Sly & the Family Stone’s Biggest Billboard Hits

As the pioneering frontman of the legendary group Sly & The Family Stone, Sly Stone, who died Monday (June 9) at age 82, blazed a trail that merged funk and R&B with tastes of rock and soul for an influential catalog that surged to mainstream success in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

Like contemporaries Jimi Hendrix, Parliament and Isaac Hayes, Sly & the Family Stone were pivotal players in the late ’60s psychedelic soul scene, which blended classic R&B and soul elements with guitar-driven rock and jazz into a new sonic fusion.

The group made its Billboard chart debut on Jan. 27, 1968, with “Dance to the Music,” which arrived at No. 48 on Best Selling R&B Singles (today’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart) and peaked at No. 9 that April. The single also became the group’s first Billboard Hot 100 entry that February and rose even higher there, to No. 8, showing the group’s wide crossover appeal from the jump.

“Dance to the Music” was the first of 16 Hot 100 hits for Sly & The Family Stone, in 1968-75, a collection that includes three No. 1s: “Everyday People” in 1969, the dual-sided “Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin”/“Everybody Is a Star” in 1970 and “Family Affair” in 1971. In addition to the band’s output, Stone landed two solo hits: “I Get High on You,” which reached No. 52 in 1975 and a featured spot on Jesse Johnson’s “Crazay,” a No. 53 hit in 1986. The group’s commercial highs were also reflected by strong album sales: It scored three top 10s on the Billboard 200 in 1970-73, including the No. 1 There’s a Riot Goin On.

Thanks to the group’s impact, Sly & The Family Stone were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993; the year before, Arrested Development’s “People Everyday,” which interpolates “Everyday People,” notched three weeks at No. 1 on Hot Rap Songs and hit No. 8 on the Hot 100. In recent years, the group’s influence reached a new generation through appearances in two documentaries produced by Questlove: the multi-artist Summer of Soul, which won an Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2022 and this year’s Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius).

To recognize Sly Stone’s impact and contributions to the American music canon, here’s a review of Sly & the Family Stone’s 10 biggest hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

Sly & the Family Stone’s Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits ranking is based on weekly performance on the Hot 100 from its Aug. 4, 1958, start through June 7, 2025. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower spots earning the least. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted differently to account for chart turnover rates during various periods.