What's the Most Sampled Song in History?

Hint: It's not by James Brown, Funkadelic, or Sly and the Family Stone...though they all rank pretty high.

7 seconds long. A single drum break. The blink of an eye in the life of a forgotten man. That’s all it took to launch the most important sample in hip hop history. 

The Winstons formed in Washington D.C. in 1969 and released just one single. The soul combo landed a million seller with a touching, if a little cloying, tribute to loving stepdads everywhere. “Color Him Father” peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned singer-composer Richard Lewis Spencer a Grammy for that year’s Best R&B Song.

In spite of their one brush with chart success, the Winstons struggled to support their record. As a touring mixed-race group, they found far too many doors closed to them in the South. They disbanded in 1970.

That was more or less the end of their story, but…

The “Color Him Father” single was backed by a B-side called “Amen, Brother”. Somehow, by the late-70s, the gospel-inflected instrumental had become a permanent fixture at block parties. Or more precisely, 7 seconds of the track had become a fixture.

If you skip to 1:28, you’ll hear the rest of the instruments cut out. Here, drummer George Coleman drops the beat that would fuse itself to hip-hop’s DNA. 

In 1986, its significance was codified with its inclusion in the first official Ultimate Breaks and Beats compilation. Eventually growing into a series of 25 compilations, UBB was meant to provide DJs with easy access to classic scratching breaks. 

That same year, Salt ‘N Pepa used “Amen, Brother” in “I Desire”.

By 1988, it was featured in multiple charting hits including "Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A. and "Keep It Going Now" by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock.

By the start of the 90s, “Amen” was elemental not only as hip hop exploded into mainstream dominance but as it spawned splinter subgenres like bass n drum, house, and jungle. At this point, Coleman’s break was sampled and recycled thousands of times (even popping up in the theme song for Matt Groening’s Futurama).

The songs included below are just the tip of the iceberg.

Sadly, neither the song’s composer nor the drummer were aware of their own considerable influence. Spencer only learned of the song’s legendary status in 1996, when a record company approached him seeking the master tapes. 

Spencer, who was working for the Washington Metro at the time, found that the statute of limitations had long passed for a royalties claim or copyright infringement case. Spencer would also lament that drummer George Coleman died in 2006, homeless, penniless, and almost certainly unaware of his impact. 

Spencer gained some recognition late in life, but never received financial compensation for drawing up part of hip-hop’s blueprint. To date, the famous drum break from “Amen Brother” has been sampled in well over 6,000 tunes and counting. The next closest song, “Think (About It)” by Lyn Collins, has been sampled roughly half that many times.

Below are the 20 most sampled tunes in history, in descending order.