70s Slow Songs: 30 Ballads to Play Start to Finish

By Charlie · Published October 25, 2026

▶ Jump to the playable list

The best 70s slow songs are the ones that make a room go quiet.

This page collects 30 of them, three from every year of the decade.

You can play every one from the table below.

11 of the 30 reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Each row carries one line of chart fact, not a guess.

The 30 70s slow songs on this list, grouped by the genre tag in this site's song data.

Chart: Music of the 70s, from this site's Billboard year-end song data.

30 70s Slow Songs, Playable and Sortable

Press Play on any row and the list keeps going, song after song, until you press Stop.

Tap a column heading to sort by song, artist, year or year-end rank.

Song titles in gold link to a full story on this site.

Year is the year-end Hot 100 the song appears on, and Year-End Rank is its place on that list.

The #1 Hit column and every date in the last column come from the weekly Hot 100 number ones, not year-end rank.

The Short Answer: What Makes a 70s Slow Song

A 70s slow song is a Hot 100 hit from 1970 to 1979 that sits at ballad pace and is tagged chill or reflect in this site's song data.

The song data holds no tempo field, so "slow" is an editorial call, not a beats-per-minute count.

Here is what the list shows at a glance:

• 18 of the 30 songs carry the soft rock tag in this site's song data.
• 21 of the 30 lead with a melancholy mood tag, so the decade's slow songs lean sad.
• The longest runs at number one are six weeks, held by "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "Alone Again (Naturally)."
• 11 songs reached number one, and 19 stayed on the year-end lists only.

Not Sure Which Slow Song Fits the Moment?

The Mood Song Matcher works from this site's own mood tags.

It is a quick way to sort the sad slow song from the sweet one before you press Play.

How These 70s Slow Songs Were Chosen

The starting pool came from this site's own song data.

It tags every year-end Hot 100 song for 1970 to 1979 with a vibe.

536 songs are tagged chill or reflect and have a YouTube video on record.

From that pool, 30 made the list on four tests:

• Each year of the decade gets exactly three songs.
• The song is not already on the 70s party, dance, love or road trip songs lists.
• Its chart facts can be checked against the weekly or year-end Billboard data on this site.
• Its chart line is computed from that data, never typed from memory.

32 songs in the slow pool already sit on those four companion lists, so they are left out here.

Where the Year-End Rank on These 70s Slow Songs Comes From

The Year-End Rank column is a position on that year's Billboard year-end list.

It is not the song's weekly peak.

"Time in a Bottle" sits at 24 for 1974, yet it reached number one on December 29, 1973.

Rather than scroll, you can open the same songs on Listen Now and let the jukebox run.

Sad, Sweet or Looking Back: The Mood Mix

Every song in this site's data carries mood tags, and the first tag is the main one.

Counting the first tag across the 30 songs shows what a slow song usually feels like.

Melancholy Wins, and Wins at the Top

21 of the 30 songs lead with melancholy.

9 of the 11 number ones on the list are among them.

That includes "Without You," "Alone Again (Naturally)" and "Sad Eyes."

For the sweeter side of the decade, see the 70s love songs list.

James Taylor Appears Twice

James Taylor has two songs here, "Fire and Rain" and "You've Got a Friend."

The first is number 67 on the 1970 year-end list.

The second reached number one on July 31, 1971.

Soft Rock and Soul: The Genre Mix

The genre tag in this site's song data splits the 30 songs four ways.

Soft Rock Carries the Ballads

18 of the 30 songs are tagged soft rock.

Six of them reached number one.

Read 70s soft rock for the sound behind them.

Jim Croce's "Time in a Bottle" is one of them, and the Jim Croce page tells his story.

Soul and Pop Fill the Rest

Eight songs are tagged soul.

They include Bill Withers's "Ain't No Sunshine" at number 23 for 1971 and Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones."

Billy Paul reached number one on December 16, 1972, for three weeks.

The 70s soul music page goes wider.

Pop holds "Alone Again (Naturally)," "The Way We Were" and "Torn Between Two Lovers."

Four Stretches of the Decade

Grouping the 30 songs by the year-end Hot 100 they appear on shows when the slow songs reached the top.

1970 to 1972: Slow Songs Ruled the Top

Five of the eleven number ones came in these three years.

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" opened the decade with six weeks from February 28, 1970.

The Simon & Garfunkel story is on the Bridge Over Troubled Water page.

In 1972 "Without You" held four weeks from February 19.

"Heart of Gold" took over for one week on March 18, so two slow songs ran back to back.

1973 to 1975: Croce, Streisand and a Trio of Tears

"Time in a Bottle" reached number one on December 29, 1973, for two weeks.

It followed "The Most Beautiful Girl" and gave way to "The Joker."

"The Way We Were" is the third number one, first reaching the top on February 2, 1974.

Not sure what to play after it? Spin the Random 70s Song Generator.

1976 and 1977: A Quiet Middle

Six songs sit in these two years, and two reached number one.

Diana Ross's "Theme from Mahogany" took the top spot on January 24, 1976.

Mary MacGregor's "Torn Between Two Lovers" followed on February 5, 1977, for two weeks.

1978 and 1979: Neighbours on the Year-End List

Only one of the six songs here reached number one, Robert John's "Sad Eyes" on October 6, 1979.

Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway's "The Closer I Get to You" is number 38 for 1978.

Kansas's "Dust in the Wind" is number 39 on the same year-end list, right beside it.

The Eleven Slow Songs That Hit Number One

Eleven of the 30 songs reached the top of the weekly Hot 100.

Staying power at the top is the clearest sign a slow song landed.

Weeks at number one for the 11 70s slow songs on this list that topped the Hot 100.

Chart: Music of the 70s, from this site's weekly Billboard Hot 100 data.

Six Weeks Each for Simon & Garfunkel and Gilbert O'Sullivan

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" held six straight weeks from February 28, 1970.

Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)" spent six weeks at number one in all, first reaching the top on July 29, 1972.

One Week and Gone

Four of the eleven held the top spot for a single week.

They are "You've Got a Friend," "Heart of Gold," "Theme from Mahogany" and "Sad Eyes."

Slow Songs That Never Hit Number One

19 songs on the list never topped the weekly Hot 100.

Each is here because the year-end list proves it was played everywhere.

• "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor: number 67 on the 1970 year-end Hot 100.
• "Rainy Night in Georgia" by Brook Benton: number 37 on the 1970 year-end Hot 100.
• "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers: number 23 on the 1971 year-end Hot 100.
• "If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot: number 36 on the 1971 year-end Hot 100.
• "Daniel" by Elton John: number 48 on the 1973 year-end Hot 100.
• "Yesterday Once More" by The Carpenters: number 70 on the 1973 year-end Hot 100.
• "The Air That I Breathe" by The Hollies: number 50 on the 1974 year-end Hot 100.
• "I'm Not in Love" by 10cc: number 43 on the 1975 year-end Hot 100.
• "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian: number 20 on the 1975 year-end Hot 100.
• "You Are So Beautiful" by Joe Cocker: number 67 on the 1975 year-end Hot 100.
• "All by Myself" by Eric Carmen: number 40 on the 1976 year-end Hot 100.
• "Sara Smile" by Daryl Hall & John Oates: number 11 on the 1976 year-end Hot 100.
• "Easy" by Commodores: number 33 on the 1977 year-end Hot 100.
• "Just a Song Before I Go" by Crosby, Stills & Nash: number 47 on the 1977 year-end Hot 100.
• "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas: number 39 on the 1978 year-end Hot 100.
• "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel: number 17 on the 1978 year-end Hot 100.
• "The Closer I Get to You" by Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway: number 38 on the 1978 year-end Hot 100.
• "Don't Cry Out Loud" by Melissa Manchester: number 26 on the 1979 year-end Hot 100.
• "Just When I Needed You Most" by Randy VanWarmer: number 29 on the 1979 year-end Hot 100.

A Rank Is Not a Peak

The year-end list measures a whole year of chart life, not the highest weekly position.

So these ranks say how big the song was, not whether it climbed to the top.

For the decade's biggest hits, see the 70s number one hits page.

When the lights come up, the 70s dance songs and 70s road trip songs pick up.

More of the decade's songs live on the Music of the 70s home page.

Related Posts

Songs

70s Love Songs

The romantic side of the decade, 30 more playable songs from the same chart data.

Read post

Artists

Jim Croce

The story of the singer behind "Time in a Bottle," one of the list's number ones.

Read post

Songs

70s Road Trip Songs

The open-road side of the decade, 30 playable songs from the same chart data.

Read post