Top 100 Reggae Songs of All Time

What are the 100 Greatest Reggae songs of all time?

Listen to the complete songs from Reggaes greatest artists — Marley, Toots and the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh — and many more.

It was around 1960, in the slums of Kingston Jamaica, where the local bands were playing a musical mixture of American R&B, Caribbean, and pan-African sounds, drummers began to emphasize the afterbeat, the 2nd and 4th beats (4/4 time) in unison with the piano and guitar while the bass played walking quarter notes. The musicians called the sound "Upside-down R&B". It soon became known as "Ska". As time passed Ska slowed the beat, lost its brass sound and morphed into "Rocksteady", performed with fewer musicians and using more harmony vocals. Around 1968 the influences of Rastafari and Africanism along with political and social unrest in Jamaica gave birth to "Reggae", with a slower, stripped-down, less "Pop-like" sound often with accents added on the 3rd beat. Today the term "Reggae" applies broadly to all the Jamaican born music that contains the original afterbeat rhythm.

This collection contains the classic Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, Dancehall and Dub songs from Jamaica along with newer songs from Reggae artists in the U.K., U.S. and Africa. These songs were selected based on initial and lasting popularity as well as influence and impact in Reggae music. (Note: These are Reggae songs by Reggae artists. Not the occasional reggae song recorded by non-reggae artists. Example: "I Shot The Sheriff" by Eric Clapton)

Hear or see a song you like? Select the "buy song" button and youll be taken directly to that song in the iTunes store.

Its like a premium radio station that plays the greatest Reggae music of all time. No commercials and you can skip songs too. It plays the music in shuffle mode, like on your iPod.

Requirements

Top 100 Reggae Songs of All Time requires a connection to a 3G, Edge, or Wi-fi network to stream the music to your iPhone or iPod Touch.