Bawl Out (Dovey Magnum), Stay So (Busy Signal) and Nothing Dem No Know Ova Me (Shenseea). There is also Jah Cure’s Risk it All, Jah9’s Love Has Found I, Beres Hammond’s I’m Alive, Chronixx’s Ghetto Paradise, and Queen Ifrica’s Black Woman among the album’s 19 tracks.
 

Numbers seven to 10 are a balance of new projects, and ones which have fallen from last week’s placings. On the new side are Benjah’s EP Pain Tings at number seven, and For Peace Band’s Always Love at number 10. They sandwich Iration’s self-titled set, which has lost three places from last week to be eighth, and Ziggy Marley’s Rebellion Rises, which has slipped a place from last week to now fill the number nine slot.