Hot 100 First-Timers: YG Marley Shines With Debut Single ‘Praise Jah in the Moonlight’
Written by djfrosty on February 6, 2024
The legendary Marley family has yet another Billboard Hot 100-charting hitmaker in its lineage, as YG Marley debuts for the first time (on the Feb. 10 -dated tally) with “Praise Jah in the Moonlight.”
The song, which Marley self-released Dec. 27, debuts at No. 74 with 6.2 million official U.S. streams – up 59%, as it continues weekly gains – in the Jan. 26-Feb. 1 tracking week, according to Luminate.
YG Marley (real name: Joshua Marley) is the grandson of the late Bob Marley, and the son of Rohan Marley and Ms. Lauryn Hill – the latter of whom topped the Hot 100 with “Doo Wop (That Thing)” in 1998. YG is the sixth member of the Marley family to hit the Hot 100, after Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley, Ky-Mani Marley, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and Skip Marley.
Here’s a look at every song by a member of the Marley family (excluding Hill) to chart on the Hot 100, listed chronologically:
Title, Artist Billing, Peak Position, Year:
“Roots, Rock, Reggae,” Bob Marley and The Wailers, No. 51 (1976)
“Tomorrow People,” Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers, No. 39 (1988)
“Good Time,” Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers, No. 85 (1991)
“Avenues,” Refugee Camp All Stars feat. Pras with Ky-Mani, No. 35 (1997)
“Gotta Be…Movin’ On Up,” Prince Be & Ky-Mani, No. 90 (1998)
“Welcome To Jamrock,” Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, No. 55 (2005)
“Chained to the Rhythm” Katy Perry feat. Skip Marley, No. 4 (2017)
“Bam,” Jay-Z feat. Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, No. 47 (2017)
“Praise Jah in the Moonlight,” YG Marley, No. 74 (2024)
Perhaps surprisingly, Bob Marley, as noted above, charted only one song on the Hot 100 prior to his death in 1981: “Roots, Rock, Reggae.” He does, however, hold the record for the most No. 1s – 19 – in the 30-year history of Billboard’s Reggae Albums chart. Plus, his greatest hits LP Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and The Wailers has spent 820 weeks and counting on the Billboard 200 (currently ranking at No. 57, after it reached No. 5 in 2014)—it’s the second-longest-charting album in the survey’s 58-year history, after Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon (988 weeks, between 1973 and this January). His influence has resulted in many Hot 100 chart entries under a songwriter billing, though, thanks to covers, samples or interpolations of his songs, including Eric Clapton’s “I Shot the Sheriff (No. 1, 1974), Warren G’s “I Shot the Sheriff” (No. 20, 1997), 50 Cent’s “Window Shopper” (No. 20, 2005) and Rihanna’s “Redemption Song” (No. 81, 2010).
“Praise Jah” contains a sample of Bob Marley and The Wailers’ 1978 track “Crisis.” As such, Bob Marley is listed as a co-songwriter on the track (alongside YG and Hill). It marks his first appearance on the Hot 100 since his writing credit on James Blunt’s “Stay the Night” in 2011; that song interpolates Marley’s 1978 classic “Is This Love.”
As for Hill, she has charted three songs on the Hot 100: “Doo-Wop (That Thing)” and two that peaked in 1999, “Ex-Factor” (No. 21) and “Everything Is Everything” (No. 35).
“Praise Jah” debuts ahead of the theatrical release of Bob Marley: One Love (Feb. 14), the Reinaldo Marcus Green-helmed biopic about the late icon. YG performed the song at several of Hill’s tour stops last winter, helping generate interest leading up to its official release. The buzz bled over onto TikTok, where the song has soundtracked over 150,000 clips to date.