#17 Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder
The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time
- 2025 Album Rank
- 17
- 2011 Album Rank
- 31
- Total Points
- 2165
- Year Released
- 1976
- Billboard 200 Chart Peak
- 1
- Weeks at #1
- 14
- RIAA Sales Certification
- 10,000,000 (Multi-Platinum)
- Buy Album
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Songs in the Key Album Details
Released in September 1976, Songs in the Key of Life is Stevie Wonder's ambitious double LP (plus bonus EP) that encapsulates the full range of his musical vision, humanist ideals, and innovative artistry. Sprawling across funk, soul, jazz, gospel, and pop, the album presents a panoramic view of life, its beauty, struggles, joys, injustices, and spiritual truths. At once deeply personal and universally resonant, it is widely regarded as Wonder's magnum opus and a landmark in popular music.
The album includes a wealth of classics: Sir Duke, a tribute to jazz greats; Isn't She Lovely, a joyous celebration of his newborn daughter; the socially conscious Village Ghetto Land; and the euphoric As and I Wish. Crafted with an army of musicians and collaborators, but always with Wonder at the center writing, producing, and performing much of it himself, it became the first album by an American artist to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and third overall, and went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1977.
Other Stevie Wonder albums on the list: Innervisions
Interesting Facts About Songs in the Key
- The album was nearly three years in the making. Wonder briefly considered leaving the music industry to do humanitarian work in Ghana, but changed course and signed a $13 million deal with Motown to complete the album.
- Wonder played most of the instruments on many tracks, including drums, keyboards, and synthesizers. His use of the Yamaha GX-1 and TONTO synthesizers was groundbreaking in blending electronic textures with soul music.
- The bonus EP included with the album, called A Something's Extra, featured four songs that didn't fit the main sequence, including Saturn and Ebony Eyes.
- Pastime Paradise featured one of the earliest uses of a gospel choir and world percussion in a pop setting. It would later be famously sampled in Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise.
- Contusion is one of the few purely instrumental tracks in Wonder's catalog, highlighting his jazz-fusion chops and his band's tight interplay.
- As, one of the album's most spiritually resonant tracks, expresses unconditional love with cosmic metaphors. It gained new life when George Michael and Mary J. Blige released a cover in 1999.
- Legendary musicians like Herbie Hancock, Minnie Riperton, George Benson, and Nathan Watts contributed to the sessions. Riperton, a close friend of Wonder's, sang backing vocals while battling cancer.
- Wonder recorded the album primarily at Crystal Sound and Record Plant Studios in Hollywood. He was known to lock himself in the studio for days, working obsessively on arrangements and mixes.
- Despite its length, over 100 minutes, Songs in the Key of Life became a commercial and critical juggernaut, staying at No. 1 for 13 consecutive weeks and influencing generations of musicians.
- In 2015, Wonder performed the entire album live on a U.S. tour to overwhelming acclaim. Many fans and critics called it one of the most powerful retrospectives of a classic album ever staged.
- The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002 for its cultural and historical significance.
Songs in the Key Tracklist
- Love's In Need Of Love Today
- Have A Talk With God
- Village Ghetto Land
- Contusion
- Sir Duke - Reached #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart
- I Wish - Reached #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart
- Knocks Me Off My Feet
- Pastime Paradise
- Summer Soft
- Ordinary Pain
- Isn't She Lovely?
- Joy Inside My Tears
- Black Man
- Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing
- If It's Magic
- As - Reached #36 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart
- Another Star - Reached #32 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart
