McCartney and Wonder began recording "Ebony and Ivory" in Montserrat in early 1981. The single marked the first time that McCartney had released a duet with another major artist, and anticipated his 1980s collaborations with Michael Jackson. While a major commercial hit, the song has received derision from music critics who view its message as overly simplistic and sentimental. The track also appears on McCartney's "All the Best!" compilation (1987) and on the two-disc version of Wonder's "The Definitive Collection" (2002). In 2013, "Billboard" ranked it as the 69th biggest hit of all-time on the "Billboard" Hot 100 charts.