Paramount Pictures film, Bob Marley: One Love biopic has boosted sales and streams of the Reggae legend’s catalog globally.
The cultural film, starring British actor Kingsley Ben-Adir as the late Bob Marley, eluded poor reviews from critics to hold the No. 1 at the Box Office for two consecutive weeks, Jamaica Weekly understands. It has surpassed expectations, crossing the $120 million threshold ($72.2 million in the United States and $49.4 million internationally) on a $70 million production budget after its second weekend in theaters worldwide.
Meanwhile US audiences flock the theaters to watch the film, they also been streaming their favorite Bob Marley’s music more than any other time in the last decade—giving his catalog a more than threefold increase in sales and on-demand streams during the full week following the film’s release.
The last time Bob Marley‘s music experienced such a surge in United States was back in 2014 when the Google Play store discounted his greatest hits album, Legend: The Best Of Bob Marley and the Wailers, to 99 cents. (Google reportedly covered the full price ($8) during that promotion.)
On the Top Streaming Albums chart dated March 1, which tracks the most-streamed albums of the week in the US, the album is at No. 23, up from No. 44 last week. On the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Legend also registered a new peak at No. 8, up from No. 11 last week.
It is also currently at No. 1 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart, where it has been for 215 non-consecutive weeks.
On the Billboard 200 chart, which ranks the top US albums across all genres, Legend is currently at No. 17, up from No. 38 before the film’s release. It had previously peaked at No. 5 on the chart during Google’s promotion in 2014.
According to data from Billboard’s sales tracker Luminate, Legend recorded 22,000 in sales and streams, including 5,000 in pure album sales and 22 million streams, for the week ended February 15.
For the week ended February 22, it recorded another 30,000 units in sales and streams, including 7,000 in pure album sales and 30 million streams in the US.
