You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me

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“You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me”
Single by Ray Price
from the album You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me
Released July 1973 (U.S.)
Format 7"
Recorded 1973
Genre Country
Length 3:50
Label Columbia Records 45889
Writer(s) Jim Weatherly
“Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me”
Single by Gladys Knight & the Pips
from the album Imagination
Released February 1974 (U.S.)
Format 7"
Recorded 1973
Genre pop, rhythm and blues
Length 3:44
Label Buddah Records 403
Writer(s) Jim Weatherly
Gladys Knight & the Pips singles chronology
I've Got to Use My Imagination
(1973)
Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me
(1974)
On and On
(1974)

"You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" — also known simply as "Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" — is a song written by Jim Weatherly, and enjoyed two runs of popularity, each by an artist in a different genre.

Contents

[edit] The versions

[edit] Ray Price country version

The song's first run of popularity, as "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me," came in 1973. That's when country music singer Ray Price took the song to No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart on October 6, 1973.

For that version, it represented a last and a first. The "last" was Price's seventh and most recent No. 1 single, in a string dating back to his 1956 hit "Crazy Arms." The "first": It was the No. 1 single on the debut program of "American Country Countdown," which used the Billboard chart in its programming.

[edit] Gladys Knight & the Pips pop/R&B version

In the early- to mid-1970s, Gladys Knight & the Pips had covered several of Weatherly-penned tunes, and in 1974, they dipped into his catalog once again with their rendition of the song. Their version, titled "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me," reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 that spring and topped the Hot Soul Singles for two weeks.

[edit] Succession

[edit] Ray Price version

Preceded by
"Blood Red and Goin' Down"
by Tanya Tucker
Billboard Hot Country Singles number one single
October 6, 1973
Succeeded by
"Ridin' My Thumb to Mexico"
by Johnny Rodriguez

[edit] Gladys Knight & the Pips version

Preceded by
"Lookin' For a Love" by Bobby Womack
Billboard Hot Soul Singles number one single
April 6 - April 13, 1974
Succeeded by
"TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" by MFSB with The Three Degrees

[edit] References

  • Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs 1944-2005 - 6th Edition." 2006.
  • Whitburn, Joel, "Top Pop Singles: 1955-2006," 2007.