Dancehall singer Mr. Vegas, has surpassed 350 million streams on Spotify across all credits.
His top song on the platform is Socadona by Brazilian singer Ludmilla Mariah Angeliq, and Topo La Maskara with 70 million streams.
The “Heads High” singer who has been making hits since 1998, recently unleashed a mouthful on the state of dancehall album/EP sales and says he is willing to support even his nemesis Bounty Killer in a quest to support the genre.
World Music Views first reported that Time Bomb EP by Bounty Killer and Cham sold 100 copies the first week in the US according to data supplied by Luminate.
On Thursday Vegas took to Instagram to explain why the poor first week sales for Bounty Killer and Cham’s “Time Bomb” EP is an indictment on dancehall as a whole and blames YouTube bloggers for not rallying their troops to buy the Dave Kelly produced project.
“Unuh just write seh Killa a unuh general and unuh channel buss and unuh was tell me seh so much a eunuch weh deh son YouTube and the internet really allow that fi happen? 100 raw sales?
“Time Bomb” which features Idris Elba on “Badman Ting” and Dexta Daps on “Slow Motion” peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. iTunes Reggae chart and charted on Apple Music at No. 13 British Virgin Islands, #13 Jamaica, #59 Trinidad and Tobago, #77 Bermuda, #79 Cayman Islands, #84 Saint Kitts and Nevis. On iTunes: it’s No, %4 Bermuda and No. 12 in Austria but it did not debut on the US Billboard Reggae chart.
“Memba seh inuh, me cyah rejoice bout that inuh, because mi a artist, and mi a put out music too and it nuh good fi dancehall neither. It’s not a good look for Dancehall. This just goes to show that unuh a nuh real fans of the music,” Vegas continued.
Elsewhere on Instrgam Vegas posted a screenshot of him buying Time Bomb on iTunes with the caption,
“TIME BOMB INNA MI PLAYLIST. (Me and the friend dem copped it).”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx-yltrMPus/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Vegas’ “Heads High” single has 38 million streams on Spotify and his Beyonce collab “Standing On The Sun” from Beyonce’s 2014 self titled album has 34 million streams.
With 12 studio albums under his belt, his highest streaming album on the platform is the 18 track compilation “Mr Vegas: The Hits” by Greensleeves Records which features songs like “Jack It Up,” “Nike Air” and “Hot Wuk” has 61 million streams.
“Heads High,” the album released in 1998, reached No. 5 on the US Billboard Reggae chart, and he won a MOBO award on October 6, 1999 for Best Reggae Artist following its release. The lead single of the same name peaked at No. 69 peak on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart.
Mr. Vegas continues to release music, with notable tracks like “Hot Gal Today” in 2000 and “Pull Up” in 2004.
In 2008, he announced his retirement from the music industry to spend more time with his family and reconnect with his spirituality. However, he made a comeback in 2009 and 2010 with new songs and in 2012, released the album “Sweet Jamaica,” which received a MOBO Award nomination.
