"Best of My Love" is a song by American group the Emotions from their fourth studio album Rejoice (1977). Released as the album's lead single on June 9, 1977, the song topped both the US Billboard Hot 100 and US Billboard R&B charts. It also reached the top five in the UK and Canada, the top 10 in New Zealand and the top 20 in Australia.

"Best of My Love" won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 20th Annual Grammy Awards (1977). The tune also won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Single at the American Music Awards of 1978.

Background This tune was composed by Maurice White and Al McKay of Earth, Wind & Fire, also produced by White and Clarence McDonald.

"Best of My Love" was originally published in the key of C major in common time with a tempo of 120 beats per minute. The vocals span from C4 to A5 (although in the outro of the song, one of the Emotions hits a C6).

Commercial performance The single achieved huge success, remaining on top of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for five non-consecutive weeks. On the disco chart, "Best of My Love" peaked at number 11. The song was ranked at number 87 on "The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs". As well this was 1977's third biggest pop hit and fifth biggest R&B hit. "Best of My Love" has been certified Platinum in the US by the RIAA and Gold in the UK by the BPI.

Critical reception Craig Lytle of AllMusic said of "Best of My Love", "This spirited cut is seasoned with a fierce arrangement, in particular the horns, and incomparable vocals". Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times described the tune as "one of the year's most delightful singles".

Billboard ranked the song at number one on their 2015 list of the Top 40 Biggest Girl Group Songs of All Time on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Billboard also ranked the track at number 10 on their 2017 list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. In 2018, "Best of My Love" was ranked at number six on Heavy's list of Top 51 Best Love Songs: The Heavy Power List.

Covers and samples "Best of My Love" has been covered by Mary J. Blige, Ella Eyre, Sheena Easton, Unchain and Samantha Jade. It has been sampled by De La Soul, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Girl Talk, Kylie Minogue, C+C Music Factory, Keyshia Cole, Mariah Carey, B-Rock and the Bizz and Tamia. The song was also sampled in Paul Russell's 2023 single, "Lil Boo Thang" from his EP Again Sometime?.

Personnel Clarence McDonald – piano, clavinet Paulinho da Costa – percussion Al McKay – guitar Larry Dunn – synthesizer Verdine White – bass Fred White – drums Tom Tom 84 (Thomas Washington) – string and horn arrangements

Charts

Weekly charts +Weekly chart performance for "Best of My Love"Chart (1977)PeakpositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)17UK Singles Chart (Official Charts Company) 4US Billboard Hot 100 1US Billboard Hot Soul Singles 1US Billboard Hot Dance/Disco11US Cash Box Top 1001

Year-end charts +Year-end chart performance for "Best of My Love"Chart (1977)RankBrazil (ABPD)6Canada49UK40US Billboard Hot 1003US Cash Box13

All-time charts +All-time chart performance for "Best of My Love" Chart (1958–2018) PositionUS Billboard Hot 100111

Certifications

C. J. Lewis version

British reggae singer C. J. Lewis covered "Best of My Love" for his album Dollars and released it as a single on September 26, 1994. His version reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart, and peaked at number 11 in New Zealand.

Track listings 7" Single "Best Of My Love" (Phil's New Mix) 3:47 "Two Timer" (Album Version) 3:54

Charts Chart (1994)PeakpositionBelgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)Zealand singles charts28New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)11UK Singles (OCC)13

References