Aretha Franklin: Top 50 Songs

image from Detroit Free Press

Farewell to the Queen of Soul, who passed away August 16, 2018, at age 76. She was born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, and became the most charted female artist in the history of the Billboard R&B charts. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her first in their list of the greatest singers of all time.

Here are her top 50 songs, based on chart figures, sales, awards, and placement on best-of lists.

Respect

1. Respect (1967)
2. You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman (1967)
3. Chain of Fools (1967)
4. I Say a Little Prayer (1968)
5. I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967)
6. Think (1968)
7. Bridge Over Troubled Water (1971)
8. Until You Come Back to Me (1973)
9. I Knew You Were Waiting for Me (with George Michael, 1986)
10. Spanish Harlem (1971)

You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman

11. Freeway of Love (1985)
12. Baby I Love You (1967)
13. Sweet Sweet Baby, Since You’ve Been Gone (1968)
14. Rock Steady (1971)
15. Eleanor Rigby (1969)
16. Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves (with the Eurythmics, 1985)
17. Don’t Play That Song (You Lied) (1970)
18. Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (1967)
19. Day Dreaming (1972)
20. Who’s Zooming Who? (1985)

Think

21. Angel (1973)
22. The House That Jack Built (1968)
23. See Saw (1968)
24. Through the Storm (with Elton John, 1989)
25. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986)
26. The Weight (1969)
27. Something He Can Feel (1976)
28. Another Night (1985)
29. Share Your Love with Me (1969)
30. Call Me (1970)

I Say a Little Prayer

31. You’re All I Need to Get By (1971)
32. Border Song (Holy Moses) (1970)
33. I’m in Love (1974)
34. Jimmy Lee (1986)
35. Ain’t No Way (1968)
36. Jump to It (1982)
37. You Send Me (1968)
38. I Can’t See Myself Leaving You (1968)
39. Spirit in the Dark (1970)
40. Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody (1961)

Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves

41. All the King’s Horses (1972)
42. Son of a Preacher Man (1970)
43. Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing (1974)
44. A Rose Is Still a Rose (1998)
45. Willing to Forgive (1994)
46. Master of Eyes (The Deepness of Your Eyes (1973)
47. Without Love (1974)
48. It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be (with Whitney Houston, 1989)
49. Love All the Hurt Away (with George Benson, 1981)
50. My Song (1968)

I Knew You Were Waiting for Me

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Awards:

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50 years ago: Aretha Franklin hit #1 with “Respect”

Respect Aretha Franklin

Writer(s): Otis Redding (see lyrics here) Released: April 10, 1967 First Charted: April 21, 1967 Peak: 12 US, 12 CB, 2 GR, 13 HR, 18 RB, 10 UK, 3 CN, 14 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.14 UK, 1.14 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 72.0 video, 374.22 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Respect” was first recorded by Otis Redding backed by Booker T. & the MG’s along with the Memphis Horns. “His strong and gritty style of singing gave this raw version of a gospel-type chorus song a particularly macho feel.” LW It was a 1965 top five R&B hit and “considered among the best Southern blues-soul records of the era,” TB but Aretha Franklin transformed it into an anthem “for black Americans and for women’s political and sexual liberation.” LW It became her signature song in launching her reign as the Queen of Soul. Aretha had recorded with Columbia Records from 1960-1966. In her years there, she developed neither a signature sound nor much commercial success. When she jumped to Atlantic Records, she was paired with producer Jerry Wexler, who had worked with Wilson Pickett and Dusty Springfield. He backed her with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, which would become legendary, but was then in their infancy. For “Respect,” initially comprised only of verses and no bridge, Wexler blended a King Curtis’ tenor-sax solo with the studio band playing the chord changes from Sam and Dave’s “When Something Is Wrong with My Baby.” RS500 Also giving the song heft was Aretha‘s addition of the “sock it to me” lines SF and the spelling out of the title, an idea which engineer Tom Dowd attributed to Aretha‘s sister Carolyn, who sang backup on the album. “I fell off my chair when I heard that!” RS500 Aretha defiantly demands respect without playing the part of a victim. As Wexler said, “Aretha would never play the part of the scorned woman.” RS500 Mix that with the gospel flavor of the call-and-response vocal arrangement, and a classic was born. Wexler reported Otis’ reaction to Aretha’s version: “He looked at me with a big grin and said, ‘That girl done stole my song.’” TC Resources: TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 455. JA David A. Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 164. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 122. RS500 Rolling Stone (12/04). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” SF Songfacts.com TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 99. Related Links: First posted 6/3/2012; last updated 11/24/2022.