Stand by Me (Ben E. King song)

It was featured on the soundtrack of the 1986 film of the same name, and a corresponding music video, featuring King along with actors River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton, was released to promote the film. It was also featured in a 1987 European commercial of Levi's 501 jeans, contributing to greater success in Europe. In 2012, its royalties were estimated to have topped $22.8 million (£17 million), making it the sixth highest-earning song of its era. 50% of the royalties were paid to King.^[3] In 2015, King's original version was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant",^[4] just under five weeks before his death. Later in the year, the 2015 lineup of the Drifters recorded it in tribute.


There have been over 400 recorded versions of the song, performed by many artists, notably Otis Redding, John Lennon, Muhammad Ali,^[5] 4 the Cause, Tracy Chapman, musicians of the Playing for Change project, Florence and the Machine, and the Kingdom Choir.

Release and reception[edit]

King's record went to number 1 on the R&B charts^[11] and was a Top Ten hit on the US charts twice—in its original release, entering the Billboard chart on May 13, 1961^[12] and peaking at number 4 on June 16, 1961, and a 1986 re-release coinciding with its use as the theme song for the film of the same name following its appearance in the film, when it peaked at number 9 on December 20, 1986 – January 3, 1987. The song is also heard in the televised advertisement of Levi's 501 jeans. In the commercial, a man wearing a black denim jeans is able to enter a nightclub whose policy is "no blue jeans".^[13] "Stand by Me" also topped the charts in Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom upon its re-release. In the latter country, the song topped the UK Singles Chart in January 1987, mostly because of the jeans TV commercial, originally peaking at number 27 on the UK Singles Chart on its original release in Britain in 1961. Originally "Stand by Me" was not released on an album until it had been out as a single for over a year, eventually appearing on King's Don't Play That Song! album in 1962.


"Stand by Me" was ranked 122nd on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 1999, BMI named it as the fourth most-performed song of the 20th century, with about seven million performances.^[14] On March 27, 2012, the Songwriters Hall of Fame announced that the song would receive its 2012 Towering Song Award and that King would be honored with the 2012 Towering Performance Award for his recording of it.^[15] In February 2019, the Smooth Radio network in the United Kingdom called it one "of the best love songs of the 1960s".^[16]


"Stand by Me" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.^[17]