| "Sailing" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Christopher_Cross_-_Sailing_(single).jpg) | ||||
| Single by Christopher Cross | ||||
| from the album Christopher Cross | ||||
| B-side | "Poor Shirley" | |||
| Released | May 27, 1980 (Charted June 14) | |||
| Recorded | 1979 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:14 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Christopher Cross | |||
| Producer(s) | Michael Omartian | |||
| Christopher Cross singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Christopher Cross - Sailing (Official Music Video)" on YouTube | ||||
"Sailing" is a 1979 soft rock song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Christopher Cross. It was released in June 1980 as the second single from his self-titled debut album (1979), which was already certified gold by this time. The song was a success in the United States, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on August 30, 1980, where it stayed for one week.[1][2] The song also won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Arrangement of the Year, and helped Cross win the Best New Artist award.[3] VH1 named "Sailing" the most "softsational soft rock" song of all time.[4]
The song was recorded in 1979, utilizing the 3M Digital Recording System, making it one of the first digitally recorded songs to chart.[5] In his Grammy acceptance speech, Cross acknowledged "Sailing" as his favorite song on the album and that originally it was not meant to be a single.[6] The song was later identified as an archetype of the style that later became known as yacht rock[7] (at the time, Cross and similar artists referred to the style as the West Coast sound).[8]
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2010). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (rev. and expanded 9th ed.). New York: Billboard Books. pp. 162, 889. ISBN 9780823085545.
- ^ Sailing - Chart History Billboard. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- ^ "Best New Artists Who Also Won Album Of The Year". Grammy.com. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
- ^ "VH1's 40 Most Softsational Soft-Rock Songs". Stereogum. 2007-05-31. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
- ^ Jim McCullaugh (November 1, 1980), "Digital the Major Topic For N.Y. AES Parley", Billboard "The Christopher Cross LP, at number 32, uses the 3M digital technology"
- ^ Video on YouTube
- ^ Kamp, Jon (October 11, 2015). "Can You Sail to It? Then It Must Be 'Yacht Rock'". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Cross, Christopher (February 22, 2014). "Hall & Oates Are Genuine Rock Stars in My Book". The Huffington Post.