single stories

41 years ago today, Chris Rea sat atop the Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles chart for the third consecutive week, and while it would also prove to be his last week in the top spot, it still gives us a good...

39 years ago today, Larry Graham hit his chart high on the Billboard Hot 100 with the most successful single of his solo career, a track which had actually topped the R&B Singles chart a few weeks earlier. Written by...

48 years ago today, Aretha Franklin peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with her version of a song originally made famous by Ben E. King. Written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector with a little help from Mike...

42 years ago this week, Foreigner released the second single from their self-titled debut album, a song with piano work which was such a perfect blend of catchy and chilling that the track quickly made its way into the top...

37 years ago today, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released one of the most iconic rap singles of all time, and if that’s not a good enough excuse to feature the track in our Single Stories column, we don’t...

When it comes to finding an excuse to offer up an installment of our recurring Single Stories features, sometimes all you need is a day of the week. There are those who don’t like Mondays, and there are those who...

49 years ago today, David Bowie released a single from his self-titled album, except it wasn’t actually from the album, since it was so long that he ended up splitting the song more or less in half and re-recording it...

53 years ago today, Percy Sledge arrived atop the Billboard Hot 100 with his first single, which is a heck of a way to kick off your music career. Percy Sledge’s story is one of those that you’d write off...

50 years ago today, Led Zeppelin entered a studio in New York City to record a song which would end up on their second studio album and subsequently be covered by everyone from Nirvana to Sly and Robbie to Alvin...