# The 8 Best Gospel Tracks of All Time

Blues technique applied to sacred words, codified in Chicago churches from the early thirties. The training ground for almost every great American voice of the next fifty years, and the source of the vocabulary soul secularised.

- **Origin:** Chicago and the American South, 1932
- **Tempo:** 60–140 BPM
- **Also known as:** black gospel, quartet gospel, spirituals, sanctified
- **Tracks:** 8
- **Updated:** 2026-08-30
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/gospel/

## The list

### 1. [Mahalia Jackson](https://waxonia.com/artist/mahalia-jackson/) — [Move On Up a Little Higher](https://waxonia.com/track/mahalia-jackson--move-on-up-a-little-higher/)

*1947 · Apollo*

It sold in the millions when gospel records were not supposed to sell at all. Jackson refused every offer to sing secular material, and never needed to.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mahalia%20Jackson%20Move%20On%20Up%20a%20Little%20Higher) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=06gAdro-62E)

### 2. [Sister Rosetta Tharpe](https://waxonia.com/artist/sister-rosetta-tharpe/) — [Strange Things Happening Every Day](https://waxonia.com/track/sister-rosetta-tharpe--strange-things-happening-every-day/)

*1944 · Decca*

A distorted electric guitar, a boogie piano and a gospel lyric, a decade before anyone said rock and roll. The most consequential record almost nobody credits.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Sister%20Rosetta%20Tharpe%20Strange%20Things%20Happening%20Every%20Day) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZVq04akR3Q)

### 3. [The Soul Stirrers](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-soul-stirrers/) — [Touch the Hem of His Garment](https://waxonia.com/track/the-soul-stirrers--touch-the-hem-of-his-garment/)

*1956 · Specialty*

Sam Cooke while he was still singing for the church, and already in complete command. Listen to this and then to A Change Is Gonna Come — the technique does not change at all.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Soul%20Stirrers%20Touch%20the%20Hem%20of%20His%20Garment) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xaSmjdWEK9E)

### 4. [Clara Ward & The Ward Singers](https://waxonia.com/artist/clara-ward-and-the-ward-singers/) — [How I Got Over](https://waxonia.com/track/clara-ward-and-the-ward-singers--how-i-got-over/)

*1951*

Ward wrote it, sang the lead over her own group's responses, and sold a million copies. The call-and-response architecture every soul record on this site borrows.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Clara%20Ward%20%26%20The%20Ward%20Singers%20How%20I%20Got%20Over) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=g0F4IJeDQh4)

### 5. [The Edwin Hawkins Singers](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-edwin-hawkins-singers/) — [Oh Happy Day](https://waxonia.com/track/the-edwin-hawkins-singers--oh-happy-day/)

*1969 · Pavilion*

A choir arrangement of an eighteenth-century hymn that became an international pop hit without changing a word. Nobody has repeated the trick since.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Edwin%20Hawkins%20Singers%20Oh%20Happy%20Day) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KJohGa66FJM)

### 6. [Rev. James Cleveland](https://waxonia.com/artist/rev-james-cleveland/) — [Peace Be Still](https://waxonia.com/track/rev-james-cleveland--peace-be-still/)

*1963 · Savoy*

Recorded live with a congregation audibly losing composure. The best argument on this list that a gospel record is a documentary rather than a performance.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Rev.%20James%20Cleveland%20Peace%20Be%20Still) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=DNHda7R4o5k)

### 7. [The Dixie Hummingbirds](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-dixie-hummingbirds/) — [Let's Go Out to the Programs](https://waxonia.com/track/the-dixie-hummingbirds--lets-go-out-to-the-programs/)

*1953 · Peacock*

A quartet impersonating four rival quartets in turn, then themselves. Funny, technically astonishing, and a half-million seller — gospel was a competitive sport and this is the scoreboard.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Dixie%20Hummingbirds%20Let's%20Go%20Out%20to%20the%20Programs) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=GhlfnLxyjYM)

### 8. [The Staple Singers](https://waxonia.com/artist/the-staple-singers/) — [I'll Take You There](https://waxonia.com/track/the-staple-singers--ill-take-you-there/)

*1972 · Stax*

The border crossed in both directions at once: a gospel family, a Muscle Shoals rhythm section, and a lyric that never names what it is about.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/The%20Staple%20Singers%20I'll%20Take%20You%20There) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IhHBr7nMMio)

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