According to data that Spotify exclusively shared with WMV, Bob Marley & The Wailers were credited as the most streamed reggae artistes on the platform for 2023.
The top song on the platform is Marley’s Three Little Birds, which has garnered over 860 million plays. Other top songs include Could You Be Loved, at No.2, with 773 million, and Is This Love coming in at No.3 with 670 million. Jamming took the No.4 spot, with 469 million streams, while Buffalo Soldier stood at No.5 with 436 million.
With 433 million streams, the medley One Love/People Get Ready comes in at No.6.
Redemption Song comes in at No.7 with 319 million streams. The Lyceum live version of No Woman, No Cry has received 289 million plays.
With 254 million plays, Waiting in Vain takes the eighth position, and with 172,837,811 plays, Stir It Up rounds up Marley’s top ten list.
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Standing at No. 30 on the US Billboard Afrobeats Chart was a remix of Them Belly Full (But We Hungry) with Rema and Skip Marley, which is included on the Afrobeats collaborative album Africa Unite.
The compilation album “Legend: The Best Of Bob Marley & The Wailers” is currently Billboard’s No. 1 Reggae album for the fourth consecutive year.
Another top streaming artiste is Bob Marley’s son Damian Marley (up from No. 3), who will be the second most streamed reggae artiste on Spotify in 2023.
1.6 billion Spotify plays have been made by the self-described youngest veteran across all credits. In addition to a feature on his brother Stephen Marley’s album Old Soul, he released a few new songs this year, including My Sweet Lord and, more recently, the Run remix featuring Killer Mike.
Make It Bun Dem, which has received over 277 million plays on Spotify, is his most popular song.
According to data supplied to WMV by Luminate, Damian’s opus album Welcome to Jamrock has sold 1.2 million units in US streams and sales during its lifetime. It has also made multiple re-entries into the Billboard Reggae Albums chart this year. As of October 2023, the album had sold 900,000 copies and generated $400 million in revenue from on-demand streams in the United States.
The Virginia-based group SOJA climbs to No.3 after spending the previous two years at No.5.
Ini Kamoze, Barrington Levy, and Stephen Marley make their debuts on the top ten Spotify Wrapped at No. 6, 9, and 10. Inner Circle at No. 4 (up from 7); Jimmy Cliff at No.5 (up from 6). Protoje, who was absent from the list the previous year, is back at No.7, and the Wailers are at No.8 (up from No.9).