Gillespie stuff in the middle, that scatting, it's old." Gaye responded to this rejection by refusing to record further unless the song was released, going on strike until, he felt, Gordy saw sense in releasing it. Commercial performance Anxious for Marvin Gaye product, Balk got Motown's sales vice president Barney Ales to release the song on January 17, 1971, pressing 100,000 copies and promoting the single to radio stations across the country. The initial success of this led to a further 100,000 to answer demand, selling over 200,000 copies within a week. Though it was issued without Gordy's knowledge, he was satisfied with the high-volume sales. The song eventually became a huge success, reaching the top of the charts within a month in March of the year, staying at number one for five weeks on the Billboard R&B charts and one week at number one on the Cashbox pop chart. On the Billboard Hot 100, it reached number two, behind both "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" by the Temptations and "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night. Billboard ranked it as the No. 21 song for 1971. The song eventually sold more than two million copies, becoming the fastest-selling Motown single at the time. The song's success forced Gordy to allow Gaye to produce his own music, giving him an ultimatum to complete an album by the end of March, later resulting in the What's Going On album itself. Critical reception and legacy The song was reviewed by Slant magazine as a song that presented a contradictory sound, with the song's mournful tone going in contrast to the party atmosphere of the vocal chatter. In reviewing the What's Going On album, Rolling Stone critic Vince Aletti stated that while the song's lyrics were "hardly brilliant", the song itself helped to set the mood for the rest of the album, and that "without overreaching they capture a certain aching dissatisfaction that is part of the album's mood." "What's Going On" was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1972 including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), but failed to win in any of the categories. Although "What's Going On" does not appear in the 1983 film The Big Chill it is included on both the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and More Songs from the Big Chill. In 2004 and 2010, "What's Going On" was ranked