Song · Ben E. King
“Stand By Me” by Ben E. King
Released 1987
“Stand By Me” by Ben E. King appears on 12 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 2001 and 2026. It was first released in 1987. Its best result is #136 on the WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #336 indie & aaa song of all time.
Watch
Video from YouTube (Soulful Sounds). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
Ben E. King cut "Stand by Me" in 1961 and wrote it with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the pair hiding behind the pen name Elmo Glick. King said the title came from a spiritual, Sam Cooke and J. W. Alexander's "Stand by Me Father", which the Soul Stirrers recorded with Johnnie Taylor out front, and the song still carries a little of the church in the way King leans into it like a vow.
A quarter-century on, it came roaring back. It anchored the soundtrack of the 1986 film Stand by Me, with a video pairing King with River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton, and a 1987 Levi's 501 advert pushed it higher across Europe. More than 500 versions have been recorded since, and in 2015, just under five weeks before King died, the Library of Congress added his original to the National Recording Registry.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1020 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2004 | 746 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
| 2007 | 347 | WTMD | WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time | 897 |
| 2009 | 836 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2012 | 290 | WYEP | WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown | 500 |
| 2014 | 413 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2018 | 201 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2020 | 236 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2021 | 140 | WYEP | WYEP 2021 Labor Day Countdown | 168 |
| 2023 | 434 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
| 2023 | 137 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time | 909 |
| 2026 | 136 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
Also listed as: Stand by Me.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.