Bob Marley’s ‘Legend’ Creates History Again After Hitting 13 Years On Billboard 200

Bob Marley’s Legend album is again creating waves, 37 years after it was released, this time becoming the second album to hit 13 years on the Billboard 200 chart, following in the footsteps of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, according to Forbes Magazine.

Originally released on May 8, 1984, Legend bears 14 tracks of Marley’s most-loved tunes including songs such as Is This love, No Woman No Cry, Three Little Birds, Get Up Stand Up, Buffalo Soldier, Exodus, I Shot the Sheriff, Stir it Up; BBC’s song of the Century One Love, Redemption Song, Jamming and Waiting in Vain.

“That set is nearing 1,000 weeks on the chart, and it is in a very, very distant first place when looking at the releases which have racked up the most turns on the ranking,” Forbes noted in an article published last Tuesday.

Forbes noted that Legend peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, making it the Reggae icon’s highest-charting album in the United States.   It also holds the distinction of being the second longest-charting album in the history of Billboard.

The Legend compilation album was released in May 1984 by Island Records, and is a greatest hits collection of singles in its original vinyl format and is also the best-selling Reggae album of all-time.

“Already one of the most successful albums of all time by one of the most celebrated and beloved musicians ever, Bob Marley’s Legend is having an extra special week on one of Billboard’s most important most competitive charts,” Forbes noted.

“Ever since its release back in 1984, Legend has continued to sell, and now stream, very well, as the masses can’t get enough of Marley’s music.   While the title peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, it stands out as one of the most successful releases of all time,” the author added.

The article noted that Billboard had, some time ago, instituted a rule, which has since been repealed, which, “for years kept albums like Legend off the Billboard 200 due to how long they had been out”.

“Had that restriction not been in place, the number of frames on the ranking the compilation would now count would be much, much higher,” the article noted.

In November last year, the Jamaica Observer reported that in August , Legend was issued a 13-time platinum certification and that the top-selling Marley title of all time had sold 3.3 million in the United Kingdom and more than 33 million worldwide.

Legend was first released in May 1984 by Island Records and is the best-selling Reggae album of all time, with more than 11 million sold in the United States. In 2003, the album was ranked number 46 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time and later maintained the rating on a revised list in 2012.

The single One Love/People Get Ready which was written by Bob, Bunny Wailer and Clement ‘Cocksone’ Dodd, using the rhyme schemes of The Impressions’ song People Get Ready which was written by Curtis Mayfield, was certified gold in May last year, for sales of 400,000.

The Observer had reported that over “the last 12 months”, three albums and five songs from the Bob Marley and the Wailers catalogue were certified gold, silver, or platinum in the UK, by the British Phonographic Industry, among them Stir It Up, Is this Love, Jamming and Waiting in Vain from the Legend album.

Stir It Up was certified silver in September 2019 for sales of more than 200,000.  It was released digitally in November 2004.  The song was composed by Marley, who, along with the Wailers, initially recorded and released it in 1967.

Bob Marley‘s 1978 hit Is This Love released by Island Records was certified platinum for 600,000 in sales on May 8 last year. The song was first featured on the Kaya album and released as a single, where it charted at number nine in the UK.

Jamming, which was originally featured on the Exodus album in 1977, has been was certified gold for sales of 400,000 in July 2019.    In February, last year, Waiting in Vain was certified silver for 200,000 in sales. The song was included on the 1977 album Exodus and reached number 27 on the United Kingdom Pop Chart.