By Curtis Campbell—

Since his passing in 1981, the Honorable Robert Nesta Marley’s music has outlived that of several noted performers globally. Marley’s appropriately titled Legend album has sold over 250,000 copies annually, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and is only the 17th album to exceed sales of 10 million copies since SoundScan began its tabulations in 1991.

Legend went into the Billboard top 10 for the first time on September 11, 2014, while the Marleys were celebrating the album’s 30th anniversary. Internationally renowned ice-cream company Ben & Jerry also released a special flavour in honour of Legend.

In 2001, Bob Marley became the only reggae artist to be bestowed with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously.

Forbes magazine named Marley the fifth highest earning dead celebrity, with a US$20 million intake from October 2013 to October 2014. Michael Jackson topped the list with US$140 million and Elvis Presley generated an estimated US$55 million.

In early 1976, Rolling Stone magazine named Bob Marley and the Wailers Band of the Year.

Bob Marley was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and, in December 1999, his 1977 album Exodus was named Album of the Century by TIME magazine, while One Love was designated Song of the Millennium by the BBC.

On August 2, 2012, Bob Marley had a day named in his honor in Los Angeles. That celebration is held on August 7. During his endorsement of the day, Los Angeles Councilman Joe Buscaino said Marley’s music facilitated unification. “His music brought people together in times of trouble,”he said.

There have been several celebrations for the legend in Jamaica. However, a call in some quarters for Marley to be designated a national hero has not been heeded.

Bob Marley died long before the social-networking era. However, the Facebook page established in his name has 76 million followers, more than any other Jamaican act.