Song · Norman Greenbaum
“Spirit in the Sky” by Norman Greenbaum
From the album Spirit in the Sky (1969)
“Spirit in the Sky” by Norman Greenbaum appears on 37 radio countdowns from 15 stations between 1991 and 2026. It was first released in 1969 on the album Spirit in the Sky. Its best result is #160 on the WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,175 indie & aaa song of all time and #488 of the '70s.
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Video from YouTube (Craft Recordings). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
Norman Greenbaum wrote and sang "Spirit in the Sky", the title song of his 1969 album, and put it out as a single that December. Erik Jacobsen produced it, and it struts along on a heavy, stomping beat with a buzzing guitar that lodges in the skull and won't leave.
Plenty of people let it in: two million copies across 1969 and 1970, a gold record, number three on the Billboard Hot 100 with a 15-week run, and number one in the UK, Australia and Canada. Rolling Stone later placed it at 333 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and the magazine's readers voted it among the top ten one-hit wonders. It took until 2025 for the song to get an official video, a Southern California coming-of-age tale with a cameo from Greenbaum himself.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
Also listed as: Spirit In The Sky.
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