100 Hits: 70s

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The decade’s ultimate hippie song, as Joni looks out across the landscapes of Hawaii and just sees just concrete, and her heart sinks. Yet for all the bleakness and doom of the song’s subject matter, the song sounds warm and optimistic. Which was probably misplaced really. Goodness knows how Joni must be feeling now. In which the folkster recounts a sexual encounter at one of the most famous Bohemian hostelries. Rather ungallantly, Cohen revealed that the lady in question had been Janis Joplin, which he lived to regret, saying later, “an indiscretion for which I’m very sorry, and if there is some way of apologising to the ghost, I want to apologise now, for having committed that indiscretion.”

For such an unusually catchy tune ‘The Model’ took years to make an impact, starting life as a snappy pop interlude on 1978’s ‘The Man Machine’ before becoming a single that was largely overlooked until the end of 1981 when it suddenly pelted up the UK charts right to No.1. Creating an actual song, Kraftwerk beat the pop stars at their own game.Inspired by a TV play by Ken Loach, Chris Difford’s lyrics were brilliant street poetry, a kitchen sink drama that zipped along with soap opera like speed via bawdy colloquialisms. The grand keyboard line was just as important as the words in making this a new wave classic.

Being a one-hit wonder isn’t all that bad when your hit is at classy as this. Jamaican teenagers Althea and Donna, thanks to the championship of John Peel, caused a chart surprise by scoring a number one with this sweet and catchy reggae jam. After which time, their work here was done. There’s a rice paper’s difference between each T. Rex riff, isn’t there? But who gives a hoot when Marc Bolan can clip them as funky as his work on ‘Get It On’, a chart-chomping monster of an effort that helped form the foundations of T. Rex’s annexation of Britain’s No.1 spot. Covered to lumpen effect by Robert Palmer/Duran Duran/Chic supergroup Power Station in 1985. Lennon’s third solo single saw his overarching message and peace and goodness shine through more profoundly than anywhere else. And this giddy, bouncing anthem is uplifting enough for you not to bother questioning what karma hitting you on the head actually feel like? Up there with the best songs Lennon ever wrote. Originally a B-side from Jamaican artist Prince Buster, ‘One Step Beyond’ was turned into a hit by Madness, who as pioneers of the British ska scene, remade it as a giddy runaround jam. It remains an effervescent festival favourite to this day.to 1979 - The Top 100 Hits, lists the 100 most popular hits in the UK singles music charts in the 1970's. Separate it from the weddings, hen parties, endless party showings of Mamma Mia and screeching karaoke versions and – well – here you have one of the greatest pop songs ever. It’s difficult to shake the baggage, sure, but soon you’re swept up by the trilling piano, easy beats and elegant meld of Agnetha and Frida’s voices on the single that gave ABBA their only US No.1.

He’d soon depart this singer/songwriter terrain for more ambient territory, but the opener from ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’ was an exuberant slice of post-Roxy Music solo power. A clanging, multi-layered, Velvet Underground-aping thumper which would influence his Berlin experiments with Bowie and a decade of synth/sonic exploration. Producing an accurate list of the best-selling singles of the 1970s in the United Kingdom has therefore never been a simple task because of the difficulty in obtaining accurate sales data from the period. An official chart of the best-selling singles of the 1970s was produced by the BMRB and broadcast on the UK's national pop music radio station BBC Radio 1 on 31 December 1979. However, this chart is no longer considered accurate due to the method of data collection by the BMRB and has since been superseded. Dolly Parton’s signature smash actually limped to a mere No.60 in the States but it endures as an oddly jaunty plea to the titular stunner to leave Dolly’s man alone, even though she could take him any time she likes. There’s no artifice here – which is Parton’s main strength. However brassy and unreal she can be, she’s never less than pure-hearted. Later covered by the White Stripes. Of course there was no “ Nigel”. Instead, bassist Colin Moulding wrote of his dad attempting to make his son get his “ hair cut and stay on at school”. This theme of parental domination fits perfectly with the urgency of the music – part new wave muscle, part very British ska-ish funk workout. Beneath XTC’s wonky pop exterior lay one of the most experimental groups of the decade. Between 1970 and 1979, fourteen different singles sold more than one million copies each in the UK. The biggest-selling single of the decade was " Mull of Kintyre" by the British band Wings. Released in November 1977, the song became Christmas number one and the first single ever to sell more than two million copies in the UK. [5] Best-selling singles [ edit ] Boney M. released two of the top four biggest songs of the 1970s. No.The Sex Pistols’ first single was bundled out within weeks of their signing by an EMI keen to strike while the phlegm was flying. ‘Anarchy In The UK’ was – and is – an incendiary blast of noise, spite and fury, a suitable overture and a sneering threat to a quaking establishment. It wasn’t long before they were drafted onto Thames Television’s Today show, just in time to swear at Bill Grundy.