Bermudian reggae star Collie Buddz‘ latest album “Take It Easy” has spent the last three days at No. 1 on the iTunes Reggae Albums chart, but he says he doesn’t expect to go No. 1 in the first week on the Billboard Reggae albums chart this time around due to changes in chart calculations.
Buju Banton missed the chart with his latest DefJam/ROC Nation album ‘Born For Greatness’ after selling 500 units including 2.2 million on-demand streams in his first week, and 2600 units over its lifetime according to data supplied to WMV by Billboard Sales tracker Luminate. In the second week the album did an additional 500 units in streams and sales which was also not enough to make the chart.
Stephen Marley barely made top ten with his latest offering “Old Soul” marking the first time he has not debuted at No. 1 with a studio album after selling 900 units in its first week and over its lifetime, 1700 album equivalent units including previously released singles “Old Soul” and “Cool As The Breeze.”
Beenie Man‘s latest album ‘Simma’ also missed the US Billboard Reggae albums chart after selling only 500 units in its first week according to Luminate.
Taking this into consideration Collie Buddz says he doesn’t think his fourth studio album will be making the chart next week. “Probably won’t make the top ten,” he said. “They changed everything. Buju woulda hit No. 1, Stephen Marley woulda hit No. 1, but they changed up the way that they calculate album sales. A lotta artist do bundles, with CD and T-Shirt but they don’t count those anymore as album sales. Basically you’re gonna see Bob (Marley) at the top all the time and then more Shaggy, Sean Paul as a trend because they switched up how they calculate as a trend,” Collie Buddz explained.
‘Take It Easy’ is driven by previously released singles “Twisted Agenda” featuring Bounty Killer and the title track, both released a year and seven months ago respectively. “It’s not fair, they have changed the way they calculate things, previous If you released a single they don’t calculate that. Only first week sales, I don’t know why they switched it up but maybe it’s towards the major labels because you know they run everything,” he added.
On whether he will tour in Jamaica, Collie Buddz says the few times he has performed on the Island have not been his best experiences. The ‘Come Around’ singer recalls in an exclusive interview with World Music Views® what he calls a nerve racking experience at West Kingston stage show ‘Champions in Action.’
“Probably the most nerve racking performances I have ever done in my life. I did ‘Champions In Action,’ came out for one and a half songs before somebody said ‘get off the stage,'” he says, laughing at the memory.
He said a similar thing happened at Rebel Salute, “We did Rebel Salute, I did Rebel Salute. I was supposed to go on at 11 o’clock, then it got pushed back to 4:00 am and by that time I was twisted. Then they said ‘you only got five minutes’ and I was like ‘yo you had said ten,’ but I was not fighting that, 4:00 am is prime time. That was another one, I only sang like three songs, not even three. It was like one and a half.”
The Billboard chart topping reggae artist also says he believes white reggae bands should do shows in Jamaica but they would need to be invited.
Still he said, “I would love to come back to Jamaica to perform, that’s not even a question.”
