I Can't Stop Loving You

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A-side"Oh Lonesome Me"
WrittenJune 7, 1957 (1957-06-07)[1][2]
PublishedFebruary 7, 1958 Acuff-Rose Publications, Inc.[3]
ReleasedDecember 1957 (1957-12)
"I Can't Stop Loving You"
Single by Don Gibson
from the album Oh Lonesome Me
A-side"Oh Lonesome Me"
WrittenJune 7, 1957 (1957-06-07)[1][2]
PublishedFebruary 7, 1958 Acuff-Rose Publications, Inc.[3]
ReleasedDecember 1957 (1957-12)
RecordedDecember 3, 1957 (1957-12-03)[4]
StudioRCA Studio B, Nashville
GenreCountry
Length2:37
LabelRCA Victor
SongwriterDon Gibson
ProducerChet Atkins
Don Gibson singles chronology
""Oh Lonesome Me"
(1958)		 "I Can't Stop Loving You"
(1957)		 "Blue Blue Day"
(1958)

"I Can't Stop Loving You" is a popular song written and composed by country musician Don Gibson from his 1958 album Oh Lonesome Me, who first recorded it on December 3, 1957, for RCA Victor Records. It was released in 1958 as the B-side of "Oh Lonesome Me", becoming a double-sided country hit single. At the time of Gibson's death in 2003, the song had been recorded by more than 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles, whose recording reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[5]

Charts

Don Gibson wrote both "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "Oh Lonesome Me" on June 7, 1957, in Knoxville, Tennessee.[5] "I sat down to write a lost love ballad," Gibson said in Dorothy Horstman's 1975 book Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy. "After writing several lines to the song, I looked back and saw the line 'I can't stop loving you.' I said, 'That would be a good title,' so I went ahead and rewrote it in its present form."[6]

Note: This original recording was released as "I Can't Stop Lovin' You".[7]

Chart (1958) Peak
position
Norway (VG-lista)[8]2
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[9]7
US Billboard Hot 100[10]81

Ray Charles version

"I Can't Stop Loving You"
Single by Ray Charles
from the album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
B-side"Born to Lose"
ReleasedApril 1962
RecordedFebruary 15, 1962
StudioUnited Western Recorders, United B, Hollywood, California
Genre
Length2:37 (single version)
4:12 (album version)
LabelABC-Paramount 10330
SongwriterDon Gibson[12]
ProducerSid Feller[12]
Ray Charles singles chronology
"Hit the Road Jack"
(1961)		 "I Can't Stop Loving You"
(1962)		 "You Don't Know Me"
(1962)
Audio sample
Professional ratings
"I Can't Stop Loving You" / "Born to Lose"
Review scores
SourceRating
Billboardpositive[13]

The song was covered by Ray Charles in 1962, featured on Charles' album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, and released as a single. Charles' version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962, for five weeks. This version went to number one on the U.S. R&B and adult contemporary charts.[14][15] From June 9, 1962 through June 30, 1962, the song simultaneously was at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot R&B Singles and Adult Contemporary (then called the Easy Listening chart), holding a 31-year record for the most weeks it simultaneously topped the pop, R&B and AC charts until January 1993 when Whitney Houston's hit "I Will Always Love You" broke it with five weeks between December 19, 1992 and January 16, 1993. Billboard ranked "I Can't Stop Loving You" as the No. 2 song for 1962.[16] Charles reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1962, staying for two weeks.[17] In Sweden it was the first number one single on the sales chart Kvällstoppen on July 10, 1962.[18]

The Ray Charles version is noted for his saying the words before the last five lines of the song on the final chorus: "Sing the song, children". Choral backing was provided by the Randy Van Horne Singers. It was ranked number 164 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and number 49 on CMT's "100 Greatest Songs in Country Music".

In 1963 at the 5th Annual Grammy Awards, the Ray Charles version of the song won him the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Recording.[19]

This recording was featured in the 2001 film Metropolis, where it can be heard during the explosion of the skyscraper Ziggurat shortly after the climax.[20]

Charts

Chart (1962) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[21] 1
Finland (Suomen virallinen)[22] 1
New Zealand (lever hit parade)[23] 1
Norway (VG-Lista)[24] 4
Sweden (Kvällstoppen)[18] 1
Sweden (Tio i Topp)[25] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[26]1
US Billboard R&B Singles 1
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[27]1
UK Singles Chart[12] 1

All-time charts

Chart (1958–2018) Position
US Billboard Hot 100[28] 125

Certifications

Other versions

References

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