Some eternal full-length masterpieces were first filed in the soul/funk/R&B sections of record stores throughout 1971. Among them were What's Going On (May), Maggot Brain (July), and There's a Riot Goin' On (November)—all sonically distinctive, in tune with inner city and global conditions, built for beginning-to-end absorption. While the genre was more open to ambitious and thematic artistic statements spread across one or two pieces of 12" wax played at 33 1/3 rpm, the 7"/45 rpm market remained in a golden period. Those Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic, and Sly & the Family Stone albums, after all, were driven by phenomenal singles, and dozens of other everlasting A-sides offered a wide range of approaches and sounds. Take "Never Can Say Goodbye," bittersweet but peppy in its original Jackson 5 form, fronted by 11-year-old Michael. It debuted on Billboard's Soul Singles in April, and only a month later, Isaac Hayes hit the chart with the adult version—two minutes longer, more aching, more ornate. Producer Norman Whitfield and songwriting partner Barrett Strong continued their streak of expansive, psychedelicized brilliance. Their 13-minute "Smiling Faces Sometimes" appeared that April, recorded by the Temptations for Sky's the Limit. Within two months, fellow Gordy act the Undisputed Truth reached the chart with their slightly spookier version, pared down to three minutes for maximum commercial impact.
Here are 40 personal-favorite singles that reached Billboard's Soul Singles chart during 1971, followed by a Spotify playlist and month-by-month top tens. Had the New Rotary Connection's "I Am the Black Gold of the Sun," a cut from the Chicago collective's Hey Love, been released as a single that year, it would be at the top spot.
1. Marvin Gaye - "What's Going On" [Tamla, 2/20]
2. Marvin Gaye - "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" [Tamla, 10/9]
3. Al Green - "Let's Stay Together" [Hi, 12/4]
4. Bill Withers - "Ain't No Sunshine" [Sussex, 7/10]
5. James Brown - "Soul Power" [King, 3/6]
6. The Undisputed Truth - "Smiling Faces Sometimes" [Gordy, 6/26]
7. Marvin Gaye - "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" [Tamla, 7/3]
8. Aretha Franklin - "Rock Steady" [Atlantic, 11/6]
9. James Brown - "Get Up, Get into It, Get Involved" [King, 1/9]
10. Bobby Womack - "That's the Way I Feel About Cha" [United Artists, 12/4]
11. The Stylistics - "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" [Avco Embassy, 5/29]
12. The Jackson 5 - "Never Can Say Goodbye" [Motown, 4/10]
13. Sly & the Family Stone - "Family Affair" [Epic, 11/13]
14. James Brown - "Make It Funky" [Polydor, 8/28]
15. Isaac Hayes - "Theme from Shaft" [Enterprise, 10/16]
16. The Staple Singers - "Respect Yourself" [Stax, 10/9]
17. The Dramatics - "Get Up and Get Down" [Volt, 12/18]
18. The Dramatics - "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get" [Volt, 7/3]
19. Betty Wright - "Clean Up Woman" [Alston, 11/20]
20. The Honey Cone - "Want Ads" [Hot Wax, 4/17]
21. Al Green - "Tired of Being Alone" [Hi, 7/10]
22. Isaac Hayes - "Never Can Say Goodbye" [Enterprise, 5/22]
23. Ike & Tina Turner - "Proud Mary" [Liberty, 2/27]
24. Ohio Players - "Pain" [Westbound, 12/4]
25. Stevie Wonder - "If You Really Love Me" [Tamla, 8/21]
26. The Temptations - "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" [Gordy, 2/13]
27. Gladys Knight & the Pips - "I Don't Want to Do Wrong" [Soul, 6/5]
28. Rufus Thomas - "The Breakdown" [Stax, 8/14]
29. The Persuaders - "Love Gonna Pack Up (And Move Out)" [Win or Lose, 12/18]
30. The Persuaders - "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" [Atco, 8/14]
31. Bobby Womack - "Communication" [United Artists, 9/25]
32. The Chi-Lites - "Have You Seen Her" [Brunswick, 10/23]
33. James Brown - "Hot Pants" [People, 7/10]
34. Wilson Pickett - "Don't Knock My Love" [Atlantic, 5/1]
35. Michael Jackson - "Got to Be There" [Motown, 11/6]
36. The Main Ingredient - "(Spinning Around) I Must Be Falling in Love" [RCA Victor, 4/24]
37. Gladys Knight & the Pips - "Make Me the Woman That You Go Home To" [Soul 12/18]
38. Black Ivory - "Don't Turn Around" [Today, 11/6]*
39. Bill Withers - "Grandma's Hands" [Sussex, 11/6]
40. Aretha Franklin - "Bridge Over Troubled Water" [Atlantic, 4/24]
*This song is not available on Spotify in the U.S. Favorite 41 appears in its place, at the end of the playlist.
January
James Brown - "Get Up, Get into It, Get Involved"
The Stylistics - "You're a Big Girl Now"
Kool & the Gang - "Who's Gonna Take the Weight"
Candi Staton - "He Called Me Baby"
Wilson Pickett - "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You"
Johnnie Taylor - "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone"
The Four Tops - "Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life)"
Diana Ross - "Remember Me"
Jerry Butler - "You Just Can't Win (By Making the Same Mistake)"
The Three Degrees - "You're the One"
February
Marvin Gaye - "What's Going On"
Ike & Tina Turner - "Proud Mary"
The Temptations - "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)"
The Detroit Emeralds - "Do Me Right"
The Staple Singers - "Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)"
The Impressions - "Ain't Got Time"
Flaming Ember - "Stop the World and Let Me Off"
The Jackson 5 - "Mama's Pearl"
Chairmen of the Board - "Chairman of the Board"
Bill Coday - "Get Your Lie Straight"
March
James Brown - "Soul Power"
Stevie Wonder - "We Can Work It Out"
Aretha Franklin - "You're All I Need to Get By"
Jerry Butler - "If It's Real What I Feel"
Ann Peebles - "I Pity the Fool"
Santana - "Oye Como Va"
Tyrone Davis - "Could I Forget You"
King Floyd - "Baby Let Me Kiss You"
Ray Charles - "Don't Change on Me"
Brenda & the Tabulations - "Right on the Tip of My Tongue"
April
The Jackson 5 - "Never Can Say Goodbye"
Aretha Franklin - "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
The Honey Cone - "Want Ads"
The Main Ingredient - "(Spinning Around) I Must Be Falling in Love"
The Chi-Lites - "(For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People"
Booker T. & the M.G.'s - "Melting Pot"
The Isley Brothers - "Warpath"
The Whatnauts - "I'll Ease Away Your Pain"
Dionne Warwick - "Who Gets the Guy"
Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - "Your Love (Means Everything to Me)"
May
The Stylistics - "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)"
Isaac Hayes - "Never Can Say Goodbye"
Wilson Pickett - "Don't Knock My Love"
The Ebonys - "You're the Reason Why"
Funkadelic - "You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks"
Edwin Starr - "Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On"
The Beginning of the End - "Funky Nassau"
Jean Knight - "Mr. Big Stuff"
The 8th Day - "She's Not Just Another Woman"
Clarence Carter - "The Court Room"
June
The Undisputed Truth - "Smiling Faces Sometimes"
Gladys Knight & the Pips - "I Don't Want to Do Wrong"
The Isley Brothers - "Love the One You're With"
The Delfonics - "Over and Over"
James Brown - "Escape-ism"
Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway - "You've Got a Friend"
The Delfonics - "Hey! Love"
The Intruders - "Pray for Me"
Bobby Byrd - "I Know You Got Soul"
100 Proof Aged in Soul - "Driveway"
July
Bill Withers - "Ain't No Sunshine"
Marvin Gaye - "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)"
The Dramatics - "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get"
Al Green - "Tired of Being Alone"
James Brown - "Hot Pants"
The Nite-Liters - "K-Jee"
The Jackson 5 - "Maybe Tomorrow"
The People's Choice - "I Likes to Do It"
The Fuzz - "Like an Open Door"
The Staple Singers - "You've Got to Earn It"
August
James Brown - "Make It Funky"
Stevie Wonder - "If You Really Love Me"
Rufus Thomas - "The Breakdown"
The Persuaders - "Thin Line Between Love and Hate"
Aretha Franklin - "Spanish Harlem"
The Honey Cone - "Stick-Up"
The Dells - "The Love We Had (Stays on My Mind)"
Denise LaSalle - "Trapped by a Thing Called Love"
Laura Lee - "Women's Love Rights"
Parliament - "Breakdown"
September
Bobby Womack - "Communication"
Bobby Byrd - "Hot Pants -- I'm Coming, I'm Coming, I'm Coming"
The Intruders - "I Bet He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)"
Rare Earth - "I Just Want to Celebrate"
The Main Ingredient - "Black Seeds Keep on Growing"
Diana Ross - "Surrender"
Gabor Szabo/Bobby Womack - "Breezin'"
The New Birth - "It's Impossible"
Joe Simon - "Georgia Blue"
Funkadelic - "Can You Get to That"
October
Marvin Gaye - "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)"
Isaac Hayes - "Theme from Shaft"
The Staple Singers - "Respect Yourself"
The Chi-Lites - "Have You Seen Her"
The Stylistics - "You Are Everything"
Dennis Coffey & the Detroit Guitar Band - "Scorpio"
The Emotions - "Show Me How"
The Isley Brothers - "Spill the Wine"
Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway - "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'"
G.C. Cameron - "Act Like a Shotgun"
November
Aretha Franklin - "Rock Steady"
Sly & the Family Stone - "Family Affair"
Betty Wright - "Clean Up Woman"
Michael Jackson - "Got to Be There"
Black Ivory - "Don't Turn Around"
Bill Withers - "Grandma's Hands"
Curtis Mayfield - "Get Down"
Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - "Satisfaction"
The Temptations - "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)"
Joe Simon - "Drowning in the Sea of Love"
December
Al Green - "Let's Stay Together"
Bobby Womack - "That's the Way I Feel About Cha"
The Dramatics - "Get Up and Get Down"
Ohio Players - "Pain"
The Persuaders - "Love Gonna Pack Up (And Move Out)"
Gladys Knight & the Pips - "Make Me the Woman That You Go Home To"
The Undisputed Truth - "You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell Right Here on Earth"
Jerry Butler & Brenda Eager - "Ain't Understanding Mellow"
Bar-Kays - "Son of Shaft"
The Jackson 5 - "Sugar Daddy"
