On this day in 1972 ‘Lean on me’ began its first stay at the 1st place of music charts

History Channel: Bill Withers stepped into a recording studio for the very first time at the age of 32, and two years later, he’d written and recorded one of the most beloved pop songs of the modern era: “Lean On Me,” which began its first stay at #1 on the pop charts on this day in 1972.

It was released in April 1972 as the first single from his second album, Still Bill. It was his first and only number one single on both the soul singles and the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard ranked it as the No. 7 song of 1972. It is ranked number 208 on Rolling Stone‘s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. Numerous cover versions have been recorded, and it is one of only nine songs to have reached No. 1 in the US Singles Charts with versions recorded by two different artists.

There are over 98 cover versions officially registered so far.