SEAN PAUL BILLBOARD REGGAE ARTISTE OF THE YEAR/DECADE

By Steven Jackson
Friday, December 18, 2009

Music 'bible', Billboard, lists Sean Paul as the reggae artiste of the year and decade, whilst Shaggy's Hotshot was listed as the 15th most selling album of the 2000s.

Paul beat Matisyahu and Bob Marley & the Wailers for second and third respectively for 2009 artiste of the year based on just released chart data from Billboard, the US based music company.

For artiste of the decade the order of the runners-up was reversed with Marley taking second to Paul. In 2008, the late Bob Marley was the top act followed by Collie Buddz and Stephen Marley. Billboard stated that the top reggae artiste of the decade ranking was based on an artiste's chart performance. During the year Sean Paul hit number one on the charts and sold slightly more copies than Matisyahu, however neither artiste surpassed 80,000 units in the US market.

Billboards also ranked the top selling albums of the decade using sales data from Nielsen SoundScan. It called that chart the Best Billboard Reggae Albums of the 2000s which included:

*Sean Paul's Dutty Rock;
*Sean Paul's Trinity;
*Damian Jr Gong Marley's Welcome to Jamrock;
*Bob Marley's Chant Down Babylon;
*Matisyahu Live at Stubbs;
*Soundtrack for 50 First Dates;
*Matisyahu's Youth;
*Bob Marley and the Wailers' One Love;
*Beenie Man's Art and Life; and
*Kevin Lyttle's self-titled album

Shaggy's album Hotshots sold more than the above list combined, however it was not categorised as a reggae album. Hotshots was the 15th most selling album in North America in the 2000s selling more than albums released by popstars including Alicia Keys, 50 Cent and Linkin Park. Billboard did not disclose the actual sales but Hotshots is known to have sold upwards of six million copies in that market and more than 10 million worldwide.

N'Sync's No Strings Attached was the top selling album of the 2000s, followed by Usher's Confessions and Eminem's The Eminem Show. Interestingly, Eminem was artiste of the 2000s, he was the only artiste that had two entries in the top 10 for albums with most sales in the 2000s.

The Billboard's Best Reggae Albums of the 2000s complements a recent Observer compiled list which ranked reggae albums in terms of the number of weeks on the Billboard charts. Chart longevity indicated that the albums were not only popular but had that timeless quality as sales continued well beyond their release dates.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: THE JAMAICA OBSERVER