ITUNES REGGAE CHARTS AUG 24TH -31ST

[Graham Davidson]

I was just looking at the ITunes reggae charts earlier today. In particular I like to look at the U.S and Canadian charts. You can view them by following this link. >>

http://www.apple.com/euro/itunes/charts/top10reggaealbums.html

The U.S. charts are quite different from the Canadian, and in fact really differ from what I’ll call “The Field”.

The Field for the most part has “Bob Marley: Legends” at #1. No argument there, its Bob Marley after all. The U.S. chart topper is “The Green” and their latest release “Hawai’i 13”. I own it, and I really enjoy it! Standout songs for me being “Always & Forever”, “The Power in the Words” and “Good One”. Follow them @TheGreen808 they tweet often and recently announced upcoming east coast tour dates.

I didn’t see The Green’s Hawai’i 13 on any other country’s chart. In fact I didn’t see many of the top ten U.S. bands on any other chart. Bands like Rebelution #5, Iration #6 + #9 or Common Kings at #8; Honorable mention to the “Dub Rockers” compilation at #5, available for $4.99 on ITunes. >>

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dub-rockers-vol.-1/id671509799

Musical tastes are obviously going to differ country to country. Although if you were to check the ITunes Country music charts you would see that #1 in the U.S. is the same as #1 in Canada - (Pop, Electronic Dance, Hip-Hop and Rock Charts also share #1’s, Canada and U.S.)

Perhaps the ranks are based on the reality that “New Country, Pop, Electronic Dance and Rock” are all genres that have been well established in both countries for years (Radio/video play) – Whereas this new wave of surf rock reggae hasn’t. Yet.

I write that having no real evidence other than the charts I referenced earlier. For all I know there are plenty of other Canadians who love this music. It is great after all. I just haven’t met any of them yet, though I hope to. Thankfully I was able to get my best friend Emily into this music, which was easy. I gave her an Iration CD and she was pretty much hooked.

Some of the bigger named bands have certainly penetrated mainstream Canadian music, Sublime, Dirty Heads, Slightly Stoopid and Pepper. I’m a big fan of Soja, one of almost 2 million according to their Facebook fan-page. I would love to see the insights data for that page. Just to see what regions they draw from, in particular how many are Canadian. I’m a marketer by trade so I find all of that fascinating.

So what could be done? If getting this genre of music on the Canadian reggae charts is the goal? The quality of the music takes care of itself. So maybe it’s just a matter of reach and frequency? This is probably something I’ll blog about further. I don’t have the answers. I guess I just wrote this because I’m kinda puzzled.