And the Biggest Soul Hit of 1978 Was Also by EWF; It Too Wasn’t “September.”
(September 22, 2026) – Given its popularity today, people might be forgiven for forgetting that Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” was originally released in 1978.
More surprising is that it wasn’t released in September at all. The single arrived in late November, with lyrics from a December perspective about a past romance, which explains why it didn’t top Billboard’s soul chart until January 1979 or reach the Hot 100’s top ten until February.
Yet “September” ultimately became EWF’s signature tune — one of the most celebrated and streamed songs from the 1970s — and one now inextricably linked to September 21, the date immortalized in its opening verse.
Which makes this delicious bit of chart irony possible:
On September 21, 1978, Earth, Wind & Fire actually had the No. 1 soul song in America. It just wasn’t “September.”
And there’s more. The group also had Billboard’s No. 1 soul hit for the entire year of 1978.
That wasn’t “September,” either.
That neither of those distinctions belong to “September” is one of the chart’s oddest ironies and the type that DJROBBLOG just loves to exploit.
First, about September 21, 1978.
Since that date occurred on a Thursday, the governing Billboard charts were dated the following Saturday, September 23. On that week’s soul list, EWF’s remake of the Beatles’ “Got to Get You Into My Life” moved into the No. 1 slot for a lone frame, replacing L.T.D.’s “Holding On” before being replaced on the next chart by Funkadelic’s anthem “One Nation Under a Groove.” EWF’s remake benefited, in part, from its tie-in to the Bee Gees’ and Peter Frampton’s movie Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The movie turned out to be a bust and critics panned it. But its three singles — including EWF’s hit — were all top 40 pop hits, with “Got to Get You Into My Life” being the biggest among them. On September 21, 1978, it was the band’s fifth No. 1 soul hit.
And “September” Didn’t Win the Year, Either
It was a different song — the band’s fourth No. 1 soul single — that made even more of a chart splash during its 1977/78 chart run. Released in late 1977, EWF’s “Serpentine Fire” — the first single from their All ‘N All album — topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in November and tallied seven weeks on top before relinquishing the penthouse to Con Funk Shun’s “Ffun” on January 7, 1978. But with the bulk of its run occurring during Billboard’s annualized chart period of November to October, “Serpentine Fire” amassed enough chart points to be ranked as 1978’s biggest soul hit.
So there you have it. The EWF song forever associated with September 21 wasn’t No. 1 soul on September 21, 1978. Another EWF song was.
And the biggest soul hit of 1978 wasn’t “September,” either. Yet another EWF song was.
“Got to Get You Into My Life” owned the date. “Serpentine Fire” owned the year.
“September” got something considerably bigger: forever.
Ba-dee-ya, indeed.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.
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