ALL THE MOTOWN #1s RANKED (#6). Continues next week.

Caffè Lattè pays tribute to the 141 songs on Tamla Motown and its subsidiary labels that reached #1 on the U.S. Pop / Soul charts, ranked in order of impact and influence. Each song’s year of chart peak; weeks spent at the top & writer(s) is included.

All the MOTOWN

No. 1 SINGLES

Hear the songs as the countdown continues on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/26CwsmyHenDGwqbVozUPxz?si=def5399e3bfc472f

*6

SHOP AROUND

The Miracles

[1961] Soul 8

William “Smokey” Robinson; Berry Gordy

This countdown concentrates on the 141 Motown singles that have topped the Soul and/ or Pop charts. The first of these discs to accomplish this feat was “Shop Around”. Smokey initially offered his idea of the song to Gordy in the hope that it would be the follow-up single for Barrett Strong, who had just scored the label’s first major hit with “Money”. Gordy thought it would work better recorded by Smokey’s group The Miracles. Two versions were cut. The hit version included alterations made by Gordy. This take was issued as a single on October 15, 1960. The single shot to #2 on the Pop Chart and went on to become Motown’s first million-selling song. Gordy’s new label was now off to a flying start.