The Marvin Gaye version was the second to be recorded, in the beginning of 1967, but only the third to be released. It was placed on his 1968 album "In the Groove", a year and a half later, where it gained the attention of radio disc jockeys, and Motown founder Berry Gordy finally agreed to its release as a single in October 1968, when it went to the top of the "Billboard" Pop Singles chart for seven weeks from December 1968 to January 1969 and overtook the Gladys Knight & the Pips' version of being the biggest hit single on the Motown label (Tamla).