A 40 years of its publication, Bob Marley compilation album & The Wailers Legend marks a milestone again by achieving its 18th platinum certification in the United States by the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA).
This recognition was obtained because sales and reproductions exceeded 18 million units in the aforementioned country, consolidating it as the best-selling reggae album of all time.
In fact, currently maintained by 257 weeks at first place on the Billboard reggae albums chart.
The story behind the Legend
The legendary album was published in 1984, three years after Marley's transcendence, and his success was no accident, because he had an important strategic marketing job, according to slogan World Music Views.
At the time of his death, Marley was famous, but the sales of his albums did not achieve the level of recognition that he had achieved, so at Island Records they sought to change that reality.
The founder of Island, Chris Blackwell, attributed to Dave Robinson, former tour manager of Jimi Hendrix and president of Island Records among 1984 Y 1986, the mastermind behind Bob Marley's transformation from a reggae icon to a global household name.
Robinson concluded reintroduce Marley's music to a broader and more diverse audience, so after market research, the producer focused on casual record buyers, those who enjoyed the songs “catchier and hummable” by Marley, but who were deterred by its militant image and the appeal of reggae as a niche genre..
Song exclusion
The Curator of the Island Records Reggae Catalog, Trevor Wyatt, compiled a list of possible songs for a compilation album, which market researchers tested with different age groups.
Due to the comments, politically charged songs were excluded from the album Survival of 1979 as “Africa Unite” Y “Zimbabwe”, since the goal was to create an album of universal appeal that would transcend the reggae niche and rebrand Marley as an artist rather than a revolutionary..
This is how it was reached Legend, which turned out to be a carefully curated compilation, designed to resonate with a global audience, with songs from his latest albums and not necessarily with Bob's best songs.
In fact, marketing deliberately avoided the term “reggae” Y, instead, positioned Marley as a charismatic and accessible artist. Blackwell further explained that even the album cover was designed to present Marley as a “flashy and harmless artist” instead of the freedom fighter and revolutionary he was.
And so, Legend became the best-selling reggae album in history.
