Papa Was A Rollin' Stone
The Temptations
- Key
- Bb minor
- Camelot
- 3A
- BPM
- 121.0
Key confidence high · relative Db major (3B) · BPM confidence medium · half-time 60.5 · measured from the full recording · 2026-09-13
The tempo changes across the track. The BPM above is the strongest single reading.
The full sheet: this record in Dig. Same engine, your files: drop a crate in the analyzer.
As of 2026-10-19, "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" by The Temptations has charted in 4 markets across 2 platforms, peaking at #34 (TN) on the Rotation chart. Measured from the full recording, it reads Bb minor (3A).
- Markets
- 4
- First seen
- 2026-08-27
- Latest chart date
- 2026-10-19
- Peak
- #34 tn
Started in 1 market, now in 4.
Momentum
This song has not appeared on a Rotation chart, so it has no score and no receipts. The rank history below is the ledger; a score is only published once the momentum run puts it on a chart.
Why it's here
The Temptations' version won three 1973 Grammy Awards—Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group, Best R&B Instrumental, and Best R&B Song—and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. [1] It became the Temptations' final number-one pop hit and features Norman Whitfield's extended, cinematic-soul production built around a repeating bassline, wah-wah guitar, and hi-hat groove. [2] The full-length album version was ranked number 169 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. [3]
In culture
Every place this record has lived. A solid chip states a fact and carries the citation that earns it; a dashed one is a connection somebody drew, and carries their name instead.
- Written by Barrett Strongsource
- Covered Four Topssource
- Covered George Michaelsource
- Covered Mudfunksource
- Covered Neal Morsesource
- Written by Norman Whitfieldsource
- Covered Phil Collinssource
- Covered Rockapellasource
- Covered The Band of Heathens featuring Ray Wylie Hubbardsource
- Covered The BB Bandsource
- Covered The Jackson 5source
- Covered The Pioneerssource
- Covered The Undisputed Truthsource
- Covered Was (Not Was)source
Across markets · earliest pickup first
Every date here is the date the source chart covers, never the date we fetched it. Sources publish on different lags: the Spotify mirror runs about two days behind, TurnTable publishes weekly.
- MarketFirst seenPeak
- Tunisiatn · deezer#34#34—
- United Statesus · shazam · 1 city#46#46—
- Croatiahr · shazam#192#85#192
- Senegalsn · deezer#89#89—
City pickups
City charts record their parent country as the market, so these do not add to the market count above. One line per country: how many of its rooms picked the song up, and the best of them.
- us 1 city · best #46 new orleans
Listen
No official embed available for this song yet.
Editions
No published edition carries this song yet. Every edition it appears in will be listed here and stay listed: an edition is immutable, so a citation to one never rots.
Identity
- ISRC
- USMO17290001
- Slug
- the-temptations__papa-was-a-rollin-stone
- Sources
- deezer, shazam
The cross-platform join key, via Deezer.
Crude v0 identity: slug(artist)__slug(title).
Every source whose chart has ever carried this song.
What moved this week, and why.
The records that climbed, what broke in one place first, what came back. One email on Friday, assembled from the week's charts, with a pressing when there is one.
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