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Billboard published a weekly chart in 1972 ranking the top-performing singles in the United States in soul music and related African American-oriented music genres; the chart has undergone various name changes over the decades to reflect the evolution of such genres and since 2005 has been published as Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.[1] In 1972, it was published under the title Best Selling Soul Singles,[2] and 21 different singles topped the chart.
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In the issue of Billboard dated January 1, Sly and the Family Stone were at number one with "Family Affair", the song's fifth week in the top spot.[3] The following week, it was replaced by Al Green's "Let's Stay Together", which went on to spend nine weeks at number one, making it the longest-running chart-topper of the year and the song with the longest uninterrupted run atop the chart since 1965.[4] "Let's Stay Together" was the first number one for Green,[5][6] and he achieved two more soul chart-toppers by the end of the year, spending two weeks atop the chart in August with "I'm Still in Love with You" and one in December with "You Ought to Be with Me". Green was one of only two acts with more than one chart-topping single during the year, and his total of 12 weeks at number one was more than twice that achieved by any other act.
As well as Al Green, several other acts topped the chart for the first time in 1972. Beginning with the issue of Billboard dated July 8, Luther Ingram spent four weeks in the top spot with his first number one, "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right".[7] Although it was a multi-million seller, it proved to be his only chart-topping single.[8] It was replaced at number one by "Where Is the Love" by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, which was the first R&B number one for both singers.[9] Flack's previous single, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", topped the all-genre Hot 100 chart for six weeks and was the year's biggest-selling single, but on the soul chart it only climbed as high as number 4.[10][11] The Dramatics, the Staple Singers, Bobby Womack, Bill Withers, Billy Preston, the O'Jays, the Spinners, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes and Billy Paul also gained the first number ones of their respective careers in 1972.[12] Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones" was the year's final number one, reaching the top spot in the issue of Billboard dated December 9 and staying there for the remainder of the year. It also topped the Hot 100, as did five of 1972's other soul number ones: "Family Affair", "Let's Stay Together", "I'll Take You There" by the Staple Singers, "Oh Girl" by the Chi-Lites and "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers.[13][14]
| † | Indicates number 1 on Billboard's year-end soul chart[15] |
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