Top hitmaking artists of the 1970s

A ranked list of artists with the top number of top 100 hits and chart weeks. The list is not mine.

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/abys...he_100_biggest_acts_of_the_decade_in_the_usa/

 

Great info!

Some chart combining done here, it looks like...country and r&b with pop. But maybe not...

 

I was surprised at the ranking. I mean Anne Murray ranked so much higher than David Bowie!

 

As one who grew up in the 70's (born 1958) I was not too surprised by much on this list. Maybe the Staple Singers being so high. I don't remember hearing much of them ("I'll Take You There" is about it) And I was surprised CCR wasn't higher, but I guess a lot of there stuff was 1969.
I correctly predicted the top two, but I though McCartney would be #3, but Chicago did have quite a lot of hits in the 70's.

 

Just in that list Chicago should have made it to the R&R Hall of Fame much sooner than the did.

And Chicago, Kool and the Gang, and obviously Michael Jackson were the only artists on the list to continue successfully well into the 1980s.

 

Was surprised at how many I had in my collection.
The 60s & 70s were my biggest decades.

98 Simon & Garfunkel
89 Art Garfunkel
88 Shaun Cassidy
84 Eric Carmen
80 The Partridge Family
71 Bay City Rollers
69 Smokey Robinson
66 Michael Jackson
64 The Osmonds
61 Andy Gibb
55 Queen
54 Jim Croce
53 Donny Osmond
51 Paul Simon
44 Daryl Hall & John Oates
32 KC & The Sunshine Band
30 The Temptations
27 ABBA
22 Three Dog Night
21 Eagles
18 Linda Ronstadt
13 Diana Ross
12 Olivia Newton-John
7 Jackson 5
5 Carpenters
2 Bee Gees
1 Elton John

Darryl

 

Great list. Nice to see Olivia at #12.

I was surprised the Carpenters beat her by 7 places... I’d have thought she would have outsold them in the 70s..

 

it's not really surprising. Bowie never really got his due in the US until the 80s

 

Elton, Rod, Bowie, Olivia (biggest hit of the 1980s), Foreigner, Hall And Oates (far bigger in the 80s than 70s, they're easily top 10 of the 1980s), Aretha, Fleetwood Mac, Cher, Aerosmith and Kenny Rogers all definitely did well in the 80s, several of those still putting out big hits at the end of the decade (Elton, Rod, Cher, Aerosmith all still riding high in 1989-1990, three of the four scoring a #1 single near the end of the 90s even)

 

1)Heart of gold 31)Old man 33)Only love can break your heart 55)Cinnamon girl 61)Four strong winds
61)War song 69)Walk on 86)Dont want to say goodbye 93)When you dance I can really love 94)Im a rocker

My favorite Neil Young Songs: Don’t Want to Say Goodbye and I’m A Rocker!

 

It appears as though the only calculation is number of weeks charting. So some artists with multiple #1 hits are below some with none. It’s one way of ranking the artists, but I think a more accurate ranking would include value for chart placement (quality v quantity).

 

I think it’s a measure of how long an artist remains relevant with record buying public, at least as far as singles go.