"When a Man Loves a Woman" is a song recorded by Percy Sledge in 1966 at Norala Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama. It made number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B singles charts. . It was listed 54th in the List of Rolling Stone magazine's500 greatest songs of all time. The sidemen for this recording included Spooner Oldham, organ; Marlin Greene, guitar; Albert "Junior" Lowe, bass and Roger Hawkins, drums. The song is credited to Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright, who played bass and keyboards with Sledge. However, the song was in fact written by Percy Sledge himself, but he gave it to Lewis and Wright.

It was later covered by Michael Bolton in 1991, whose version also reached number one on the U.S. pop and adult contemporary singles charts (Bolton also received a Grammy Award for this song). Barbara Mandrell recorded a Country version of the song that same year. The song has also been recorded by Art Garfunkel and Luba.

Sledge's version was also a top ten hit in the UK peaking at number four on its initial release and peaking at number two in 1987 after it was featured in a Levi's Jeans commercial. The song makes use of a commonly used descending bass line chord progression as in Bach's "Air on a G String".

Other noteworthy versions of the song, besides Michael Bolton's, include renditions by Joe Cerisano 1983 under the name of Silver Condor on Columbia Records featuring Clarence Clemons on saxophone, Bette Midler (US #35, 1980, from her movie The Rose), Esther Phillips (US #73, 1966, in a reverse-gender version, "When A Woman Loves A Man"), and Canadian singer Luba. Also notable are versions recorded by country singer Kenny Rogers in 1997 on his multi-million selling album "Always and Forever" and a version by Spencer Davis Group featuring Steve Winwood on "Autumn 66". A version by Jerry Lee Lewis appears on his "The Hits" album. Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes released a live version as a single from his 1988 album Barnestormingthat was a #3 hit in Australia. It was also recorded by Mae West on her album Way Out West(1966). Jack Grayson took a cover to #18 on the Hot Country Songs charts in 1981, and in the same year the Headpins used the song in their debut on a live compilation album, Vancouver Seeds 2

The song was also used at the start of the critically-acclaimed 1992 film The Crying Gameand During Kevin and Winnie's First Kiss in the Pilot episode of the TV series The Wonder Years.

Michael Lynche performed this song season 9 during the Billboard Top 100 week on American Idol.