On this day in 1968, Otis Redding’s first posthumous album hits number one in the UK

Otis Redding had been a popular singer since around 1964, releasing six studio albums that were increasingly well received as well as appearing at the highly influential Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Following this performance, Redding focused on making music for the second half of the year. In early December he recorded a song called (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay, written alongside his friend Steven Cropper. Tragically this would be the last song Redding would work on.

On December 10th 1967, Redding and his backing band The Bar-Kays would take a small private flight from Cleveland to Wisconsin to play at the Factory nightclub that evening. The small plane took off in bad weather, with heavy rain and fog. Just under 6 km from their destination, the plane would crash into Lake Monona, leaving no survivors aside from Bar-Kays member Ben Cauley. Cauley was asleep until the impact and soon awoke again in freezing cold water, clinging to a seat cushion. The bodies of the other passengers would be retrieved from the lake the following day, as well as some of the wreckage, though the cause of the crash was never determined.

The song Redding had been working just days before his tragic death, (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay was finished and released in January of 1968. It became his only number one single, and the first single in the US to reach that spot posthumously. This success led to the compiling of an album, The Dock of the Bay, featuring several of Redding’s earlier singles and B-sides, as well as some prior album tracks, and of course the number one song that gave the album it’s name. This album would also sell very well, reaching number four on the Billboard Top LPs chart and number one on their Hot R&B LPs list in early April, 1968. 

Soon after, the album crossed over and began selling well in the UK, and on June 22nd, it would become the first posthumous album in the country to reach number one. This success led to more of Reddings material being compiled for posthumous albums, with another three being released in the following two years and one more later on in 1992, though none would match the success of The Dock of the Bay. As well as its number one spots, the album would be listed at number 161 on Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and maintained that position in the 2012 revision of the list.