A Legend is heading for the top 10 for the first time.

Bob Marley & the Wailers‘ greatest-hits album Legend is on course for the Billboard 200 chart’s top 10 next week. The album, which was released in 1984, has been a steady seller for years, but has never visited the top 10.

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The sudden surge in sales is owed to discounting of the album in the Google Play store to 99 cents. Normally, the album sells for around $8. Industry sources forecast the album to sell between 20,000 to 24,000 copies in the week ending Sept. 7 — with the bulk of those sales coming from Google.

The Billboard 200’s new top 10 will be revealed on Wednesday, Sept. 10.

Sources close to Universal Music Group, which distributes Legend, say that Google is paying the company full price for the album. Google selects the artists and titles for its sale promotions and discounted Legend “on their own.”

(A “full price” cost of the album to a digital retailer could be around $7, say other sources.)

Google regularly offers albums and songs at a deeply discounted price, or sometimes even free (they recently gave away Katy Perry‘s PRISM album for a short time). Those giveaways did not count towards the album’s sales with Nielsen SoundScan, or its ranking on Billboard’s album charts. Sale priced albums are eligible for inclusion on Billboard’s charts, so long as they are not priced below $3.49 in their first four weeks of release. (Free or giveaway albums are never included.)

Upon its release in 1984, Legend initially reached No. 54 on the Billboard 200 chart that year, but went on to chart a lengthy run on the list and continued to sell well as the years — and decades — went by. The album regularly sells between 3,000 and 5,000 a week, and reached a peak of No. 18 in 2012. On the most recent Billboard 200 chart (dated Sept. 13), the album ranked at No. 100 with 3,000 in sales for the week ending Aug. 31, according to SoundScan.

The album has sold 11.6 million copies in the U.S. since 1991, when SoundScan started tracking sales. It is certified as selling 15 million, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (which would account for sales before 1991). Legend was recently reissued in a deluxe package for its 30th anniversary, though, notably, the reissue is not the version that is on sale for 99 cents.

If Legend hits the top 10, it will mark Marley’s second top 10 album, following 1976’s Rastaman Vibration. It peaked at No. 8 on the July 4, 1976-dated chart.

Marley’s Legend album won’t be the only exciting news in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 next week, as Maroon 5 are set for their second No. 1 album. The pop band’s new V could sell around 150,000 copies, which should easily give them the top slot for the first time since 2007’s It Won’t Be Soon Before Long.

Also aiming for high debuts: Jeezy‘s Seen It All: The Autobiography, which should start in the No. 2 slot with around 100,000, and Counting Crows‘ Somewhere Under Wonderland, which should debut in the top 10 with 28,000 or so.

On SoundScan’s Building chart (below), Maroon 5 and Jeezy are Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. The Building tally is a precursor to the final Billboard 200 ranking — reflecting the first four days (Monday through Thursday) of SoundScan’s tracking week as reported by six major merchants.

As for the rest of the Building chart’s top 10, the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack is No. 3, followed by Ariana Grande‘s My Everything at No. 4 and Counting Crows at No. 5. The Now 51 compilation is No. 6, Sam Smith‘s In the Lonely Hour is No. 7 and Miranda Lambert‘s Platinum is No. 8. (Lambert’s album could zip back into the top 10, as it is currently sale priced for $6.99 in both the iTunes and Amazon MP3 stores. The artist’s Twitter and Facebook accounts also linked fans to the discounted iTunes album on Sept. 2.) The Frozen soundtrack is No. 9 and 5 Seconds of Summer‘s self-titled album closes out the top 10.

Marley’s Legend album does not appear on SoundScan’s Building chart, as the list does not include catalog (older) albums.

[Billboard Biz]