Today’s tracks took us from number 64 to 44. More on that later but first our top selling album of the 1970’s was Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. This was the 4th best selling album of the decade. The Dark Side of the Moon was an immediate success, topping the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart for one week. It subsequently remained in the charts for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988. With an estimated 50 million copies sold, it is Pink Floyd’s most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide.
Featured tracks from the Top 100 of the 1970’s were –
|
44 |
“A Little Bit More” | Dr. Hook |
1976 |
780,000 |
2 |
|
45 |
“My Ding-a-Ling” originally recorded by Dave Bartholomew in 1952 for King Records. Berry’s version was recorded live during the Lanchester Arts Festival at the Locarno ballroom in Coventry on 3 February 1972, where Berry topped the bill. The lyrics with their sly tone and innuendo (and the enthusiasm of Berry and the audience) caused many radio stations to refuse to play it. Mary Whitehouse tried unsuccessfully to get the song banned. “One teacher”, Whitehouse wrote to the BBCs Director General, “told us of how she found a class of small boys with their trousers undone, singing the song and giving it the indecent interpretation which … We trust you will agree with us that it is no part of the function of the BBC to be the vehicle of songs which stimulate this kind of behaviour” | Chuck Berry |
1972 |
780,000 |
1 |
|
46 |
“Silver Lady” was the second and final number one single in the UK for David Soul spending three weeks at the top in October 1977. | David Soul |
1977 |
775,000 |
1 |
|
47 |
“Knowing Me, Knowing You” recorded in 1976 at the Metronome studio in Stockholm and released in February 1977, becoming one of the group’s most successful singles. | ABBA |
1977 |
775,000 |
1 |
|
48 |
“My Coo-Ca-Choo” the first successful release for Alvin Stardust, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart in December 1973 | Alvin Stardust |
1973 |
773,000 |
2 |
|
49 |
“Grandad” reached #1 on the UK singles chart for three weeks, and went on to spend a total of 27 weeks on the chart. A little known fact is that Yes member Rick Wakeman played piano on the session for this single. | Clive Dunn |
1970 |
772,000 |
1 |
|
50 |
“Lonely This Christmas” topped the UK singles chart in 1974 and reached Christmas number one. | Mud |
1974 |
772,000 |
1 |
|
51 |
“Way Down” it was his current single when he died. It reached #1 in the British Pop charts, just days after his death, and almost seven years after his previous UK #1 single, “The Wonder of You” | Elvis Presley |
1977 |
770,000 |
1 |
|
52 |
“Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)” first performed on television in 1970, and released as a successful recording, topping the UK Singles Chart in 1971, reaching theChristmas number one spot. | Benny Hill |
1971 |
770,000 |
1 |
|
53 |
“I Feel Love” Giorgio Moroder’s innovative production of this disco-style song, recorded with an entirely synthesized backing track, spawned imitators in the disco genre, and was influential in the development of techno. | Donna Summer |
1977 |
765,000 |
1 |
|
54 |
“Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” a protest song against rigid schooling in general and boarding schools in the UK in particular. The band’s only number-one hit single in the United Kingdom | Pink Floyd |
1979 |
765,000 |
1 |
|
55 |
“Night Fever” written and performed by the Bee Gees. It first appeared on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever. | Bee Gees |
1978 |
760,000 |
1 |
|
56 |
“Sunday Girl” Never released as a single in the United States, the track was a #1 hit in the United Kingdom for three weeks in May 1979 as well as a #1 hit in Australia. | Blondie |
1979 |
760,000 |
1 |
|
57 |
“Bye, Bye, Baby” originally by The Four Seasons whose version of the song made it to #12 on the U.S. singles charts in 1965. A cover of the song by the Bay City Rollers sold a million copies and hit #1 on the UK Singles Chart for six weeks from March 1975. It ended the year as the UK’s top selling single. | Bay City Rollers |
1975 |
755,000 |
1 |
|
58 |
“Billy Don’t Be a Hero” hit number one on the UK singles chart on 16 March 1974 | Paper Lace |
1974 |
755,000 |
1 |
|
59 |
“Dance Away” number 2 in the UK and spending a total of 14 weeks on the charts. Although it didn’t make number 1, it became the ninth biggest selling single in the UK in 1979 | Roxy Music |
1979 |
750,000 |
2 |
|
60 |
“Rat Trap” reached #1 in the UK singles chart for two weeks in November 1978, the first single by a punk or New Wave act to do so. It is a rock ballad telling the tale of a boy called Billy who feels the depressing town he lives in is a “Rat Trap”. | The Boomtown Rats |
1978 |
750,000 |
1 |
|
61 |
“Gonna Make You a Star” was Essex’s first number one single in the UK, spending three weeks at the top in November 1974. | David Essex |
1974 |
750,000 |
1 |
|
62 |
“In the Summertime” year-end top seller of 1970 in the UK singles chart. The song took Dorset only ten minutes to compose on a second-hand Fender Stratocaster. It was unusual because the initial release, on Dawn Records, was a maxi-single, playing at 33 rpm, including an additional song, “Mighty Man” on the A-side, and a much longer track, the Woody Guthrie song “Dust Pneumonia Blues”, on the B-side. As it was sold in a picture sleeve, and only sold at a few pence more than the normal 45 rpm two-track single, it was considered value for money. | Mungo Jerry |
1970 |
750,000 |
1 |
|
63 |
“Fernando” became ABBA’s best-selling single of all time, with 6,000,000 copies sold in 1976 alone. | ABBA |
1976 |
745,000 |
1 |
|
64 |
“I’m the Leader of the Gang (I Am)” (Not Played) | Gary Glitter |
1973 |
745,000 |
1 |
