(Credits: Far Out / NASA / Uwe Conrad)
Sun 14 December 2025 13:00, UK
When The Beatles broke up, you could almost hear their rival musicians breathe a heavy sigh of relief. Those who were commercially inclined at least, because it meant that after nearly a decade of domination, the top spot would once again be vacant and open to anyone good enough to take it.
In the spirit of that opportunity, the 1970s became one of the most open-minded and diverse musical decades in history. The rock umbrella that The Beatles cast over music became the home of these vibrant new subgenres that took their idea of experimentation and ran with it. Psychedelic rock, punk rock and heavy metal all blossomed in this era of open-mindedness, while entirely new ideas within soul, R&B and disco similarly emerged.
At the very beginning of this decade, you could feel The Beatles maintaining their touch on the pillar of influence. Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison all released albums in the first year of the decade and mighty fine ones at that. But their chokehold over music soon loosened, and the likes of David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Lou Reed took over.
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Dark Side Of The Moon and Transformer pushed open the door to a new world of psychedelia and glam-rock that would largely stick around until the mid part of the decade. In the ecstasy of this new era, disco was allowed to step out into the limelight and ignore whatever criticisms came its way. The evolution of this bold new genre ultimately paved the way for the pop that arrived in the decade after.
But the newfound glamour and jubilance that came through this disco-led movement didn’t land with everyone. Swathes of young music fans grew disillusioned with the opulence and so went about rebelling through the caustic sounds of punk rock. The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and The Clash were but a few bands shaping the sound and ethos of punk rock, giving this incredible decade another string to its creative bow.
The chart landscape reflected this newfound diversity. No longer did one artist dominate the commercial space, and instead, pioneers of brave new movements were sharing chart supremacy as the wider goal of musical evolution was put first.
So, who scored the most number ones in the 1970s?
Despite all of this diversity, you surely wouldn’t be surprised if I were to mention any of the aforementioned names when revealing the artist who topped the charts the most in the 1970s. David Bowie, for example, was so mercurial that he had every sound it took to go number one multiple times.
But it wasn’t Bowie, nor was it any of the icons previously mentioned in this article. It was, however, a band that rode the waves of genres I highlighted, to become a band who were constantly in view of music fans throughout the entire decade.
The artist was in fact The Bee Gees, who had the most number one hits in the US with nine on the Billboard Hot 100. The songs that got them there were ‘How Can You Mend a Broken Heart’ (1971), ‘Jive Talkin” (1975), ‘Nights on Broadway’ (1975), ‘You Should Be Dancing’ (1977), ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ (1978), ‘Stayin’ Alive’ (1978), ‘Night Fever’ (1978), ‘Too Much Heaven’ (1979), and ‘Tragedy’ (1979).
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