Pick a Day

Music History Events: Charts

September 14, 1974 Eric Clapton's "I Shot The Sheriff," a song written by Bob Marley, hits #1 on the Hot 100. It is Clapton's only #1 on that tally, either as a solo artist or with one of his bands (Cream, The Yardbirds, Derek & the Dominos...)

August 24, 1974 Paul Anka's "(You're) Having My Baby" hits #1 for the first of three weeks despite condemnation from feminist groups.More

July 6, 1974 "Rock The Boat" by The Hues Corporation becomes the first disco song to top the Hot 100.

June 8, 1974 Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" goes to #1 on the Country chart. Nearly two decades later, Whitney Houston's R&B version tops the Hot 100 and becomes one of the best-selling singles of all time.More

May 18, 1974 Giving the streaking craze full exposure, Ray Stevens hits #1 in America with his novelty song "The Streak."

May 4, 1974 The Sting soundtrack, featuring Marvin Hamlisch's adaptations of Scott Joplin's ragtime piano tunes, hits #1 in America, where it stays for five weeks. More

May 4, 1974 Grand Funk's cover of "The Loco-Motion" hits #1 in America. It's the second time the song has topped the chart: Little Eva's original went to #1 in 1962.

April 20, 1974 The Soul Train theme song ("TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" by MFSB featuring The Three Degrees) hits #1 in America. MFSB, which stands for Mother Father Sister Brother, is a studio group established by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff at Philadelphia International Records.

April 6, 1974 Billy Joel makes the Top 40 for the first time when "Piano Man" comes in at #33 (it peaks at #25 two weeks later).

March 23, 1974 Hall & Oates' "She's Gone" peaks at #60 on the Hot 100. Later that year, a version by Tavares hits #50, and in 1976, the original goes to #7 when it is re-released. The duo were each dealing with girl problems when they wrote the song together.

February 23, 1974 Aretha Franklin becomes the first artist to have songs peak at each of the first 10 spots on the Hot 100 when "Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" fills in the gap at #3.

February 16, 1974 Planet Waves becomes the first Bob Dylan album to reach #1 in the US.More

February 2, 1974 Barbra Streisand scores her first #1 when "The Way We Were" hits the top spot.More

January 12, 1974 Steve Miller's "The Joker" hits #1 in the US, leaving many to wonder what exactly is the "pompatus of love."

December 29, 1973 Jim Croce's "Time In A Bottle" hits #1 in the US three months after he was killed in a plane crash.

October 20, 1973 The Rolling Stones ballad "Angie" hits #1 in America.

April 28, 1973 Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon hits #1 on the Billboard Albums chart. It stays at the top for just one week, but goes on to eclipse the record for most weeks on the tally, with over 880 (non-consecutive).

March 3, 1973 Elton John's album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player hits #1 in America, where it stays for two weeks.

March 1, 1973 Pink Floyd release Dark Side Of The Moon. The album debuts at an inauspicious #95 on the US Albums chart, but becomes far and away the album with the most weeks on the tally, thanks in large part to a run from 1977-1988 when it never leaves.

February 24, 1973 Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song" hits #1 for the first of five weeks, a longer run than any other song of 1973. It was written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, the guys who wrote the theme songs to Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley.

January 27, 1973 Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" hits #1 in America, where it stays for one week.

January 6, 1973 Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" hits #1 on the Hot 100. Listeners wonder just who the mystery man with the apricot jacket (high fashion!) is.

December 16, 1972 "Me and Mrs. Jones," a song about a man cheating on his wife, knocks Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" out of the top spot on the Hot 100.

December 2, 1972 The Temptations "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" hits #1 in the US. Running 6:58, it's one of the longest chart-topping singles.

November 4, 1972 With reggae catching fire in America, "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash (an American singer) hits #1 on the Hot 100, becoming the first reggae tune to top the chart.

October 21, 1972 Chuck Berry lands his only #1 hit on the Hot 100 with "My Ding-a-Ling," a novelty song about... you'll have to read the Songfacts.

October 14, 1972 Michael Jackson's "Ben," a song about a boy and his love for a pet rat, hits #1 in the US.More

July 8, 1972 Bill Withers' "Lean On Me" hits #1 in America. The song endures as a message of compassion and goodwill; in 1989 it is used as the theme to the movie Lean On Me, about a troubled school and its no-nonsense principal.

June 3, 1972 The Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There" hits #1 as the group makes a successful transition from gospel to secular music.

April 15, 1972 Roberta Flack's "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" hits #1 in America, where it stays for six weeks. The song was written by Ewan MacColl in 1957.