DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up music history snapshots, best-of lists, and music-related essays.
These are the top 100 songs from the 1970s according to Dave’s Music Database. Rankings are figured by combining sales figures, chart data, radio airplay, video airplay, streaming figures, awards, and appearances on best-of lists.
21. Let’s Stay Together…Al Green (1971)
22. Heart of Glass…Blondie (1979)
23. Killing Me Softly with His Song…Roberta Flack (1973)
24. The Way We Were…Barbra Streisand (1973)
25. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face…Roberta Flack (1972)
26. Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree…Tony Orlando & Dawn (1973)
27. Night Fever…Bee Gees (1978)
28. How Deep Is Your Love…Bee Gees (1977)
29. Y.M.C.A….Village People (1978)
30. London Calling…The Clash (1979)
31. You’re the One That I Want…Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta (1978)
32. Sweet Home Alabama…Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974)
33. No Woman, No Cry…Bob Marley & the Wailers (1975)
34. My Sharona…The Knack (1979)
35. Without You…Harry Nilsson (1971)
36. Let’s Get It On…Marvin Gaye (1973)
37. Anarchy in the U.K….Sex Pistols (1976)
38. Joy to the World…Three Dog Night (1971)
39. Free Bird…Lynyrd Skynrd (1973)
40. Heroes…David Bowie (1977)
41. Seasons in the Sun…Terry Jacks (1974)
42. Sultans of Swing…Dire Straits (1979)
43. You’re So Vain…Carly Simon (1972)
44. Fire and Rain…James Taylor (1970)
45. Play That Funky Music…Wild Cherry (1976)
46. I’ll Be There…The Jackson 5 (1970)
47. Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)…Rod Stewart (1976)
48. Three Times a Lady…Commodores (1978)
49. Brown Sugar…The Rolling Stones (1971)
50. Theme from Shaft…Isaac Hayes (1971)
51. Go Your Own Way…Fleetwood Mac (1977)
52. Won’t Get Fooled Again…The Who (1971)
53. Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough…Michael Jackson (1979)
54. Walk on the Wild Side…Lou Reed (1972)
55. Love Will Keep Us Together…Captain & Tennille (1975)
56. It’s Too Late…Carole King (1971)
57. Paranoid…Black Sabbath (1970)
58. Alone Again (Naturally)…Gilbert O’Sullivan (1972)
59. God Save the Queen…Sex Pistols (1977)
60. Just the Way You Are…Billy Joel (1977)
61. They Long to Be Close to You…Carpenters (1970)
62. Rapper’s Delight…The Sugarhill Gang (1979)
63. We Are Family…Sister Sledge (1979)
64. You Are the Sunshine of My Life…Stevie Wonder (1973)
65. Dreams…Fleetwood Mac (1977)
66. Piano Man…Billy Joel (1974)
67. In the Summertime…Mungo Jerry (1970)
68. Baker Street…Gerry Rafferty (1978)
69. Good Times…Chic (1979)
70. Shadow Dancing…Andy Gibb (1978)
71. I Honestly Love You…Olivia Newton-John (1974)
72. Angie…The Rolling Stones (1973)
73. Crazy Little Thing Called Love…Queen (1979)
74. Comfortably Numb…Pink Floyd (1979)
75. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart…Elton John & Kiki Dee (1976)
76. Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?...Rod Stewart (1978)
77. Old Time Rock and Roll…Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band (1978)
78. Lola…The Kinks (1970)
79. Midnight Train to Georgia…Gladys Knight & the Pips (1973)
80. We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions…Queen (1977)
81. Dream On…Aerosmith (1973)
82. Smoke on the Water…Deep Purple (1973)
83. More Than a Feeling…Boston (1976)
84. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road…Elton John (1973)
85. Bennie and the Jets…Elton John (1974)
86. Crocodile Rock…Elton John (1972)
87. Changes…David Bowie (1971)
88. All Right Now…Free (1970)
89. Just My Imagination Running Away with Me…The Temptations (1971)
90. Hot Stuff…Donna Summer (1979)
91. Kung Fu Fighting…Carl Douglas (1974)
92. The Hustle…Van McCoy (1975)
93. I’m Not in Love…10cc (1975)
94. Best of My Love…The Emotions (1977)
95. Rhinestone Cowboy…Glen Campbell (1975)
96. Brass in Pocket (I’m Special)…Pretenders (1979)
97. Heart of Gold…Neil Young (1972)
98. ABC…The Jackson 5 (1970)
99. If You Leave Me Now…Chicago (1976)
100. You’ve Got a Friend…James Taylor (1971)
September 18, 1982. I can peg my fascination with music charts to that date. After listening to a local radio station’s countdown of the hits of the summer, I decided to make my own list of favorites (see original list here). I ended up revising it every few days, eventually developing my own charts which I maintained into the ‘90s.
I’ve also projected before and after those lists to create speculative lists of #1 songs for eras not covered by those original charts. You can check out those links here, but this page is focused on the #1 songs that might have been for me in the 1970s.
1970:
Jan. 10: Arlo Guthrie “Alice’s Restaurant” (3 wks)
Release date: 14 December 1979
Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.)
London Calling (12/7/79, #11 UK) / Brand New Cadillac / Jimmy Jazz / Hateful / Rudie Can’t Fail / Spanish Bombs / The Right Profile / Lost in the Supermarket / Clampdown / The Guns of Brixton / Wrong ‘Em Boyo / Death or Glory / Koka Kola / The Card Cheat / Lover’s Rock / Four Horsemen / I’m Not Down / Revolution Rock / Train in Vain (3/22/80, #23 US)
Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, -- UK, 2.0 world (includes US and UK)
Peak: 27 US, 9 UK
Rating:
Review:
“There were more than a few outraged faithful who thought their heroes had sold out because the sound was too smooth to be punk,” TL but this is an “invigorating, rocking harder and with more purpose than most albums, let alone double albums.” AMG “London Calling proved that a band could be anti-establishment and pro-melody.” TL The album “is a remarkable leap forward, incorporating the punk aesthetic into rock & roll mythology and roots music.” AMG
This may be no better expressed than on the album’s cover, which “features the most famous photo in rock, Paul Simonon the moment before his guitar becomes thousands of expensive toothpicks, bracketed by the same font and colors used on Elvis Presley’s debut.” TL
The record’s “eclecticism and anthemic punk function as a rallying call.” AMG The Clash “explore their familiar themes of working-class rebellion and antiestablishment rants” TL “Many of the songs – particularly London Calling, Spanish Bombs, and The Guns of Brixton – are explicitly political, [but] by acknowledging no boundaries the music itself is political and revolutionary.” AMG
London Calling
The Clash, however, “also had enough maturity to realize that, while politics was inseparable from life, it was not life’s entirety.” TL Their songs were tied “in to old rock & roll traditions and myths, whether it’s rockabilly greasers or ‘Stagger Lee,’ as well as mavericks like doomed actor Montgomery Clift.” TL “Before, the Clash had experimented with reggae, but that was no preparation for the dizzying array of styles on London Calling. There’s punk and reggae, but there’s also rockabilly, ska, New Orleans R&B, pop, lounge jazz, and hard rock.” AMG “The result is a stunning statement of purpose and one of the greatest rock & roll albums ever recorded.” AMG
Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.25 UK, 1.25 world (includes US + UK)
Airplay/Streaming (in millions):
-- radio, 20.0 video, -- streaming
Awards:
About the Song:
In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, arguably the four pillars of what has become known as “arena rock” or “corporate rock” found themselves in similar positions. Foreigner, Journey, REO Speedwagon, and Styx all emerged in the 1970s as staples on album rock radio. The four also shared another commonality – their greatest commercial successes came because of power ballads. These slower love songs evoked eye-rolling amongst some die-hard fans who considered such fare schmaltzy and selling out, but gave the bands even greater followings. Styx singer and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung said, “According to some people, you’re either a rock and roll band, or you’re not. And anybody who plays ballads was looked down upon by the radio establishment.” BR1
REO Speedwagon topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “Keep on Loving You” in 1981, Foreigner’s “Waiting for a Girl Like You” spent a whopping 10 weeks in the runner-up slot in 1981 and ’82, and Journey nabbed six weeks at #2 in 1982. Before any of those three, however, Styx paved the way with their 1979 #1 hit “Babe.”
DeYoung wrote the song for his wife Suzanne as a birthday present. The couple met in 1964 and married in 1970. As he said, “Being on the road…puts a strain on a relationship…I wanted to tell her how much I missed her when I was gone.” BR1 In the 2014 concert video Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx Live in Los Angeles, he joked that he hoped it would get him out of buying her jewelry, but it didn’t work. It wasn’t intended as a Styx song; he recorded “Babe” as a demo with Styx drummer John Panozzo and bassist Chuck Panozzo, singing all the harmonies himself. When the band decided to put it on their Cornerstone album, they overdubbed a Tommy Shaw guitar solo in the middle section. WK
Suzanne herself said she thought the song was as good as, if not better, than “Lady,” the band’s first top-ten hit. BR1 When the record company heard the song, they echoed her feelings and pushed for releasing it as a single. SF Their instinct proved correct; not only was it the band’s only #1 in the U.S., but their only top 40 hit in the UK, where it reached #6. It was also a chart-topper in Canada and South Africa.
Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK)
Airplay/Streaming (in millions):
2.0 radio, 22.0 video, -- streaming
Awards:
About the Song:
Formed in 1975, the rock group Little River Band found success right away, scoring a top-40 hit in the U.S. with “It’s a Long Way There” from their self-titled debut album. Over three subsequent albums, they racked up four more top-40 hits, including the #3 “Reminiscing” and #10 “Lady.” 1979’s First Under the Wire, their fifth album, became their most successful yet, reaching #10 and going platinum.
Like its predecessor, it was supported by two top-10 U.S. hits. The first single, “Lonesome Loser,” reached #6 and the follow-up, “Cool Change,” peaked at #10. Ironically, the song failed to chart in the band’s native Australia, but in May 2001, it was named by the Australasian Performing Right Association oas one of the top 30 Australian songs of all time. WK In 2018, Australian radio network Triple M named it one of the top 100 “most Australian” songs of all time. WK However, the band “could’ve come from anywhere.” SS Like “easy-listening peers Pablo Cruise and Ambrosia, they existed in a gauzy, purgatory free of musical, cultural, and geographic identity.” SS
“Cool Change” is a “piece of pleasant and competent soft-rock that goes down easy,” SS but things weren’t so easy-going with the band at the time. The band featured three songwriters who wrote and even recorded separately. They even toured in different buses. SS Glenn Shorrock wrote “Cool Change” amidst squabbles with Graeham Goble and essentially recorded it as a solo track, supported by session players Peter Jones on piano and Bill Harrower on saxophone. SS
The song used sailing as a means of embracing the need for time alone, referencing the tranquility of being on the “cool and bright clear water.” Shorrock later admitted the song was “a cry for help.” SF Amusingly, he wasn’t much of a seafarer when he wrote the song, but he took up sailing after the song’s success. SF
The development of hip-hop culture dates back to the early ‘70s in the Bronx when DJs and MCs showcased the art form in night clubs and at house parties. NPR However, the movement didn’t hit the mainstream until 1979 when a New Jersey label called Sugar Hill Records introduced the Sugar Hill Gang and the group took “Rapper’s Delight” into the top 40, a first for rap music. FR
The trio of Master Gee, Wonder Mike and Big Bank Hank were unknown MCs recruited by Sugar Hill’s Sylvia Robinson. RS500 Sylvia had seen chart success – most notably with the 1957 song “Love Is Strange” (#11) and her own “Pillow Talk” (#3) in 1973. However, in 1979, the label she’d co-founded was on the verge of bankruptcy. When she saw a DJ talking to the crowd one night at a Harlem club, she thought it would be a great idea to make a rap record. Legend has it that Sylvia’s son Joey auditioned Henry Jackson (Big Bank Hank) outside a pizza joint and his friends asked if they could participate as well. TB It has also been said that they were recruited on a Friday and recorded “Rapper’s Delight” in just one take on the following Monday. NPR
The 12-inch version of “Rapper’s Delight” released in September 1979 ran 15 minutes long. A shorter version went to pop radio. NPR The song borrowed the rhythm track from Chic’s #1 hit “Good Times,” HT itself a significant song in another important musical revolution of the ‘70s – disco. The practice of “borrowing” from another song became known as sampling and would become the basic approach for all raps songs to follow.
The song did not, however, deal with the heavier themes which would come to dominate rap music. While it sported the lyrical boastfulness which became typical for rap, MA “Delight” generated controversy because it was playful instead of reflective of the urban anger of other rap from the time. In addition, none of the three members had ever been a DJ or MC and two of them were from New Jersey. NPR
Quotable: “a bracing, weirdly affecting work that may not be as universal or immediate as Rumours, but is every bit as classic. As a piece of pop art, it's peerless.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
About the Album:
“More than any other Fleetwood Mac album, Tusk is born of a particular time and place – it could only have been created in the aftermath of Rumours, which shattered sales records, which in turn gave the group a blank check for its next album. But if they were falling apart during the making of Rumours, they were officially broken and shattered during the making of Tusk, and that disconnect between bandmembers resulted in a sprawling, incoherent, and utterly brilliant 20-track double album.” AMGEditor’s note: is it possible to write a review of a double album without using the word “sprawling”?
By comparison to Rumours, which sold 40 million copies worldwide, spent 31 weeks atop the U.S. Billboard album chart, and sported four top-ten singles, Tusk was destined to be viewed as a flop. It peaked at #4, had two top-10 hits, and stalled at a “measly” 6.5 million in sales. “The truth of the matter is that Fleetwood Mac couldn’t top that success no matter how hard they tried, so it was better for them to indulge themselves and come up with something as unique as Tusk.
The band seemed to acknowledge that right out of the gate with the strange “marching band-driven paranoia of the title track” AMG The song signalled that this wasn’t going to be an album that actively sought pop success, although that song did reach the top 10.
That track also made it clear that this album would be a Lindsey Buckingham-dominated affair. Like Fleetwood Mac and Rumours, Tusk offers “smooth, reflective work from all three songwriters,” AMG the others being Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks. The latter most notably offers up “Dreams Part II” with Sara, another top-10 affair.
However, even when McVie and Nicks take their turns at songwriting and singing, Buckinham’s presence is still felt with “an ethereal, floating quality that turns them into welcome respites from the seriously twisted immersions into Buckingham’s id.” AMG He composed nearly half the album and “owns this record with his nervous energy and obsessive production, winding up with a fussily detailed yet wildly messy record unlike any other.” AMG
Tusk “is the ultimate cocaine album – it’s mellow for long stretches, and then bursts wide open in manic, frantic explosions, such as the mounting tension on The Ledge or the rampaging That's Enough for Me.” AMG “This is mainstream madness, crazier than Buckingham’s idol Brian Wilson and weirder than any number of cult classics.” AMG It “is a bracing, weirdly affecting work that may not be as universal or immediate as Rumours, but is every bit as classic. As a piece of pop art, it's peerless.” AMG
Notes: A 2004 deluxe edition added a second disc of alternate versions of songs from the album. In 2015, a 5-CD version was released with unreleased demos, live tracks, and alternate versions.
Those Shoes (Don Felder/Don Henley/Glenn Frey) [4:56] (8 CL)
Teenage Jail
The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks
The Sad Café (Don Henley/Glenn Frey/Joe Walsh/J.D. Souther) [5:32] (20 CL)
Total Running Time: 42:29
The Players:
Glenn Frey (vocals, guitar, keyboards)
Don Henley (vocals, drums)
Don Felder (guitar, vocals)
Timothy B. Schmit (bass, vocals)
Joe Walsh (guitar, keyboards, vocals)
Rating:
3.634 out of 5.00 (average of 20 ratings)
Awards:
About the Album:
“Three years in the making (which was considered an eternity in the ‘70s), the Eagles’ follow-up to the massively successful, critically acclaimed Hotel California was a major disappointment, even though it sold several million copies and threw off three hit singles.” AMG
“Those singles, in fact, provide some insight into the record. Heartache Tonight was an old-fashioned rock & roll song sung by Glenn Frey, while I Can’t Tell You Why was a delicate ballad by Timothy B. Schmit, the band’s newest member. Only The Long Run, a conventional pop/rock tune with a Stax Records R&B flavor, bore the stamp and vocal signature of Don Henley, who had largely taken the reins of the band on Hotel California.” AMG
“Henley also dominated The Long Run, getting co-writing credits on nine of the ten songs, singing five lead vocals, and sharing another two with Frey. This time around, however, Henley’s contributions were for the most part painfully slight. Only ‘The Long Run’ and the regret-filled closing song, The Sad Café, showed any of his usual craftsmanship. The album was dominated by second-rank songs like The Disco Strangler, King of Hollywood, and Teenage Jail that sounded like they couldn’t have taken three hours much less three years to come up with.” AMG
“Joe Walsh’s In the City was up to his usual standard, but it may not even have been an Eagles recording, having appeared months earlier on the soundtrack to The Warriors, where it was credited as a Walsh solo track.” AMG
“Amazingly, The Long Run reportedly was planned as a double album before being truncated to a single disc. If these were the keepers, what could the rejects have sounded like?” AMG
