Top of the World

Richard and John Bettis wrote it for A Song for You. Richard admitted they were mistaken about its commercial potential: after recording it they thought it a pleasant album cut. The response in concert was overwhelming, it went gold in Japan when it was culled from the album, and some American Top 40 stations charted the album version on requests alone. When Lynn Anderson covered it, using Richard's arrangement, her version reached number 2 on the country chart and 74 on the Hot 100.

The Carpenters then issued their own single on 17 September 1973, with some small revisions, a new vocal and a remix. Karen re-recorded her lead because she was not quite satisfied with the original. It topped the Hot 100 for two weeks in December 1973 as the second of their three number ones. Buddy Emmons played pedal steel on it, Tony Peluso played electric guitar, and Hal Blaine drummed. Tom Breihan of Stereogum, who gave it 6 out of 10, wrote that Karen found a slight tinge of melancholy in a song that resisted sadness. M. M. Keeravani briefly sang his thanks to its tune when he won the Oscar for best original song for Naatu Naatu in 2023.