Al Green: The Hit He Gave Away Before It Was a Hit
Al Green spent the early 1970s doing something almost no other soul singer managed.
In 1972 alone, he landed three separate songs in the same year-end Hot 100.
One of those songs, "Let's Stay Together," spent a combined nineteen weeks at number one on Billboard's R&B albums chart.
It got there across four separate return trips.
Then came October 18, 1974.
A violent incident inside his own Memphis home changed the direction of his career for good.
In between those two facts sits a stranger one.
He wrote and recorded a song himself that his own label never even released as a single.
This is the real, chart-verified story of Al Green's 1970s.
It's built from Billboard's own year-end, weekly, and R&B album data.
Al Green performing on The Mike Douglas Show, February 25, 1973.
Image credit: Photo courtesy of the Mike Douglas Show, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
1971-1972: Three Songs, One Year-End Chart
Willie Mitchell's Memphis Sound
Al Green had already spent years touring small clubs.
Then a chance meeting with producer Willie Mitchell changed his direction.
Mitchell signed him to Hi Records in Memphis.
He built a sound around him, smooth falsetto vocals over a tight, unhurried rhythm section.
"Tired of Being Alone," released in 1971, became Al Green's real breakthrough.
It reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and ranked 12th on this site's own 1971 year-end chart.
Marvin Gaye built his classic run inside Motown's Detroit studio system, answering directly to Berry Gordy.
Green built his in Memphis instead, with one producer and one house band.
Three Songs in One Chart
1972 turned that breakthrough into real chart dominance.
"Let's Stay Together" hit number one on the Hot 100 in February and ranked 11th for the year.
"Look What You Done for Me" reached number four and ranked 54th.
"I'm Still in Love with You" reached number three and ranked 59th.
This site's own 1972 year-end data confirms all three songs on the same 100-song list.
One artist claimed three real spots on it.
1972: The Album That Wouldn't Leave Number One
Four Trips Back to Number One
The Let's Stay Together album didn't just reach number one on Billboard's R&B albums chart once.
It fell off the top spot and climbed back four separate times between February and August of 1972.
That comes straight from this site's own weekly chart data.
Add up every one of those weeks.
The album spent a combined nineteen weeks at number one that year.
A Second Album Joins It
Green wasn't finished either.
His next album, I'm Still in Love with You, reached number one on the same R&B albums chart that September.
It returned for a second week in October.
Two different Al Green albums held down the top spot on Billboard's R&B chart in a single calendar year.
It's a real, data-verified case of one artist dominating a chart most people assume was more competitive.
See how this fits the wider sound of the decade in 70s Soul Music.
1973-1974: The Song He Gave Away
Two More Albums at Number One
Al Green kept the streak going into 1973.
"Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" reached number 10 on the Hot 100.
It ranked 63rd on the site's 1973 year-end chart.
The Call Me album spent two weeks at number one on the R&B albums chart that June.
His next release, Livin' for You, opened 1974 the same way.
It spent a week at number one on the R&B albums chart in late February.
A Song He Never Released Himself
That same year, Green recorded a song called "Take Me to the River."
It appeared on his album Al Green Explores Your Mind.
Hi Records never released his version as a single at all.
The label instead gave the song to Green's labelmate, Syl Johnson.
Talking Heads recorded their own cover in 1978.
They took it to number 26 on the Hot 100 the following year, a bigger chart placement than Green's original ever got.
Most casual listeners now associate the song with a new wave band.
It started as an Al Green album track his own label wouldn't put out.
October 1974: The Night That Changed Everything
Green was already a man of deep faith by the mid-1970s.
He was raised in the church before he ever sang secular music professionally.
Then, in the early morning hours of October 18, 1974, a woman named Mary Woodson entered his Memphis home while he was bathing.
He had been involved with her.
She poured a pot of scalding grits on his back.
Woodson then took her own life in another room using Green's own gun.
Green suffered severe burns and spent weeks in the hospital recovering.
The attack accelerated a personal reckoning that had already been building.
It pushed him further toward the ministry he would formally enter two years later.
1976-1977: Ministry, and One Self-Produced Album
Ordained in Memphis
Al Green was ordained a minister in 1976.
That December, he founded Full Gospel Tabernacle, a church in Memphis formally dedicated on December 19, 1976.
He kept recording secular music, but the balance of his career had already started shifting.
Curious how another artist from the decade compares? Try the Random Artist Picker and see who comes up next.
The Belle Album, On His Own Terms
The Belle Album arrived in December 1977, and it marked a real break from everything before it.
For the first time, Green produced the record himself instead of Willie Mitchell.
He also played lead guitar on his own material for the first time.
Critics received it warmly, but commercially it told a different story.
The album peaked at number 103 on the Billboard 200 and number 29 on the R&B albums chart.
It was his weakest showing since his 1967 debut.
This site's own R&B chart data only tracks albums that actually reached number one.
That's exactly why The Belle Album doesn't appear in it at all.
It's a real gap in the file's scope, not a gap in the album's importance to Green's own story.
Al Green's Real 1970s Chart Record
His decade breaks down into six verified chart entries, each pulled directly from this site's own Billboard data.
- "Tired of Being Alone" (1971): Hot 100 peak #11, ranked 12th on the site's 1971 year-end chart.
- "Let's Stay Together" (1972): Hot 100 #1 in February, ranked 11th on the site's 1972 year-end chart, its album spent 19 combined weeks at #1 on the R&B albums chart.
- "Look What You Done for Me" (1972): Hot 100 peak #4, ranked 54th on the site's 1972 year-end chart.
- "I'm Still in Love with You" (1972): Hot 100 peak #3, ranked 59th on the site's 1972 year-end chart.
- "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" (1973): Hot 100 peak #10, ranked 63rd on the site's 1973 year-end chart.
- "Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy)" (1975): Hot 100 peak #7, ranked 82nd on the site's 1975 year-end chart.
Three of those six songs landed in the same year's top 60.
It's a real, verifiable run most decade retrospectives skip past in favor of the Willie Mitchell origin story alone.
Test what else you remember about the decade's real chart history with the 70s Music Trivia Quiz.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Al Green's signature 1970s hit?
Al Green's signature 1970s hit is "Let's Stay Together," produced by Willie Mitchell at Hi Records in Memphis.
It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1972.
The album of the same name became one of the biggest R&B records of the decade.
It returned to number one on Billboard's R&B albums chart four separate times.
Did Al Green release Take Me to the River as a single?
Al Green recorded "Take Me to the River" for his 1974 album Al Green Explores Your Mind.
Hi Records never released his version as a single.
The label instead gave the song to labelmate Syl Johnson.
Talking Heads later covered it and took their version to number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979.
Why did Al Green become a minister?
Al Green had already been drifting toward faith.
A violent incident in his Memphis home on October 18, 1974 accelerated the change.
He was ordained a minister in 1976 and founded Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis, formally dedicated that December.
He kept recording secular music through the decade but never returned to his earlier level of commercial dominance.
How many weeks did Let's Stay Together spend at number one?
The Let's Stay Together album spent a combined nineteen weeks at number one on Billboard's R&B albums chart.
That happened across all of 1972.
It didn't do this in one continuous run.
The album fell off the top spot and returned to number one four separate times.
That happened between February and August of that year.
What was Al Green's last major secular album of the 1970s?
The Belle Album, released in December 1977, was Al Green's last major secular studio album of the decade.
It was also his first self-produced record, and the first time he played lead guitar on his own material.
Despite strong reviews, it became his weakest-selling album since his 1967 debut.
