• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Biggest Hits of the Seventies

anytune

anytune

Super Member
Happened to catch a replay of Casey Kasem's American Top 40 on Sirius XM. It was an end of the decade special counting down Billboard's Top 50 songs of the 1970s. I won't list them all, but here are the top 10. full list here Chart year and number of weeks at No. 1 are in ( ).

Billboard Top 10 Hits of the ‘70s
1. You Light Up My Life – Debby Boone (1977, 10 weeks)
2. Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel (1970, 6 weeks)
3. Joy to the World – Three Dog Night (1971, 6 weeks)
4. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – Roberta Flack (1972, 6 weeks)
5. Alone Again (Naturally) – Gilbert O’Sullivan (1972, 6 weeks)
6. Tonight’s the Night – Rod Stewart (1976, 8 weeks)
7. American Pie – Don McLean (1972, 4 weeks)
8. How Deep Is Your Love – Bee Gees (1978, 3 weeks)
9. Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees (1978, 4 weeks)
10. My Sharona – The Knack (1979, 6 weeks)
 
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
Growing up in the 1970s, my taste in music was Chicago, Fleetwood Mac, Kansas, Yes, Boston, Billy Joel, Eagles, Doobie Brothers, CSNY, Little River Band, Foreigner and many other bands. There were a few solo artists too. Of the ten songs listed in the first post most were not my taste in music. If I had to pick one band as my favorite it would be Chicago during the Terry Kath period. I rarely listened to them after he died because they became too commercialized. There was so much great, ground breaking music made in the 1970s that laid the foundation for much of what followed in the subsequent decades.
 
When it comes to measure "success" and the degree of this term, it gets pretty hazy when the pro's have a go at listing the "biggest hits"

Even "Stayin' Alive" has been shared that it held the #1 position for 7 weeks, only to be passed by "Night Fever" for 8 weeks in this same position.

Then there's how the "biggest hits are determined, as some of the filters express "success" in different ways as in:

how chart performance is measured
amount of radio play; how determined and by whom
sales in numbers sold
modern take on streaming results

Then there's just "personal choice" wherein tunes like "Hotel California/Bohemian Rapsody/Staircase To Heaven" filters as in creation, as yet another way to determine "biggest".

FWIW

Q
 
Thank you for that fun list!

Of that top 50, not saying they aren’t all wonderful and terrific, but in the past year, I have played on my hi-fi exactly one of those songs.

Side note: “I Think I Love You” is a powerful ear worm.
 
Massachusetts and To Love Somebody, Bee Gees, seem to have the best staying power and were extremely popular at the time. Those two songs might have predated the seventies, at this point they seem to run together. I think, have heard, that Massachusetts is the most played song from Internet connected juke boxes.
 
djwhy60 said:
WHAT!!! I thought for sure this would be, at least, in the top 50.....My Mom said this was my theme song in HS!!
Thanks for the list! Very cool to look back....
Click to expand...

I saw Elvin back in '77 in small club in Palo Alto, California.
Remember my friend passed out. Her brother carried her out.
We were kinda crazy intense.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom