Billboard's Year-End singles of the 70s

Some terrible records there. The '80s one was better...which doesn't mean the '80s had better music; it just means that the really good music was more likely to be among the most popular songs in a year.

I went with Simon and Garfunkel here, as the best of a lackluster lot.

There were a lot of close contests for biggest song those years. Bridge Over Troubled Water edged out Close To You, Joy To The World squeaked by Maggie May, and in '72 it was a three way race between TFTEISYF and Alone Again (Naturally) and American Pie.

Silly Love Songs was the biggest of all McCartney's hits, which surprises me , because it sounds exactly like With A Little Luck and Listen To What The Man Said.

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is my fave of those listed.

How did “You Light Up My Life” only place at #3 for 1978 on the Billboard year end chart, but yet ranks as the #1 hit of the 1970s? Did it overlap 2 different years? I always think of it being more of a 1977 song.

Two random thoughts: I always thought that Killing Me Softly was a much bigger (and better) song than The First Time Ever, which bored me to tears. Also, strange that the top two artists of the Seventies (Elton John and Bee Gees) didn't have a year-end chart topper.

[quote] How did “You Light Up My Life” only place at #3 for 1978 on the Billboard year end chart, but yet ranks as the #1 hit of the 1970s?

The methodology is linked below. It depends when the song was released (early/late in year), and how many weeks it spent on the chart. It is confusing, and books like "Hit Men" documented the many games played to manipulate the charts.

[quote] Prior to incorporating chart data from Nielsen SoundScan (from 1991), year-end charts were calculated by an inverse-point system based solely on a title's performance (for example a single appearing on the Billboard Hot 100 would be given one point for a week spent at position 100, two points for a week spent at position ninety-nine, and so forth, up to 100 points for each week spent at number one). Other factors including the total weeks a song spent on the chart and at its peak position were calculated into its year-end total.

While performed beautifully, some of those songs are so schmaltzy. I went with Love Will Keep Us Together for the camp factor.

"Bridge over Troubled Water" is a song by the American folk duo Simon & Garfunkel, released in January 1970 as the second single from their fifth studio album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970).

The song won five awards at the 13th Annual Grammy Awards in 1971, including Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. It is Simon & Garfunkel's most successful single, and it is often considered their signature song; it topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks.

I was born in 1971, so I was just getting into music around 1978 or so, and full on in the 80s with New Wave and “Alternative.” I have really been listening to a lot of 70s songs lately. For many years I thought of a lot of the 70s music was cheesy (which a lot of it is) but I’ve been enjoying the hell out of songs like “Lotta Love” by Nicolette Larson, “Ebony Eyes” by Bob Welch, and “Higher and Higher” by Rita Coolidge.

I always like looking at Spotify streams of older songs to see what is still popular. Of these, My Sharona has the most with 272 million streams, then followed by Bridge over Troubled Water with 207 million streams, then Joy to the World with 113 million streams. Pretty big numbers. The lowest is Andy Gibb's Shadow Dancing with only 12 million streams.

"Joy to the World" is a song written by Hoyt Axton and made famous by the band Three Dog Night. The song is also popularly known by its opening lyric, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog" which is a tribute to the then very young Jeremiah Passmore.

The song is featured prominently in The Big Chill, Friends, Forrest Gump, Sex in the City, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

It is also played at the end of every Denver Broncos home victory.

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a 1957 folk song written by British political singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger, who later became his wife. During the 1960s, it was recorded by various folk singers and became a major international hit for Roberta Flack in 1972, winning Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Billboard ranked it as the number one Hot 100 single of the year for 1972.

Flack's slow and sensual version was used by Clint Eastwood in his 1971 directorial film debut: Play Misty for Me to score a love scene featuring Eastwood and actress Donna Mills. It exploded in popularity; the track became a smash hit single in the United States, reaching No. 1 for six weeks on both the Billboard Hot 100 and easy listening charts in the spring of 1972.

"Silly Love Songs" IS silly, but sweet and catchy too and by far my favorite from that lot.

That's a great list of songs. The Way We Were is the best record (combination of song writing, performance, arrangement, production, etc. ) ever.

"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" is a song recorded by Tony Orlando and backing vocal group Dawn ('Gimme a Break's Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson).

In April 1973, the song reached No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 (chart date 21 April 1973) in the US, and stayed at No. 1 for four weeks.

The symbol of a yellow ribbon became widely known in civilian life in the 1970s as a reminder that an absent loved one, either in the military or in jail, would be welcomed home on their return.

"The Way We Were" received significant success after its original release in North America.

Hamlisch and the Bergmans won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 46th Academy Awards. The tune also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1974 and the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1975.

"Silly Love Songs" was released in the US on 1 April 1976[9] and spent five non-consecutive weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard listed "Silly Love Songs" as Paul McCartney's all-time biggest Hot 100 single.

In 2008, "Silly Love Songs" was listed at No. 31 on Billboard's Greatest Songs of All Time, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

"Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" became the best-selling single of 1977 in the United States. As of 2018, it is the nineteenth most popular song in the history of the chart.

Rod Stewart didn't really have a lot of hits, it just seems that way because he had three of the biggest hits ever: Maggie May, Tonight's The Night and Do Ya Think I'm Sexy. The only other top ten song he had was You're In My Heart.

"Love Will Keep Us Together" was the title cut and lead single of Captain & Tennille's debut album, although "Captain" Daryl Dragon originally hoped that honor would go to the duo's rendition of "I Write the Songs". The single rose to number 1 on both the Billboard Easy Listening chart and the Billboard pop chart, staying atop the latter for four weeks starting June 21, 1975. It also hit the top of the 1975 year-end chart. In the US it was the best-selling single of 1975. "Love Will Keep Us Together" was certified gold by the RIAA and also won the Grammy Award (1975) for Record of the Year on February 28, 1976.

In 1978 the song was covered by Timothy Dalton and Mae West in West's final movie Sextette In 1980 Joy Division released "Love Will Tear Us Apart", the title of which "was intended as an ironic nod to the classic '70s pop song

[quote]Rod Stewart didn't really have a lot of hits, it just seems that way because he had three of the biggest hits ever: Maggie May, Tonight's The Night and Do Ya Think I'm Sexy. The only other top ten song he had was You're In My Heart.

That threw me at first, before I realized you meant "in the '70s." He had a lot of Billboard US top tens in the '80s and '90s.

I hated most of those songs.

According to Billboard's Book Of Number One Hits, Gibb became the first solo artist in the history of the U.S. pop charts to have his first three singles hit the number-one spot. It remained in the top spot for seven straight weeks from 17 June to 29 July 1978, keeping "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty from reaching the top spot.

On 5 August it was replaced by The Rolling Stones with their hit "Miss You."

"My Sharona" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, where it remained for six weeks, and was number one on Billboard's 1979 Top Pop Singles year-end chart.

Results: "Bridge Over Troubled Water" wins 70s song of the decade in a landslide.