<P> On hearing a playback of the song, Gaye asked his engineer Kenneth Sands to give him his two vocal leads to compare what he wanted to use for the song's release . Sands ended up mixing the leads together, by accident . However, when he heard it, Gaye was so impressed with the double - lead feel that he kept it, influencing his later recordings where he mastered vocal multi-layering adding in three different vocal parts . Before presenting the song to Gordy, he produced a false fade to the song, bringing the song back for a few seconds after it was initially to have ended . The song was also notable for its use of major seventh and minor seventh chords, which was a fairly uncommon use at the time . Gaye recorded the song's b - side, "God Is Love", on the same day . </P> <P> When Gordy heard the song after Gaye presented the song to him in California, he turned down Gaye's request to release it, telling Gaye he felt it was "the worst thing I ever heard in my life". When Harry Balk requested the song to be released, Gordy told him the song featured "that Dizzy Gillespie stuff in the middle, that scatting, it's old". Gaye responded to this rejection by refusing to record material unless the song would be released, going on strike until, he felt, Gordy saw sense in releasing it . </P> <P> Anxious for Marvin Gaye product, Balk got Motown's sales vice president Barney Ales to release the song, releasing it on January 17, 1971, sending 100,000 copies of the song to radio stations across the country . The initial success of this led to a further 100,000 to reach demand, selling over 200,000 copies within a week . The song was issued without Gordy's knowledge . The song eventually became a huge success, reaching the top of the charts within a month in March of the year, staying at number - one for five weeks on the Billboard R&B charts and one week at number - one on the Cashbox pop chart, while reaching number - two on the Billboard Hot 100 . Billboard ranked it as the No. 21 song for 1971 . The song eventually sold more than two million copies, becoming then the fastest - selling Motown single at the time . The song's success forced Gordy to allow Gaye to produce his own music, giving him an ultimatum to complete an album by the end of March, later resulting in the What's Going On album itself . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> <H3> Weekly charts (edit) </H3> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Chart (1971) </Th> <Th> Peak position </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Australia KMR </Td> <Td> 69 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Canada RPM Top Singles </Td> <Td> 76 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> U.S. Billboard Hot 100 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> U.S. Billboard R&B / Soul Singles </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> U.S. Cash Box Top 100 </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Chart (1983) </Th> <Th> Peak position </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> UK </Td> <Td> 80 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique </Td> <Td> 7 </Td> </Tr> </Table> <P> </P> </Td> <Td> <H3> Year - end charts (edit) </H3> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Chart (1971) </Th> <Th> Rank </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> U.S. Billboard Hot 100 </Td> <Td> 21 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> U.S. Cash Box </Td> <Td> 22 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> U.S. R&B / Soul (Billboard) </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> </Table> <P> </P> </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Song what's going on by marvin gaye