Pop Charts From The 1970s
Top Hits of 1970
Free
| 1 | Elvis Presley | The Wonder Of You |
| 2 | Christie | Yellow River |
| 3 | Mungo Jerry | In The Summertime |
| 4 | Freda Payne | Band Of Gold |
| 5 | Shirley Bassey | Something |
| 6 | Lee Marvin | Wanderin’ Star |
| 7 | Norman Greenbaum | Spirit In The Sky |
| 8 | Simon & Garfunkel | Bridge Over Troubled Water |
| 9 | England World Cup Squad | Back Home |
| 10 | Free | All Right Now |
Top Hits of 1971
New Seekers
| 1 | George Harrison | My Sweet Lord |
| 2 | Rod Stewart | Maggie May |
| 3 | Middle of the Road | Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep |
| 4 | Dawn | Knock Three Times |
| 5 | T Rex | Hot Love |
| 6 | Mixtures | The Pushbike Song |
| 7 | New Seekers | Never Ending Song Of Love |
| 8 | Diana Ross | I’m Still Waiting |
| 9 | T Rex | Get It On |
| 10 | The Tams | Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me |
Top Hits of 1972
Chicory Tip
| 1 | Royal Scots Dragoon Guards | Amazing Grace |
| 2 | Lieutenant Pigeon | Mouldy Old Dough |
| 3 | Donny Osmond | Puppy Love |
| 4 | Nilsson | Without You |
| 5 | New Seekers | I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing |
| 6 | Chicory Tip | Son Of My Father |
| 7 | Gary Glitter | Rock & Roll |
| 8 | T Rex | Metal Guru |
| 9 | Neil Reid | Mother Of Mine |
| 10 | Don MacLean | American Pie |
Top Hits of 1973
Simon Park Orchestra
| 1 | Dawn | Tie A Yellow Ribbon |
| 2 | Simon Park Orchestra | Eye Level |
| 3 | Peters & Lee | Welcome Home |
| 4 | The Sweet | Blockbuster |
| 5 | Slade | Cum On Feel The Noize |
| 6 | Gary Glitter | I Love You Love Me Love |
| 7 | Wizzard | See My Baby Jive |
| 8 | Gary Glitter | I’m The Leader Of The Gang |
| 9 | Donny Osmond | The Twelfth of Never |
| 10 | David Cassidy | Daydreamer |
Top Hits of 1974
Three Degrees
| 1 | Mud | Tiger Feet |
| 2 | Terry Jacks | Seasons In The Sun |
| 3 | Paper Lace | Billy, Don’t Be A Hero |
| 4 | Three Degrees | When Will I See You Again |
| 5 | George McCrae | Rock Your Baby |
| 6 | David Essex | Gonna Make You A Star |
| 7 | Carl Douglas | Kung Fu Fighting |
| 8 | Charles Aznavour | She |
| 9 | Rubettes | Sugar Baby Love |
| 10 | Ken Boothe | Everything I Own |
Top Hits of 1975
Bay City Rollers
| 1 | Bay City Rollers | Bye Bye Baby |
| 2 | Rod Stewart | Sailing |
| 3 | Stylistics | Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love) |
| 4 | Windsor Davies & Don Estelle | Whispering Grass |
| 5 | Tammy Wynette | Stand By Your Man |
| 6 | Bay City Rollers | Give A Little Love |
| 7 | David Essex | Hold Me Close |
| 8 | Art Garfunkel | I Only Have Eyes For You |
| 9 | Roger Whittaker | The Last Farewell |
| 10 | 10CC | I’m Not In Love |
Top Hits of 1976
Brotherhood of Man
| 1 | Brotherhood of Man | Save Your Kisses For Me |
| 2 | Elton John & Kiki Dee | Don’t Go Breaking My Heart |
| 3 | Pussycat | Mississippi |
| 4 | Abba | Dancing Queen |
| 5 | Dr. Hook | A Little Bit More |
| 6 | Chicago | If You Leave Me Now |
| 7 | Abba | Fernando |
| 8 | Tina Charles | I Love To Love |
| 9 | Demis Roussos | The Roussos Phenonemon (EP) |
| 10 | Showaddywaddy | Under The Moon Of Love |
Top Hits of 1977
Wings
| 1 | Wings | Mull of Kintyre |
| 2 | David Soul | Don’t Give Up On Us |
| 3 | Julie Covington | Don’t Cry For Me Argentina |
| 4 | Leo Sayer | When I Need You |
| 5 | David Soul | Silver Lady |
| 6 | Abba | Knowing Me Knowing You |
| 7 | Donna Summer | I Feel Love |
| 8 | Elvis Presley | Way Down |
| 9 | Hot Chocolate | So You Win Again |
| 10 | Brotherhood of Man | Angelo |
Top Hits of 1978
ABBA
| 1 | Boney M | Rivers Of Babylon |
| 2 | John Travolta & Olivia Newt… | You’re The One That I Want |
| 3 | John Travolta & Olivia Newt… | Summer Nights |
| 4 | The Commodores | Three Times A Lady |
| 5 | The Bee Gees | Night Fever |
| 6 | Father Abraham | Smurf Song |
| 7 | Abba | Take A Chance On Me |
| 8 | Brian & Michael | Matchstalk Men & Matchstalk Cats & Dogs |
| 9 | Boomtown Rats | Rat Trap |
| 10 | Kate Bush | Wuthering Heights |
Top Hits of 1979
Blondie
| 1 | Art Garfunkel | Bright Eyes |
| 2 | Blondie | Heart Of Glass |
| 3 | Cliff Richard | We Don’t Talk Anymore |
| 4 | Boomtown Rats | I Don’t Like Mondays |
| 5 | Dr Hook | When You’re In Love With A Beautiful … |
| 6 | Gloria Gaynor | I Will Survive |
| 7 | Tubeway Army | Are Friends Electric |
| 8 | Blondie | Sunday Girl |
| 9 | Roxy Music | Dance Away |
| 10 | Lena Martell | One Day At A Time |
One of the 45rpm ‘Hit-singles’ from 1973 that will always remind me of my time at Mayfield Boy’s school, is “Honaloochie Boogie” by Ian Hunter & “Mott The Hoople”, one of Britain’s biggest bands at that time.
The chorus & main riffs hooked me (!), so I began asking around the playground as to who sung it… (only to find it was also very popular with many others in my year ~ incidentally, it reached No.12 in the U.K.charts, quite respectable back then).
During my time at Mayfield they had several more hits with “All The Way From Memphis” (reached No.10), “Roll Away The Stone” (No.8), “The Golden Age of Rock n’ Roll” (No.16), but arguably their most famous single was before all of these, from 1972 called “All The Young Dudes” (reached No.3), which had been written for them by David Bowie.
Incidentally, a few years later, Bowie’s guitar-player Mick Ronson, joined Mott The Hoople on a full time basis (after inventing & recording several of Bowie’s & Rock’s most famous ever guitar riffs, such as “The Jean Genie”, “Life On Mars” & “Rebel Rebel”.
(BTW, I was a fan of Mott & Mick Ronson, but never David Bowie !)
Another Mayfield-era GREAT single from that stable was the 1975 Hunter/Ronson hit “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” ~ I had several lads in my school asking to buy that single from me in 1976 (the year after), but declined each & every time…(the guitar solo is blistering, how could I ever, eh ?).
Mott The Hoople were at one time Britain’s biggest grossing ‘Live’ band (mid-seventies) & on several tours they had a regular ‘support’ act known as ‘Queen’ (Mercury/May).
When Mott’s main guitar player (Mick Ralphs, who was there before Ronson) left the band, he formed another superb Rock/Blues band with Paul Rodgers (ex Free = songwriter/singer of “All Right Now”).
They were known as “Bad Company” & were hugely successful on both sides of the Atlantic ~ I bought many of their (fine) albums (33rpm) whilst I was still a Mayfield Boys school pupil & in fact, from my 14th birthday till this present day, I still sincerely believe that Paul Rodgers both was & is the finest & best ever lead-singer/vocalist on planet Earth !!!!!!
(no mean feat !)
As a die-hard Rock/Blues fan, I later unknowingly bought a U.S.A Fender Stratocaster with a direct link to the aforementioned Ian Hunter (Mott The Hoople), but that’s another story for another time.