“Endless Love” by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Motown commissioned the song for the 1981 film Endless Love, starring Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt. Richie wrote and produced the recording, while Ross supplied the lead vocal alongside him. The soundtrack single became one of the most successful duets in American chart history.
The record topped the Hot 100 for nine weeks in 1981. It also reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart and became a major international hit. Ross’s version with Richie is distinct from later recordings, including Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross’s 1994 cover.
A common mix-up is confusing this song with “Endless Love” as a film title only; the single was both the movie’s theme and a major standalone pop hit. Its nine-week reign is separate from records held by longer-running solo songs and group recordings.