# What is the best Southern soul album of all time?

> Rooted in the American South, these albums carry the raw emotion of gospel, blues, and country merged into something wholly unique. Which Southern soul record moves you most?

*By YPB Team · Published April 21, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-southern-soul-album-of-all-time*

---

## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul**
   Otis Redding's 1965 Stax masterpiece is the defining Southern soul album — raw, gospelized, and overflowing with the most powerful soul voice of the 1960s.
2. **I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You**
   Aretha Franklin's 1967 Atlantic debut forged at Muscle Shoals is one of the greatest albums ever made — raw, powerful, and utterly transformative.
3. **Lady Soul**
   Aretha Franklin's 1968 Atlantic album contains 'Chain of Fools', 'Since You've Been Gone', and 'Natural Woman' — three of the greatest soul singles of the decade.
4. **In the Midnight Hour**
   Wilson Pickett's 1965 debut Atlantic album launched his career as the 'Wicked Pickett', featuring the driving Stax-recorded title track that defined the Southern soul groove.
5. **Rock 'N Soul**
   Solomon Burke's 1964 Atlantic debut is a seminal document of the genre's birth — gospel power channeled through secular soul on the label that invented the sound.
6. **Hold On, I'm Comin'**
   Sam & Dave's 1966 Stax debut is a powerhouse of Southern soul — two voices locked together in call-and-response gospel tradition, propelled by Booker T. & the M.G.'s.
7. **At Last!**
   Etta James' 1961 Argo album is a landmark of early soul, blending gospel-drenched vocals with jazz-tinged arrangements on the most timeless song in her catalog.
8. **The Dock of the Bay**
   The posthumous 1968 Stax album assembles Otis Redding's final recordings including the epochal title track — a serene, mellow masterpiece recorded days before his death.
9. **When a Man Loves a Woman**
   Percy Sledge's 1966 Atlantic debut album is anchored by the title track — a raw, organ-drenched Southern soul ballad of peerless emotional directness and timeless power.
10. **I'll Play the Blues for You**
   Albert King's 1972 Stax album is deeply rooted in Southern soul and blues, featuring extended grooves and his iconic left-handed guitar work alongside the Stax house band.
11. **The Exciting Wilson Pickett**
   Wilson Pickett's 1966 Atlantic follow-up consolidates his South-Meets-Stax formula with '634-5789' and 'Ninety-Nine and a Half' in a collection of deeply satisfying Southern soul.
12. **Call on Me / That's the Way Love Is**
   Bobby 'Blue' Bland's 1963 Duke Records album captures one of the great Southern blues-soul voices in his commercial and artistic prime, balancing swing with raw gospel feeling.

Tags: music, 60s, classics, soul