1969 - Toronto CHUM chart highest position: N/A
This is a classic gospel song, complete with euphoric handclaps at the end. It's exuberant but I found it a bit repetitive after a while.
Edwin Hawkins (1943-2018) was from Oakland, California. In 1967, he was the co-founder of the Northern California State Youth Choir of the Church of God in Christ, which contained almost 50 members. At that time, the choir recorded an album titled Let Us Go into the House of the Lord.
"Oh Happy Day" was a track on this album and became a hit when a San Francisco underground rock DJ began playing it. It sold over a million copies in two months, reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 in Canada, and won a Grammy for Best Soul Gospel Performance.
It got airplay in Toronto - I remember hearing it when I was young - but it is not listed in The CHUM Chart Book as having reached the charts there. It eventually became the second-best selling gospel single of all time, selling an estimated seven million copies (the first was "Move On Up a Little Higher" by Mahalia Jackson, released in 1947).
The Edwin Hawkins Singers also backed Melanie on her 1970 hit, "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)", which reached #6 on the Hot 100. Hawkins continued releasing albums, both on his own and with various choirs, up until 1998.
The lead vocalist on "Oh Happy Day", Dorothy Morrison, has also covered Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit In The Sky". This version uses a piano in place of the fuzz-tone guitar riff that made Greenbaum's recording famous.
Created May 29, 2026.