Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Survival, widely regarded as the group’s most defiant and politically charged album, has officially been certified Gold in the United Kingdom.
According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the album—originally released in October 1979 as the Wailers’ 11th studio project—was awarded the BRIT Certified Gold status on Friday, July 11, after surpassing 100,000 units in UK sales, as tracked by the Official Charts Company.
- Advertisement -
From its inception, Survival was unapologetically militant. According to Marley’s official website, the 10-track album stirred controversy with its packaging alone. Designed by the late art director Neville Garrick, the cover featured the flags of African nations and a stark diagram of a transatlantic slave ship’s hold—a powerful visual reminder of Africa’s stolen generations.
The A-side delivered some of Marley’s most stirring anthems: So Much Trouble in the World, Zimbabwe, Top Rankin’, Babylon System, and the title track Survival. The B-side continued with Africa Unite, One Drop, Ride Natty Ride, Ambush in the Night, and the spirited closer Wake Up and Live, co-written with Anthony “Sangie” Davis.
The roots of Survival were planted during Marley’s travels in Africa in 1978. As detailed in Stephen Davis’ 1983 biography, Marley visited Ethiopia, explored the historic town of Shashamane, attended pro-liberation concerts, and immersed himself in the continent’s political climate, especially in Ethiopia and then-Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). There, he witnessed the effects of colonialism and white-minority rule firsthand.
Upon returning to Jamaica, Marley dedicated himself to recording the album at Tuff Gong Studio. Originally titled Black Survival, the sessions were intense and creatively charged. “It took six months to complete the new album. Bob wanted it to sound as hot and as Black as Stevie Wonder’s sounded,” Davis wrote. “And when it was released that summer as Survival, in order to appeal to Bob’s white audience as well as the new Black one he was courting, he got his wish. The music made at Tuff Gong studio was so alive that it seemed to jump out of the speakers.”
One of the album’s most impactful songs, Zimbabwe, was written before the country’s liberation and went on to become a freedom anthem. Marley famously performed it at Zimbabwe’s independence celebrations in April 1980, cementing his role as a global voice for liberation.
Survival also marked a deliberate shift in Marley’s outreach to Black audiences beyond Jamaica. His 1979 tour in support of the album included a historic performance at the Apollo Theater in Harlem—a symbolic return to Black America and a meaningful gesture to strengthen the bond between African and African-American communities.
This Gold certification adds to Marley’s growing list of UK honors. Other albums currently certified Gold in the UK include Catch a Fire (1973), Natty Dread (1974), Rastaman Vibration (1976), Exodus (1977), Kaya (1978), and Uprising (1980).
