Bob Marley And The Wailers’ 1973 Album Burnin’ Goes Gold In The UK

Bob Marley and The Wailers’ 1973 album Burnin’ has been certified Gold in the United Kingdom, more than four decades after it first received a Silver award there.

According to the British Phonographic Industry, the album was issued a Brit Certified Gold Award on Friday (May 15). Gold certification for albums in the UK represents 100,000 units, as measured by The Official Charts Company.

Burnin’, released in October 1973, was the fourth album by the classic Wailers lineup of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer, and the last before Tosh and Wailer moved into solo careers.

The album was previously certified Silver in the UK in 1983, and Gold in the United States in 1994, according to the RIAA. It peaked at No. 151 on the Billboard 200.

The 10-track set opens with Get Up, Stand Up, the Marley and Tosh-written call to resistance that became one of the group’s signature recordings. That song is certified Silver in the UK (200,000 units).

It also includes I Shot The Sheriff, another UK Silver-certified Wailers classic, later taken to No. 1 in the United States by Eric Clapton, along with Burnin’ And Lootin, Put It On, Small Axe, Duppy Conqueror, and Rastaman Chant.

Marley’s official site notes that Duppy Conqueror, Small Axe, Put It On, and Pass It On were re-recordings of previously released songs.

Recorded in Jamaica and completed during The Wailers’ early Island Records period, Burnin’ followed Catch A Fire, the album that helped introduce the group to a wider rock audience earlier that same year. Its tone was harder and more militant than its predecessor, built around spiritual defiance, political anger, and street-level pressure.

The new UK certification adds Burnin’ to a long list of Marley album titles with Brit Certified awards.

Legend remains the group’s biggest album in the market at 15X Platinum, followed by Exodus at 2X Platinum and Kaya at Platinum.

Catch A Fire, Natty Dread, Rastaman Vibration, Survival, and Uprising are also Gold, while the Live! album and Confrontation are Silver.