Legend’s Unprecedented Chart Longevity is Due to Billboard’s Decision to Re-include Older Albums on the Main Ranking.
Bob Marley’s success transcended music, cementing him as a cultural and spiritual icon whose legacy has only grown stronger in the decades following his untimely death in 1981.
His greatest hits album, Legend (1984), stands as the ultimate testament to his enduring global appeal, selling over 33 million copies worldwide and remaining the best-selling reggae album of all time. This compilation’s continuous, multi-generational relevance is precisely why some of his chart records, such as the over 900 nonconsecutive weeks it has spent on the Billboard 200 chart, are now virtually unbreakable.
This longevity record is safeguarded by a 2009 Billboard rule change that began allowing catalog albums—releases that are older than 18 months and have dropped below the top 100—to be included on the main Billboard 200 chart.
Prior to this, Legend was often excluded from the main chart due to its age. By allowing these timeless, high-selling classics to chart alongside new releases, Legend was given a renewed life and a significant head start that contemporary albums—even those by superstars—cannot replicate.
No current release will have the necessary decades of retroactive charting to catch up. Marley’s music, blending Rastafarian messages of unity and social justice with irresistible reggae rhythms, is passed down through families and continually rediscovered, ensuring a sustained sales and streaming presence that keeps his “Legend” on the charts and makes his record an unbreakable monument to his status as the first Third World superstar.
