Hotter than July

It followed Journey Through The Secret Life of Plants, which had been a relative commercial and critical failure, and Wonder wrote, arranged and produced it himself, mainly at Wonderland Studios, which he had recently acquired. All I Do was an old song, written in 1966 with Clarence Paul and Morris Broadnax and first recorded by Tammi Terrell. Michael Jackson, Eddie Levert, Walter Williams and Betty Wright sing backing vocals on it, Charlie and Ronnie Wilson of the Gap Band sing on I Ain't Gonna Stand for It, and Syreeta Wright sings on As If You Read My Mind. The lead single Master Blaster (Jammin') was inspired by Bob Marley.

It reached number three in the United States and number two in Britain, where all four singles reached the top 10. The RIAA certified it Platinum on 3 February 1981, and it was his first album eligible for that award because Motown sales before 1977 were not audited. Its closer, Happy Birthday, supported the campaign for a Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, and the original sleeve carries a portrait of King and a message from Wonder. Stephen Holden of Rolling Stone called Wonder our most gifted pop muralist, and Pitchfork's Hanif Abdurraqib called it an album of seemingly endless abundance.