charts Year-end charts Big Brother and the Holding Company version The song became a bigger pop hit when recorded by Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1968 with lead singer Janis Joplin. The song was taken from the group's album Cheap Thrills, recorded in 1968 and released on Columbia Records. This four-minute, 15-second rendition made it to number 12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Billboard called it "dynamite," stating that "this raucous dance treatment will rock up the Hot 100." Cash Box said that it is an "explosive performance" with a "power-packed Janis Joplin vocal" and also praised the backing band. The album release was the culmination of a hugely successful year for Joplin with acclaimed performances at the Monterey Pop Festival, Anderson Theater in New York, Wake For Martin Luther King Jr. (with Jimi Hendrix) in New York and on TV's prime-time The Dick Cavett Show. The song's instrumentation was arranged by Sam Andrew, who also performed three distorted, loud guitar solos giving the song a psychedelic touch. The B-side was "Summertime". Another version had the B-side "Turtle Blues". Franklin said in an interview that when she first heard Joplin's version on the radio, she did not recognize it because of the vocal arrangement. Noted cultural writer Ellen Willis wrote of the difference: "When Franklin sings it, it is a challenge: no matter what you do to me, I will not let you destroy my ability to be human, to love. Joplin seems rather to be saying, surely if I keep taking this, if I keep setting an example of love and forgiveness, surely he has to understand, change, give me back what I have given". In such a way, Joplin used blues conventions not to transcend pain, but "to scream it out of existence". Until her death in 1970, "Piece of My Heart" was Joplin's biggest chart success and best-known song. ("Me and Bobby McGee”, which Kris Kristofferson wrote, eclipsed "Piece of My Heart" when it appeared after her death in 1970. It went to number 1 in 1971). "Piece of My Heart" remains most associated with Joplin and continued to get airplay long after her death. Berns never got to hear Joplin's version, dying of a heart attack on December 30, 1967. Certifications Faith Hill version American country artist Faith Hill included the song on her debut album, Take Me as I Am (1993);