Bob Marley & The Wailers’ 1980 hit Could You Be Loved has been certified 3X Platinum in the United Kingdom, matching Three Little Birds as the reggae group’s highest-certified song in the country.
The British Phonographic Industry issued the new BRIT Certified award on Friday (May 1), recognizing the single for reaching the triple-platinum threshold in the UK. For singles, that mark represents 1.8 million units, as measured by the Official Charts Company.
Released on the band’s final studio album, Uprising, Could You Be Loved later became one of the anchor tracks on Legend, the 1984 greatest-hits collection that pushed Marley’s catalog deep into the global mainstream.
The song also carried an older Marley lyric into a bigger, brighter frame. Its lines — “The road of life is rocky, and you may stumble too/So while you point your fingers, someone else is judging you” — echo Judge Not, Marley’s first single.
In the liner notes for Songs of Freedom, the 1992 box set that also included the track, Could You Be Loved was described as being “consciously recorded with a sound that would appeal to Black American radio programmers.” The result was one of Marley’s most rhythmically open records: reggae at the core, but built with a disco pulse, sharp keyboards, and a hook that travelled easily.
Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, who had sampled Could You Be Loved in his 2002 track,
And Be Loved
, later pointed to the song as one of his father’s boldest departures from the traditional reggae form. “I don’t think he ever went further away from traditional reggae than with this song,” he said. “My father was far ahead of his time.”
Could You Be Loved remains Marley’s only entry on Billboard’s Dance chart, where it peaked at No. 6. In the UK, it reached No. 5 on the Singles Chart, and also became a Top 10 hit in Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, and Switzerland.
Its certifications outside the UK include 8X Platinum in New Zealand, Platinum in Denmark and Italy, and Gold in Germany and Brazil.
The song received an animated music video in 2022, inspired by Cedella Marley’s advocacy for women’s football. The official YouTube video has since passed 175 million views.
Three Little Birds reached 3X Platinum in the UK in 2024.
Is This Love is currently certified 2X Platinum, while No Woman, No Cry, Jamming, Redemption Song, One Love, and Buffalo Soldier are all certified Platinum.