Legend (1984)

Legend is a compilation album by Bob Marley and the Wailers. It was released on 7 May 1984 by Island Records. It is a greatest hits collection of singles in its original vinyl format and is the best-selling reggae album of all time, with more than 18 million copies sold in the US, more than 3.3 million in the UK (where it is the 17th-best-selling album) and an estimated 27 million copies sold globally. In 2003, the album was ranked number 46 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and maintained the ranking in a 2012 revised list.

As of October 2026, Legend has spent a total of 959 nonconsecutive weeks on the US Billboard 200 albums chart—the second-longest run in the chart's history. Also, as of October 2026, it has spent 1,258 weeks in the top 100 of the UK Albums Chart—the third-longest run in that chart's history.

Content

The album contains all ten of Bob Marley's Top 40 hit singles in the UK up to the time, plus three songs from the original Wailers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston in "Stir It Up", "I Shot the Sheriff" and "Get Up, Stand Up", along with "Redemption Song", the closing song from the album Uprising. Of the original tracks, only four date from prior to the Exodus album.

The cassette tape release of the album featured two extra songs, "Punky Reggae Party", the B-side of the "Jamming" single, and "Easy Skanking" from the Kaya album. A second-generation compact disc remastered by Barry Diament appeared in 1990 on the Tuff Gong label. Although the disc includes the same 14 songs, the tracks are in their original album lengths rather than the edited versions for single release.

On 12 February 2002, the expanded 14-track edition with songs at album lengths were remastered for compact disc with a bonus disc consisting of 1984-vintage remixes for extended dance club singles and dub versions. In 2004, the Legend double-disc deluxe edition was reissued with the music DVD of the same name in the sound + vision deluxe edition. In 2010, Legend was made available as downloadable content for Rock Band, but without the track "Get Up, Stand Up", which was later included on Rock Band 3. In June 2012, a high fidelity audiophile version of the album was released on HDtracks in 96 kHz/24bit and 192 kHz/24bit resolutions. Bruno Tilley was the Art Director & Creative Consultant for the sleeve design work.

Reception

Legend has peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200, making it Marley's highest-charting album in the US. It also holds the distinction of being the second-longest-charting album in the history of Billboard magazine. Combining its chart life on the Billboard 200 and the Billboard Catalog Albums charts, Legend has had a chart run of 2165 nonconsecutive weeks, surpassed only by Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon at 2166 nonconsecutive weeks. As of the Billboard issue dated 10 October 2026, the album has charted on the Billboard 200 for 959 nonconsecutive weeks, and is only the second album to spend at least 900 weeks on the chart (the first being Pink Floyd's 1973 studio album, The Dark Side of the Moon). As of December 2017, Legend has sold 12.3 million copies in the US since 1991 when SoundScan started tracking album sales, making it the ninth best-selling album of the Nielsen SoundScan era. The RIAA has certified Legend for selling 18 million copies, a total that includes purchases before 1991.

In the United Kingdom, Legend has been certified 13× Platinum, and is the 16th-best-selling album of all time in that country, with sales of over 3,380,000 as of July 2016. As of 7 October 2026, the album has spent 1,258 weeks in the top 100 of the official UK Albums Chart, placing it third on the all-time longevity list.

As of April 2012, the album has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.