BOB Marley is one of a number of musicians whose catalog is so beloved that they keep one compilation of their most celebrated tracks on the Billboard 200 at all times.
There aren’t many artists who claim enough huge hits that have stood the test of time that they never fall from the ranking of the most-consumed albums in the U.S.
The reggae superstar can always be found on the competitive tally, and as Americans continue to listen and buy, his biggest release reaches a historic milestone.
Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and The Wailers is now in extremely rarefied company. As of this frame, the compilation of Marley and his band’s biggest singles has lived on the Billboard 200 for 850 weeks.
Marley is just the second musician in U.S. history to reach that number on the Billboard 200. The only other act to do so is Pink Floyd. The English rockers’ The Dark Side of the Moon is now just 10 weeks away from becoming the first title to hit 1,000 frames on the roster.
This week, Legend falls slightly on the Billboard 200, declining in status from No. 56 to No. 63. It has previously risen as high as No. 5, and it’s been hanging on for years, selling and streaming well enough to continually rank among the top-performing 200 titles in the country.
Luminate reports that last week, Legend moved another 14,300 equivalent units in America. That’s down only a few percentage points from the frame before. That sum includes nearly 2,800 actual purchases, which is a huge number for a decades-old collection.
As it makes history on the Billboard 200, Marley’s Legend can also be found on several other tallies in the U.S. The compilation currently appears on the Top Album Sales (No. 36), Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (No. 20), Top R&B Albums (No. 4), and the Reggae Albums charts. It rules the latter list once again, which is almost always the case.
Legend arrived in 1984, just a few years after Marley passed away at the age of just 36. The compilation gathered together many of his most memorable tracks, like “No Woman No Cry,” “Is This Love,” “Three Little Birds,” and “Get Up, Stand Up,” among others.
By that point, he was already a legend in his own right, so the project was appropriately named—and it quickly became another sales success for the late star. — Forbes
