The 15 songs that spent more than five weeks at number one in the 1970s
The 1970s are widely considered the best decade for music, and for good reason.
Yes, the 1960s were also exceptional because of how many advancements were made regarding how artists presented themselves, how musicians played, and how music was marketed; however, a lot of these practices were still in their early stages. It wasn’t until the decade after that bands could well and truly enjoy the advancements which had been made in music and put them into practice.
Take psychedelic, for instance, such that a lot of bands who you would hail as extraordinary psychedelic artists look back on some of their early work and can’t stand it. This is because, towards the end of the 1960s, while psychedelic rock was in its infancy, it had yet to find full form. Roger Waters admitted that he hates Pink Floyd’s album Piper at the Gates of Dawn because it’s a reflection of this period in music when they were being experimental for the sake of it.
“I don’t want to go back to those times at all,” he said, “There wasn’t anything ‘grand’ about it. We were laughable. We were useless. We couldn’t play at all, so we had to do something stupid and ‘experimental’.”
This doesn’t just apply to psychedelic music either; it’s the same for a range of different genres, recording techniques, and general creative attitudes. When the ‘70s came along, people were more open to experimenting with different sounds, leading to some great songs, many of which were propelled to the top of the charts and some of which we still consider classics to this day.
However, out of all of these great pieces of music, there were only 15 songs that managed to stay at the top of the charts for more than five weeks throughout the decade. If anything, the low number of songs that climbed so high for so long is reflective of the amount of quality that was out there.
The best number ones from the 1970s
The majority of number ones that stayed at the top of the charts for more than five weeks are all great, although, granted, there is one particularly questionable entry, but we’ll let you decide for yourself what that is. However, other than that, the rest of these songs were all truly exceptional, with some particular highlights, one of which was Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.
This drawn-out, complicated number stayed at the top of the charts for nine weeks, as people tried to make sense of the lyrics and also throw themselves into the sonic minefield that was Queen’s biggest hit. “Freddie was a very complex person,” said guitarist Brian May when discussing the track, “Flippant and funny on the surface, but he concealed insecurities and problems in squaring up his life with his childhood. He never explained the lyrics, but I think he put a lot of himself into that song.”
Some other great number ones from the ‘70s included the likes of George Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’, ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’ and Elvis Presley’s ‘The Wonder of You’. However, in the presence of such greatness, which tracks stayed number one for more than five weeks?
15 number-one songs for more than five weeks in the 1970s
- Mungo Jerry – ‘In the Summertime’
- Elvis Presley – ‘The Wonder of You’
- Freda Payne – ‘Band of Gold’
- Dave Edmunds – ‘I Heard You Knocking’
- T Rex – ‘Hot Love’
- Bay City Rollers – ‘Bye Bye Baby’
- Rolf Harris – ‘Two Little Boys’
- Queen – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
- Brotherhood of Man – ‘Save Your Kisses for Me’
- Elton John and Kiki Dee – ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’
- ABBA – ‘Dancing Queen’
- Wings – ‘Mull of Kintyre’ / ‘Girls School’
- John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John – ‘You’re the One That I Want’
- John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John – ‘Summer Nights’
- Art Garfunkel – ‘Bright Eyes’
