Song · Earth, Wind & Fire
“September” by Earth, Wind & Fire
Released 1990
“September” by Earth, Wind & Fire appears on 14 radio countdowns from 7 stations between 2009 and 2026. It was first released in 1990. Its best result is #11 on The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #243 indie & aaa song of all time and #144 of the '70s.
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"September" came out on ARC/Columbia in November 1978, one of two new songs tacked onto The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1, and it has been lighting up every dance floor it touches ever since. Guitarist Al McKay cooked up the musical sequence, then Maurice White and Allee Willis turned it into a song, and White produced it.
It's disco at its most joyous: horns punching the air, a bass line that bounces like it's on springs, and a chorus that makes no apology for being pure, grinning uplift. It topped Billboard's R&B chart, reached number eight on the Hot 100 and number three in the UK, and it has been sampled, covered and remixed endlessly. In 2018 the Library of Congress added it 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 456 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2014 | 831 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2018 | 35 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2020 | 143 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2021 | 96 | WYEP | WYEP 2021 Labor Day Countdown | 168 |
| 2022 | 145 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s | 908 |
| 2022 | 232 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time | 1055 |
| 2022 | 97 | KEXP | KEXP Top Songs of the Last 50 Years (1972-2022) | 491 |
| 2023 | 346 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time | 909 |
| 2023 | 107 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
| 2024 | 100 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years | 1049 |
| 2025 | 11 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs | 800 |
| 2026 | 91 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
| 2026 | 812 | KXT | KXT 917 Song Countdown | 917 |
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