Best Songs of the 70s: The Ultimate Decade Ranking

By Charlie · Published July 26, 2026 · Updated October 6, 2026

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One single ballad outsold every other song of the entire decade.

"You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone did something no song had done before.

It topped the chart for ten straight weeks.

That alone made it the biggest hit single of the whole 70s.

This page ranks the top songs of the 70s using the actual year-end chart, all 100 of them.

The best songs of the 70s were not all disco, and they were not all rock either.

The decade moved through at least four distinct moods before it was over.

It opened quiet and introspective, then turned toward glam and groove.

From there it exploded into disco at its commercial peak, and closed by pointing straight at the 80s.

This is a tour through the best songs of the 70s, era by era.

A few records stand outside any single era entirely.

The artists behind the best songs of the 70s: Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, Elton John, the Bee Gees, and Debby Boone.

Photo credits: Paul McCartney by Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0. Rod Stewart by Joe Bielawa, CC BY 2.0. Elton John, LA Times Photographic Collection at UCLA, CC BY 4.0. Bee Gees, public domain (NBC Television, 1977). Debby Boone by John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com, CC BY-SA 2.0. All via Wikimedia Commons. This composite includes a CC BY-SA 2.0 photo, so per ShareAlike terms this image is also available under CC BY-SA 2.0.

The 100 Best Songs of the 70s: The Real Top Songs of the 70s

It's the top 10 songs from each year's Billboard Year-End Hot 100, 1970 through 1979, 100 songs from this site's own chart data.

Tap a column heading to sort by song, artist, year or year-end rank, and press Play on any row to watch that song here.

How This List of the Best Songs of the 70s Was Chosen

Most "best songs of the 70s" lists are one person's opinion.

This one is not.

Chart position decides this list of the best songs of the 70s, not a critic's taste.

That's 100 songs, ten per year, the biggest hit of each year always leading that year's group.

Many of these also spent time at number one on the weekly chart. For the full week-by-week story of every 70s chart-topper, see 70s Number One Hits: Every Billboard #1, 1970 to 1979.

For nonstop 70s music, try Listen Now, the site's free radio and jukebox.

1970 to 1972: Where the Best Songs of the 70s Begin

The decade opened in the shadow of a breakup.

The Beatles were done, and each former member was suddenly on their own.

George Harrison got there first.

His 1970 song "My Sweet Lord" reached number one.

That made him the first of the four former Beatles to top the charts as a solo artist.

The mood around him was quiet and organic.

Simon & Garfunkel, Neil Young, and America each defined that early-70s sound in their own way.

• Simon & Garfunkel with "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
• Neil Young with "Heart of Gold"
• America with "A Horse with No Name"

Soul's Own Direction, and a Posthumous Number One

Soul music was moving in its own direction at the same time.

The Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" brought pure youthful energy to the top of the charts.

Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" carried a very different, more grown kind of soul instead.

One of the decade's most memorable chart-toppers arrived under the saddest circumstances.

Janis Joplin reached number one in 1971 with "Me and Bobby McGee," released only after her death.

One Artist, Four Ways to the Top

No other artist matched Paul McCartney's reach across the decade.

He topped the charts in four completely different configurations.

• As a solo artist
• In a duo with Linda McCartney
• As the leader of Wings
• As a member of the Beatles

That kind of range belongs to its own category entirely, outside any single era of the decade.

How the 70s Charts Actually Worked

The Billboard Hot 100 is the main song chart of the American music industry.

It is updated every week by Billboard magazine.

During the 1970s, the chart was based on a combination of each single's weekly physical sales figures and its airplay on American radio stations.

That combination is part of why novelty hits and soundtrack singles could reach number one right alongside the era's biggest disco and rock stars.

1973 to 1975: Glam and Groove Rising

The sound of the charts grew more theatrical in the middle of the decade.

Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets" leaned all the way into that theatricality.

Singer-songwriters were still very much part of the picture, too.

Jim Croce and John Denver both built major careers on that more intimate, story-driven style.

Soul and Funk Push Forward

Soul and funk were reaching for something bigger at the same time.

Stevie Wonder pushed the genre forward with two major hits.

• "Superstition"
• "Sir Duke"

Funk acts further from the mainstream spotlight were starting to break through as well.

• Ohio Players
• Labelle

Disco's First Stirrings

One 1974 hit doubled back on the previous decade entirely.

Grand Funk took "The Loco-Motion" to number one that year.

The song had already been a hit once before, for Little Eva in the 1960s.

Disco itself was only just beginning to stir.

Van McCoy's "The Hustle" pulled the sound out of the clubs and toward the mainstream for the first time.

Curious how a random 70s track stacks up against these? Try the Random 70s Song Generator and see what comes up.

1976 to 1978: Disco's Peak

Disco went from a club sound to the decade's defining commercial force in these three years.

No act embodied that shift more completely than the Bee Gees.

They scored nine number-one hits that stayed at the top for a combined 27 weeks.

That run made them the most successful group of the entire decade.

Saturday Night Fever's soundtrack only cemented that dominance further.

Other acts pushed disco just as far in their own direction.

• Donna Summer with "Hot Stuff"
• Chic with "Le Freak"
• KC and the Sunshine Band

Disco's Unexpected Chart-Toppers

Disco's commercial takeover produced some unexpected chart-toppers along the way.

A disco version of the Star Wars theme by Meco reached the top of the charts.

So did the novelty track "Disco Duck" by Rick Dees, and even a television theme, "Theme from S.W.A.T."

Not every major hit from these years was disco, though.

Several acts kept pop and rock just as commercially strong right alongside it.

• The Eagles with "Hotel California" and "Heartache Tonight"
• Fleetwood Mac with "Dreams"
• The Carpenters with "Close to You"
• Barbra Streisand with "The Way We Were"

Not sure which mood fits your listening session tonight? The Mood Song Matcher can help you land on the right track.

1979: Turning Toward the 80s

By 1979, the charts were already leaning toward a different decade entirely.

Disco was still charting strong, with Chic and Donna Summer both still very much in the mix.

But a sharper, more modern sound was pushing in right alongside it.

• Blondie with "Heart of Glass"
• The Knack with "My Sharona"
• Herb Alpert with "Rise"
• "Pop Muzik" by M

Each of those songs pointed somewhere the 70s had not quite been yet.

• New wave
• Power pop
• The electronic sound of the decade to come

Taken together, these four eras are what people usually mean when they talk about the best songs of the 70s.