The members of the Beatles are known for various feats, but the late great George Harrison has the record for releasing the song with the longest gap between jumping to No. 1, according to Far Out Magazine. George Harrison released “My Sweet Lord” in 1970, and it reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart at the time of its release. The song was part of Harrison’s album, All Things Must Pass, which also topped the charts.
After Harrison passed away from lung cancer in 2001, “My Sweet Lord” experienced a resurgence. The song reached the top of Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart once again two months after Harrison’s death, making the gap between the song’s first and second chart-topping weeks 31 years.
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At the time of Harrison’s death and “My Sweet Lord’s” resurgence, a spokesperson for EMI Records released a statement regarding the song’s newfound success. “We are very happy that the reissue of My Sweet Lord continues to spread George Harrison’s music and message around the world,” the spokesperson said (quote via Far Out). “It’s especially appropriate that the Material World Charitable Foundation, a charity that George set up some time ago will benefit from the profits made from the single’s success, thus helping the needy all over the world.”
Despite its decade-spanning success, “My Sweet Lord” has also been marred by controversy. In 1976, Harrison was found guilty of “subconscious plagiarism” after Bright Tunes Music expressed that his hit song had noticeable similarities to the song “He’s So Fine” by The Chiffons. Harrison was ordered to pay $1.6 million. In 2002, all of the proceeds for the re-release of “My Sweet Lord” went to charity, Far Out reports.
Harrison discussed the similarities between the songs in his autobiography, I Me Mine. “I wasn’t consciously aware of the similarity between ‘He’s So Fine’ and ‘My Sweet Lord’ when I wrote the song, as it was more improvised and not so fixed,” Harrison stated. “Although when my version of the song came out and started to get a lot of airplay, people started talking about it, and it was then I thought, ‘Why didn’t I realize?’ It would have been very easy to change a note here or there, and not affect the feeling of the record.”
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