Artist · chart history · #172 in indie & aaa artist polls
Sam Cooke
Solo artist Clarksdale United States American singer and songwriter, “King of Soul”
Sam Cooke is an artist from Clarksdale. Sam Cooke has 42 chart appearances on 23 radio countdowns from 7 stations on RockLists, spanning 1986–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Change Is Gonna Come”, which appears on 17 lists with a best position of #8. The station that charted Sam Cooke most often is WXPN (Philadelphia, PA), with 14 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1986.
Sam Cooke was born in Clarksdale in 1931, and by the time he was done he had earned the title King of Soul, built on a voice so smooth and sure that it made every other singer on the radio sound like they were straining. Gospel runs through everything he sang, and he brought that poise to rhythm and blues and soul, making pop records that felt both elegant and deeply felt.
The hits came in a steady stream: "You Send Me" and "Summertime" on Songs by Sam Cooke (1958), "Wonderful World", "Cupid", the dance-floor bounce of "Twistin' The Night Away" (1962) and the gospel-soaked "Bring It On Home To Me". In all he placed 29 singles in the Billboard top 40 over a career of just thirteen years. "A Change Is Gonna Come", slow and stately, is the one the countdowns keep returning to.
It ended far too soon. A Los Angeles motel manager shot him dead in 1964, and his family has questioned the circumstances ever since. The honours followed him: the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Sam Cooke on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Change Is Gonna Come | 17 | #8 | – | – | |
| 2 | Bring It On Home To Me | 7 | #158 | – | – | |
| 3 | Wonderful World | 5 | #23 | – | 1986 | |
| 4 | Meet Me At Mary's Place | 2 | #328 | – | – | |
| 5 | You Send Me | 3 | #527 | – | – | |
| 6 | Only 16 | 1 | #213 | – | – | |
| 7 | Another Saturday Night | 1 | #304 | – | – | |
| 8 | We're Having A Party | 1 | #58 | – | – | |
| 9 | Cupid | 2 | #789 | – | – | |
| 10 | Twistin' The Night Away | 1 | #1344 | – | – | |
| 11 | Summertime | 1 | #1507 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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