What was the first disco song to hit number one?
Bona fide fun is always easy to criticise. There’s something about a smile on a music fan’s face that must mean the art provoking it is relatively simple. Especially in the 1970s, when the gritty worlds of punk rock represented the discontent of its societies, the mere sight of disco lovers moving to the sound of upstroke guitar notes was as good as a middle finger to the face.
Designed to be a beacon of hope in an otherwise damp world, disco was designed with the sole focus of fun in mind—something for the dancefloors of New York’s vibrant new clubs. Rather than allow it to flourish in its own environment, the proud communities of rock and roll took immediate offence to such an enthusiastic outlook.
In their eyes, fun didn’t mean proper music, and so they embarked on a rampage to drown disco out. What followed was one of music’s wildest nights: the Disco Demolition Night. Fuelled by the resentment of rock-loving radio DJ Steve Dahl, 60,000 rock heads descended upon a Chicago White Sox baseball game in Comiskey Park to burn any disco record they could get their hands on.
It became a riotous affair, with an estimated 10,000 disco records burned to ashes in what they hoped would be the final nail in the coffin for the burgeoning genre. But what rock fans should have realised better than anyone is that in the very act of resistance grows strength. And the genre bounced back, continuing to flourish and building a scene that would ultimately go on to influence a wave of music in the following decade.
That dark night in music history happened at the end of the 1970s, in ‘79, and so the turn of the decade brought with it a fitting response to the idea of the genre’s death. But while it became commercialised in the ‘80s, lacing its rhythm profiles into popular music, it had already gained chart popularity in earlier years.
Five years before the demolition night, disco had achieved its first number one hit, with ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’ by Gloria Gaynor becoming the first track of the genre to top the American charts. It was a cover of The Jackson 5’s original song of the same name, extended by an extra three minutes in runtime to indulge in disco breakdowns that would become a signature of the genre.
Who is the most successful disco artist?
While Nile Rodgers, Chic and Sister Sledge all took the genre to booming commercial heights, the most successful artist is one who was rightly dubbed ‘The Queen of Disco‘. Donna Summer achieved the most number one hits in the US. Dance Club Songs chart, with 16, but more importantly, she redefined the legacy of the genre.
She was a perfect crossover between artistic authenticity and performative positivity, two skills that enabled disco to be viewed with more nuance than just simple dance music. Nile Rodgers once explained the essence of her mercurial greatness, saying, “Donna was what I would call a soul sister. She was sophisticated, she had great taste, she was beautiful, she was cool, and she could sing her ass off. She had this thing… a swagger, that’s what it was.”
