It was composed by Miracles members Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, and Marv Tarplin.

This million-selling, multiple award-winning R&B hit has been inducted into The Grammy Hall of Fame, has been ranked by the Recording Industry Association of America and The National Endowment for the Arts at No.

[4] In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked the Miracles' original recording of "The Tracks of My Tears" as "The Greatest Motown Song of All Time".

On initial release in the UK in 1965 it did not chart, but like several other Motown singles reissued there in 1969, it became a Top Ten hit in the summer, reaching No.

50 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004;[4] the track was also a 2007 inductee into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

On May 14, 2008, the track was preserved by the United States Library of Congress as an "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significance" to the National Recording Registry.

[14] In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked The Miracles' original recording of "The Tracks of My Tears" as "The Greatest Motown Song of All Time.

In 1975, Linda Ronstadt recorded a cover version of "The Tracks of My Tears" for her studio album Prisoner in Disguise that became a pop Top 40 hit in the US.