Most frequent collaborator: David Rubinson · 37 tracks
Latin RockBlues RockRockJazz FusionSmooth Jazz
59%
Authorship
Collaborator
Holds writing credit on 201 of 339 tracks
Did Santana write their own songs?
Partly. Santana wrote about 59% of this catalogue, including instrumentals like 'Samba Pa Ti' and band songs like 'Soul Sacrifice.' But many of their most famous recordings are covers or outside compositions: 'Black Magic Woman' is a Fleetwood Mac song, 'Oye Como Va' is Tito Puente's, and their comeback hit 'Smooth' was written by Rob Thomas and Itaal Shur.
By the Numbers
30
Studio Albums
339
Tracks Credited
59%
Self-Written
100M+
Records Sold
60
Years Active
327
Collaborators
Authorship Breakdown 201 / 339 self-written
Who wrote the songs?
Across all 339 tracks: how many Santana wrote alone, how many they co-wrote, and how many were written by others. The bracket marks every track they hold any writing credit on.
Santana has a writing credit59%
25%
34%
41%
Sole author86tracks25%
Co-written115tracks34%
Outside writers138tracks41%
Role Fingerprint how they contribute
Santana's roles across the catalogue
Share of all 339 tracks where they are personally credited, by role.
Lyricist (words)59%
Composer (music)59%
Producer74%
Performer100%
Member Credit Breakdown share of tracks each member is credited on
Percentage of all 339 tracks, across every album, where each member holds a credit - split by role.
Member
Period
Lyrics
Music
Production
Performance
Carlos Santana
1966-present
50%
50%
69%
96%
Gregg Rolie Former
1966-1972
9%
9%
3%
8%
Michael Shrieve Former
1966-1972
6%
5%
3%
13%
Michael Carabello
1966-1971, 1988-present
4%
4%
0%
6%
David Brown Former
1966-1971
4%
4%
0%
13%
José "Chepito" Areas Former
1969-1977
2%
2%
0%
13%
Neal Schon Former
1971-1973
3%
3%
0%
3%
Tom Coster Former
1972-1978
7%
7%
11%
6%
Chester Thompson
1983-present
6%
6%
6%
0%
Alex Ligertwood Former
1979-1990
6%
6%
0%
0%
Karl Perazzo
1987-present
3%
3%
0%
0%
Benny Rietveld
1988-present
1%
1%
0%
0%
Cindy Blackman Santana
2012-present
0%
0%
0%
0%
Authorship Over Time writing credit per album
Santana's writing credit per album, in release order. Hover any bar for the album.
avg 59%
78%
67%
78%
80%
44%
58%
86%
64%
88%
56%
91%
44%
58%
55%
36%
64%
100%
90%
60%
67%
55%
54%
25%
38%
0%
85%
8%
100%
0%
67%
1969Santana
1970Abraxas
1971Santana III
1972Caravanserai
1973Welcome
1974Borboletta
1976Amigos
1977Festival
1977Moonflower
1978Inner Secrets
1979Marathon
1980The Swing of Delight
1981Zebop!
1982Shangó
1983Havana Moon
1985Beyond Appearances
1987Blues for Salvador
1987Freedom
1990Spirits Dancing in the Flesh
1992Milagro
1994Brothers
1999Supernatural
2002Shaman
2005All That I Am
2010Guitar Heaven
2012Shape Shifter
2014Corazón
2016Santana IV
2019Africa Speaks
2021Blessings and Miracles
Early · 70% written
Mid · 66% written
Late · 45% written
Authorship by Decade track-weighted
78%
1960s
Santana
72%
1970s
Abraxas, Santana III +8 more
63%
1980s
The Swing of Delight, Zebop! +5 more
59%
1990s
Spirits Dancing in the Flesh, Milagro +2 more
31%
2000s
Shaman, All That I Am
44%
2010s
Guitar Heaven, Shape Shifter +3 more
67%
2020s
Blessings and Miracles
Authorship Spectrum pure performer to complete author
Where Santana sits on the scale from a pure performer (0%, sings songs written by others) to a complete author (100%, writes everything). The bright marker is their catalogue authorship score, plotted against other artists on the site.
Santana
Other artists on the site
Reference artists spread across the scale, closest by genre and era.
Written by Carlos Santana, Milton Brown, Tyrone Moss
Co-wrote
No One to Depend On
Santana III
Written by Michael Carabello, Gregg Rolie, Coke Escovedo
Co-wrote
Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)
Amigos
Written by Tom Coster, Carlos Santana
Wrote it
Let the Children Play
Festival
Written by Leon Patillo, Carlos Santana
Co-wrote
She's Not There
Moonflower
Written by Rod Argent
Outside writers
Stormy
Inner Secrets
Written by Buddy Buie, James Cobb
Outside writers
Well All Right
Inner Secrets
Written by Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Norman Petty
Outside writers
You Know That I Love You
Marathon
Written by Alex Ligertwood, Alan Pasqua, Carlos Santana, Chris Solberg
Co-wrote
Winning
Zebop!
Written by Russ Ballard
Outside writers
The Sensitive Kind
Zebop!
Written by J.J. Cale
Outside writers
Hold On
Shangó
Written by Ian Thomas
Outside writers
Nowhere to Run
Shangó
Written by Russ Ballard
Outside writers
They All Went to Mexico
Havana Moon
Written by Greg Brown
Outside writers
Say It Again
Beyond Appearances
Written by Val Garay, Steve Goldstein, Anthony La Peau
Outside writers
Veracruz
Freedom
Written by Jeffrey Cohen, Buddy Miles, Gregg Rolie, Carlos Santana
Co-wrote
Smooth
Supernatural
Written by Itaal Shur, Rob Thomas
Outside writers
Maria Maria
Supernatural
Written by Carlos Santana, Karl Perazzo, Raul Rekow, Wyclef Jean, Jerry Duplessis
Co-wrote
Put Your Lights On
Supernatural
Written by Erik Schrody
Outside writers
The Game of Love
Shaman
Written by Gregg Alexander, Rick Nowels
Outside writers
Why Don't You & I
Shaman
Written by Chad Kroeger
Outside writers
I'm Feeling You
All That I Am
Written by Kara DioGuardi, John Shanks, Michelle Branch
Outside writers
Just Feel Better
All That I Am
Written by Jamie Houston, Buck Johnson, Damon Johnson
Outside writers
Photograph
Guitar Heaven
Written by Joe Elliott, Pete Willis, Steve Clark, Rick Savage, Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Outside writers
La Flaca
Corazón
Written by Pau Donés
Outside writers
None of the signature songs above fall in this category.
Discography 30 albums
Covers 25 of 26 Santana band studio albums. Missing: Moonflower (1977). Also includes three Carlos Santana solo albums, The Swing of Delight (1980), Havana Moon (1983), and Blues for Salvador (1987), and the 1994 family collaborative album Brothers (Carlos, Jorge, and Salvador Santana).
Carlos Santana's authorship story is unlike most rock guitarists: he is primarily a composer and rarely a lyricist. Gregg Rolie wrote most of the words on the classic-era albums; vocalists Rob Thomas, Everlast, and Lauryn Hill wrote their own contributions on Supernatural; and Chester Thompson co-composed much of the band's instrumental fabric from the 1980s onward. The credit table reveals a clean split, Santana's composer column is consistently filled, his lyricist column is almost entirely empty. He has always expressed himself through the guitar, not the pen.
Quick Facts
SupernaturalTheir 1999 comeback album won eight Grammy Awards, tying an all-time record
Rock HallInducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998
Latin rockFused rock and blues with Afro-Cuban and Latin rhythms, a sound Carlos Santana helped define
SmoothTheir 1999 hit with Rob Thomas spent 12 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100
CoversReworked others' songs into signatures, from 'Black Magic Woman' to 'Oye Como Va'
Creative Fingerprint
A guitar band split between originals and covers: Santana wrote about 59% of this catalogue, including instrumentals like 'Samba Pa Ti,' but its most famous songs are reworked covers, from Fleetwood Mac's 'Black Magic Woman' to the outside-written comeback hit 'Smooth.'
The Story
Santana is an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1966, led throughout their career by guitarist Carlos Santana. The group rose to international fame with a legendary performance at Woodstock in 1969 and a string of albums blending rock, blues, jazz, and Afro-Cuban rhythms that defined the Latin rock genre. With vocalist and keyboardist Gregg Rolie anchoring the early lineup, Santana recorded three celebrated albums, Santana, Abraxas, and Santana III, before evolving toward a more jazz-influenced sound on Caravanserai in 1972. After a commercially quiet 1980s, Carlos Santana staged one of the most dramatic comebacks in pop history with the 1999 album Supernatural, which sold over 30 million copies and won nine Grammy Awards. The band has continued recording and touring into the 2020s, with Carlos Santana remaining the sole constant member across every lineup.
Awards & Recognition
Sold over 100 million records worldwide, one of the best-selling groups of all time
Supernatural (1999) won eight Grammy Awards, tying an all-time record
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998
'Smooth,' their 1999 hit with Rob Thomas, spent 12 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100
Pioneers of the Latin rock genre, blending rock with Afro-Cuban and Latin rhythms
Frequently Asked Questions Santana
Did Santana write their own songs?
Partly. Santana wrote about 59% of this catalogue, including instrumentals like 'Samba Pa Ti' and band songs like 'Soul Sacrifice.' But many of their most famous recordings are covers or outside compositions: 'Black Magic Woman' is a Fleetwood Mac song, 'Oye Como Va' is Tito Puente's, and their comeback hit 'Smooth' was written by Rob Thomas and Itaal Shur.
Who wrote 'Black Magic Woman'?
'Black Magic Woman' was written by Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac. Santana's 1970 version, from Abraxas, became far more famous and is one of the band's signature songs, but it is a cover.
Who wrote 'Smooth'?
'Smooth' (1999) was written by Rob Thomas and Itaal Shur, not by Santana. Rob Thomas sang it, Carlos Santana played guitar, and it became a record-setting number-one hit from the album Supernatural.
Who wrote 'Oye Como Va'?
'Oye Como Va' was written by the Latin jazz legend Tito Puente. Santana's 1970 recording turned it into a rock hit and helped bring Latin music to a wider rock audience.
Did Carlos Santana write 'Samba Pa Ti'?
Yes. 'Samba Pa Ti' (1970) was written by Carlos Santana himself. It is one of his most beloved instrumental compositions, showcasing his melodic guitar style.
How many albums has Santana released?
This catalogue covers 30 of their studio albums, from their 1969 self-titled debut through the Supernatural comeback to later releases.
How many Grammys did Santana win?
Their 1999 album Supernatural alone won eight Grammy Awards, tying an all-time record for a single night.
Is Santana in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Yes. Santana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, just before the Supernatural comeback.
Who is Santana?
Santana is the band led by guitarist Carlos Santana, formed in San Francisco in the late 1960s. The lineup has changed many times, but Carlos and his distinctive guitar have remained the constant.
What genre is Santana?
They are a Latin rock band, blending rock and blues with Afro-Cuban and Latin rhythms, jazz fusion, and, on later albums, pop, a fusion Carlos Santana helped pioneer.
