There is chart dominance, and then there is racing yourself. This week Malie Donn stopped competing with the rest of Jamaica and started competing with his own catalogue: Apple Music Jamaica’s Top Songs currently reads like a one-man track listing, with Vancleef Pt 2 at No. 1, the brand new Van Cleef Pt 3 at No. 2 and the original Van Cleef at No. 3.
Malie posted the screenshot himself on Wednesday evening with a single word of commentary, “Krismuss,” and the hashtag #hattrick. The post is past 34,000 likes. Pt 3 had been out for one day at that point: it was released on October 27, produced by Dan Sky Records and Attomatic Records, the third chapter of a series whose first two parts have already passed 20 million combined streams. Most artists would frame a week like that. Malie just pointed at the board.
The stats post removed all doubt
If the screenshot looked too good, his follow-up removed the argument. On Thursday night he posted a full stats board under the line “Check E Stats, Do The Maths,” showing Pt 3 sitting at No. 1 on Apple Music in Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Kitts and Nevis, with all three songs crowding the top of the charts right across the Caribbean. That post pulled more than 14,000 likes in its first night.
The picture is confirmed from outside his page as well. Caribbean EMagazine’s Chart Watch for October 29 records the same Jamaica order: Pt 2 on top, Pt 3 in at No. 2, the original at No. 3, with the original also holding No. 8 on the traditional Dancehall Top 25 after 13 weeks on that chart. Nation’s own Toppa Top 10 tells the same story from a different seat: Vancleef Pt 2 is this week’s No. 1 there too.
Why a hat trick is different
Three songs in the top 10 is a strong week. Three versions of one song holding the top three seats is something else: it means the audience is not just streaming a hit, it is studying a series, running the chapters back into each other and arguing about which one carries the crown. The Van Cleef run has been building that way all year, each part feeding the last, and Pt 3 landing at No. 2 within a day of release says the newest chapter arrived with its audience already waiting.
The live footage backs the numbers. His Miami tour stop this month played to a festival crowd holding phone lights up through the rain, which is what a chart run looks like when it leaves the phone screen. Jamaica’s chart has a king problem right now, and the problem is that all three kings have the same name.
Photos: @malie_music on Instagram
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