Artist · chart history
Percy Sledge
Solo artist Leighton United States
Percy Sledge is an artist from Leighton. Percy Sledge has 5 chart appearances on 5 radio countdowns from 4 stations on RockLists, spanning 2001–2020. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “When a Man Loves a Woman”, which appears on 5 lists with a best position of #137. The station that charted Percy Sledge most often is WXPN (Philadelphia, PA), with 2 appearances.
Percy Sledge spent the early '60s on the wards as a hospital orderly, and then in 1966 "When a Man Loves a Woman" put him on top of both the pop and R&B charts in Billboard and earned him a gold disc for a million copies sold. It is soul at its most naked: a slow, stately sway and a voice that sounds like it's pleading on its knees, cracking with ache at every turn.
That ache became his stock in trade. Through the late '60s and into the early '70s he kept turning out soul ballads that wore their hearts in plain sight, a singer steeped in R&B, soul and gospel, with Atlantic and Capricorn among the labels that carried his records.
The honors came later. The Rhythm and Blues Foundation handed him its Pioneer Award in 1989, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him in 2005. He was born in 1940 and died in 2015, and that one devastating ballad still turns up on rock radio's countdowns.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Percy Sledge on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | When a Man Loves a Woman | 5 | #137 | – | – |
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 704 | When a Man Loves a Woman | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time |
| 2012 | 225 | When a Man Loves a Woman | WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown |
| 2007 | 885 | When a Man Loves a Woman | WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time |
| 2004 | 362 | When a Man Loves a Woman | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) |
| 2001 | 137 | When a Man Loves a Woman | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time |
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