(Saturday, December 26, 1970) — “My Sweet Lord” by former Beatle George Harrison peaked at #1 on today’s Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for four consecutive weeks (Dec. 26, 1970, Jan. 2/9/16, 1971).

In America and Britain, the song was the first number-one single by an ex-Beatle (note: Paul McCartney was the only ex-Beatle who hadn’t released a solo single at this point).

“My Sweet Lord” is also ranked 460th on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”

Later in the 1970s, “My Sweet Lord” was at the center of a heavily publicized copyright infringement suit due to its similarity to the Ronnie Mack song “He’s So Fine,” a 1963 hit for the New York girl group the Chiffons.

In 1976, Harrison was found to have subconsciously plagiarized the song, a verdict that had repercussions throughout the music industry. Rather than the Chiffons song, he said he used the out-of-copyright Christian hymn “Oh Happy Day” as his inspiration for the melody.