Top 10 Greatest Soul Songs of All Time

Sam Cooke wrote this song after being refused entry to a whites-only motel in Louisiana in 1963 and released it on December 22, 1964 -- two months after his death at age 33 in a motel shooting. The song's orchestral arrangement by René Hall and Cooke's restrained, aching vocal performance created a civil rights anthem that Martin Luther King Jr. quoted in speeches, and Barack Obama cited it at his 2008 election victory celebration.

Otis Redding wrote this song on a houseboat in Sausalito, California in October 1967 -- three months before dying in a plane crash at age 26 -- and it became the first posthumous number one in Billboard Hot 100 history in March 1968, spending 4 weeks at the top. The whistled outro, which Redding improvised in the studio because he had not written a proper ending, became one of the most recognized sounds in American popular music.

The title track from Marvin Gaye's 1971 concept album -- which Berry Gordy initially refused to release, calling it the worst thing he had ever heard -- spent 5 weeks at number one on the R&B chart and became the defining work of socially conscious soul music, addressing the Vietnam War, poverty, and police brutality with a musical sophistication unprecedented in popular music. Rolling Stone ranked the album number one on its Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2020.

Recorded first by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and then by Gladys Knight before Marvin Gaye's version was finally released in 1968, this song became Motown's best-selling single to that date, spending 7 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and 8 weeks on the R&B chart. The Rolling Stones used it on their 1969 tour and Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1970 eleven-minute cover version brought it to rock audiences, making it one of the most covered songs of the era.

Otis Redding transformed a 1932 pop standard into the template for all soul music performance with a three-part structure that begins in quiet tenderness, builds through smoldering emotion, and erupts into cathartic ecstasy -- a structure that soul singers have emulated for 60 years. His 1966 Stax Records version was recorded in a single afternoon session in Memphis and builds so relentlessly that by the final 90 seconds Redding is screaming, shaking, and barely intelligible -- the most joyfully abandoned performance in soul history.

Ray Charles's 1960 recording of Hoagy Carmichael's 1930 song made it the definitive soul ballad by replacing the jazzy original arrangement with a gospel-drenched performance featuring the Raelettes backing choir, strings, and Charles's trademark fusion of church ecstasy with secular longing. The song won the Grammy for Best Vocal Performance and Best Rhythm and Blues Performance in 1961, spent 1 week at number one, and was adopted as Georgia's state song in 1979.

Curtis Mayfield wrote this gospel-inflected civil rights anthem after the 1963 Birmingham Church bombing and 1963 March on Washington, and its train-as-salvation metaphor became so potent that Bob Dylan called it one of the greatest songs ever written. The song reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 but became far more influential than its chart position suggested -- Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck's 1985 cover introduced it to a new generation, and Rolling Stone ranked it number 24 on its Greatest Songs of All Time list.

Written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson in a Harlem kitchen in 1966 and first recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell for Motown, this song's call-and-response structure between two voices created the template for the soul duet. When Tammi Terrell collapsed in Gaye's arms onstage in October 1967 from what was later revealed to be a brain tumor, their partnership ended -- but their recordings together remain the emotional pinnacle of the Motown era.

Produced by L.A. Reid and Babyface for the soundtrack of the film Boomerang, End of the Road spent 13 consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1992, breaking the record set by Elvis Presley's Hound Dog and Don't Be Cruel in 1956. Boyz II Men's four-part vocal harmony over a simple gospel piano arrangement revived the classic soul ballad tradition for the 1990s and remains the highest-charting song in Motown's history.

Sam Cooke wrote this song after being refused entry to a whites-only motel in Louisiana in 1963 and released it on December 22, 1964 -- two months after his death at age 33 in a motel shooting. The song's orchestral arrangement by René Hall and Cooke's restrained, aching vocal performance created a civil rights anthem that Martin Luther King Jr. quoted in speeches, and Barack Obama cited it at his 2008 election victory celebration.

Otis Redding wrote this song on a houseboat in Sausalito, California in October 1967 -- three months before dying in a plane crash at age 26 -- and it became the first posthumous number one in Billboard Hot 100 history in March 1968, spending 4 weeks at the top. The whistled outro, which Redding improvised in the studio because he had not written a proper ending, became one of the most recognized sounds in American popular music.

The title track from Marvin Gaye's 1971 concept album -- which Berry Gordy initially refused to release, calling it the worst thing he had ever heard -- spent 5 weeks at number one on the R&B chart and became the defining work of socially conscious soul music, addressing the Vietnam War, poverty, and police brutality with a musical sophistication unprecedented in popular music. Rolling Stone ranked the album number one on its Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2020.

Recorded first by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and then by Gladys Knight before Marvin Gaye's version was finally released in 1968, this song became Motown's best-selling single to that date, spending 7 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and 8 weeks on the R&B chart. The Rolling Stones used it on their 1969 tour and Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1970 eleven-minute cover version brought it to rock audiences, making it one of the most covered songs of the era.

Otis Redding transformed a 1932 pop standard into the template for all soul music performance with a three-part structure that begins in quiet tenderness, builds through smoldering emotion, and erupts into cathartic ecstasy -- a structure that soul singers have emulated for 60 years. His 1966 Stax Records version was recorded in a single afternoon session in Memphis and builds so relentlessly that by the final 90 seconds Redding is screaming, shaking, and barely intelligible -- the most joyfully abandoned performance in soul history.

Ray Charles's 1960 recording of Hoagy Carmichael's 1930 song made it the definitive soul ballad by replacing the jazzy original arrangement with a gospel-drenched performance featuring the Raelettes backing choir, strings, and Charles's trademark fusion of church ecstasy with secular longing. The song won the Grammy for Best Vocal Performance and Best Rhythm and Blues Performance in 1961, spent 1 week at number one, and was adopted as Georgia's state song in 1979.

Curtis Mayfield wrote this gospel-inflected civil rights anthem after the 1963 Birmingham Church bombing and 1963 March on Washington, and its train-as-salvation metaphor became so potent that Bob Dylan called it one of the greatest songs ever written. The song reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 but became far more influential than its chart position suggested -- Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck's 1985 cover introduced it to a new generation, and Rolling Stone ranked it number 24 on its Greatest Songs of All Time list.

Written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson in a Harlem kitchen in 1966 and first recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell for Motown, this song's call-and-response structure between two voices created the template for the soul duet. When Tammi Terrell collapsed in Gaye's arms onstage in October 1967 from what was later revealed to be a brain tumor, their partnership ended -- but their recordings together remain the emotional pinnacle of the Motown era.

Produced by L.A. Reid and Babyface for the soundtrack of the film Boomerang, End of the Road spent 13 consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1992, breaking the record set by Elvis Presley's Hound Dog and Don't Be Cruel in 1956. Boyz II Men's four-part vocal harmony over a simple gospel piano arrangement revived the classic soul ballad tradition for the 1990s and remains the highest-charting song in Motown's history.