Bob Marley and the Wailers rule Billboard year-end charts - Reggae icons place above Beyoncé on the top 200 artistes list for 2019

For the second consecutive year, reggae legends Bob Marley and the Wailers are the only Jamaican artistes whose compilation made the cut for Billboard’s top 200 albums of the year. Moving up 17 places from the position it ended last year, The Wailers’ album – Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers – came in at number 61 on the charts for 2019.

The album originally released on May 1, 1984, debuted on the Billboard 200 in August of that year at No. 54. Back in 2017, the album created history when it spent a landmark 500 non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 chart. At that point, it was the album with the second most weeks on the list beaten only by Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.

Except for three years between 1985 and 1988, the album was a regular feature on the chart until 1991 when older albums became ineligible for the Billboard 200 (minus a few exceptions). However, in 2009, after the catalogue restriction was lifted, the album returned to the list. Since then, it has had a near-constant presence on the chart and earned its first top-10 placing in the chart’s history in 2014 when it peaked at number five.

It has been 38 years since the iconic frontman passed, still his work is a mainstay on the Billboard year-end charts. Aside from being the only Jamaican artiste whose album made the coveted Top 200 albums list, Bob Marley and the Wailers is the only Jamaican act on the Top 200 artistes list for 2019. They came in at number 65 on that list, one place above R&B superstar Beyoncé. Marley also ruled the reggae digital sales chart. His song, Three Little Birds, was the top-selling song for 2019, according to Billboard’s calculations.

Billboard’s year-end music recaps are based on chart performance from November 24, 2018, to November 16, 2019.