On This Day in 1973, Marvin Gaye Started a Two Week Run at No. 1 With the Generational Hit We All Know Him For

By the time the 60s concluded and the 70s began, R&B mastermind Marvin Gaye experienced an enormous tragedy: The death of his duet partner, Tammi Terrell. Prior to Terrell’s death in 1970, she and Gaye garnered 11 hit singles, of which seven reached the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Needless to say, Gaye’s career had been fairly uprooted, but on this day, September 8, 1973, he proved that nothing could keep him down, as his single “Let’s Get It On” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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A year after the death of Terrell, Gaye got back to work, as he released the 1971 album What’s Going On. Following the release of the album’s title track, the single went on to peak at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Furthermore, songs such as “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” and “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” also did incredibly well on the charts. However, they didn’t perform as well as Gaye’s generational hit, “Let’s Get It On”.

Marvin Gaye Makes His Return to No. 1

Marvin Gaye released “Let’s Get It On” in June 1973. To this day, it is arguably Gaye’s most successful single of all time, and the introductory piece to his larger and awfully decorated catalog of music. Regardless, roughly three months later, Gaye’s single climbed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and remained at No. 1 for a total of two weeks.

In addition to reaching No. 1 on the world’s most notable chart, Gaye’s single also peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Soul Singles chart and was ranked as Billboard‘s No. 4 single of 1973. The album of the same title went on to peak at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and resided at No. 1 on the Billboard Soul Albums chart for 11 weeks.

Following the success of both the single and the album, Gaye’s career took a bit of a hit. Specifically, in the mid-70s, a severe drug addiction and divorce from Anna Gordy Gaye led Gaye’s career to take a downturn.

Although the best of the best don’t stay down forever. That being said, in 1982, Gaye entered the mainstream once again with the release of his hit single, “Sexual Healing”. The single reached the No. 3 position on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained on the chart for a total of 21 weeks.

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