by Howard Campbell
KINGSTON, Jamaica – An American band has ended Bob Marley’s Legend’s amazing stay atop the Billboard Reggae Albums Chart. Stick Figure from California cut the compilation’s 140-week run with Wisdom, their latest album.
Wisdom was released September 9 by Ruffwood Records. It has collaborations with veteran Jamaican reggae singer Barrington Levy, Collie Buddz of Bermuda and Slightly Stoopid, a punk-ska band from California.
Top Billboard Reggae Album
Legend, which has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, has been number one on the Billboard Reggae Albums table since early 2020. Initially released on vinyl by Island Records, the first edition has 14 of the reggae legend’s best-known songs including No Woman No Cry, Jamming, Satisfy my Soul, Waiting in Vain, Could You be Loved and the global anthem, One Love.
Released in 1984, three years after Marley’s death at age 36, Legend is also one of the top-selling catalog albums on Billboard, alongside Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon and Carole King’s Tapestry.
Stick Figure
Formed in 2006, Stick Figure are one of the bands from the US West Coast that have dominated the Billboard Reggae Album Chart for the past 10 years. Three of their previous efforts — Burial Ground, Set in Stone and World on Fire — also topped the chart.
Figures from Billboard show that Wisdom sold 9,672 copies in the past week, strong numbers for the reggae chart, one of the smallest of the publication’s weekly tallies.
Wisdom’s feat continues a strong year for the American reggae band. In April, SOJA from Arlington, Virginia became the first American act to win the Best Reggae Album Grammy Award, with Beauty in The Silence.
