The 1970s was an era of musical diversity and studio perfection. Over ten groundbreaking years, rock expanded into progressive suites and thunderous hard rock, while disco packed dance clubs with orchestral basslines and funk grooves. Singer-songwriters poured personal heartache into acoustic classics, and reggae broke onto the global stage.
From timeless rock anthems to dance-floor milestones, here are the top twenty greatest hits of the 1970s that defined the decade, ranked.
20. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Freddie Mercury’s six-minute mock-opera suite baffled record executives before release in 1975, but it quickly became an unprecedented commercial triumph. Blending operatic vocal overdubs, heavy metal guitar solos, and a tender piano ballad, it remains a crowning achievement in rock history.
19. Eagles – Hotel California
Don Henley and Glenn Frey’s 1976 title track paints a haunting, allegorical portrait of southern California hedonism and spiritual decay. The iconic dual guitar solo traded between Don Felder and Joe Walsh provided a majestic climax that defined 1970s album-oriented rock.
18. Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive
The rhythmic centerpiece of Saturday Night Fever (1977), this disco juggernaut was built around an innovative drum loop engineered from “Night Fever.” Barry Gibb’s soaring falsetto and the pulsing bassline captured the grit and survival energy of New York streets.
17. Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant built an eight-minute progressive folk-rock epic on Led Zeppelin IV (1971). Beginning with delicate acoustic recorders and fingerpicked guitars, the track builds into John Bonham’s thunderous drums and Page’s legendary Gibson Les Paul guitar solo.
16. ABBA – Dancing Queen
Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus perfected the art of the multi-layered pop production with this 1976 worldwide smash. Propelled by sparkling piano glissandos and Agnetha and Anni-Frid’s pristine vocal harmonies, it stands as the gold standard of euphoric Euro-pop.
15. John Lennon – Imagine
Co-produced with Phil Spector in 1971, John Lennon’s gentle piano hymn envisioned a world stripped of borders, material greed, and religious divisions. Its deceptively simple melody and radical humanist vision made it the definitive global anthem of peace.
14. Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water
Paul Simon drew inspiration from traditional gospel chords to compose this 1970 secular hymn, but it was Art Garfunkel’s soaring tenor and Larry Knechtel’s gospel piano that gave the track transcendent grace, sweeping six Grammy Awards.
13. Bob Marley & The Wailers – No Woman, No Cry
Recorded live at the Lyceum Theatre in London in July 1975, this version introduced roots reggae to the global mainstream. Marley’s warm reminiscences of growing up in Trenchtown’s government yards offered a message of communal comfort and enduring resilience.
12. Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive
Originally released as an unassuming B-side in 1978, Gloria Gaynor’s disco classic became a universal survival anthem. The dramatic opening piano flourish yields to driving strings and Gaynor’s defiant vocal declaration of self-worth after heartbreak.
11. Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb
The emotional peak of The Wall (1979), this collaboration between Roger Waters and David Gilmour captures psychological dissociation. Gilmour’s two soaring, emotive guitar solos are universally celebrated among the finest musical passages ever recorded.
10. Meat Loaf – Paradise by the Dashboard Light
Jim Steinman’s eight-minute teenage rock opera from Bat Out of Hell (1977) paired Meat Loaf with Ellen Foley and real baseball play-by-play commentary from Phil Rizzuto. Its theatrical energy and soaring vocal exchanges made it an arena staple.
9. Blondie – Heart of Glass
Debbie Harry and Blondie sparked outrage among punk purists in 1979 by marrying Bowery punk attitude with Roland CR-78 disco beats. Harry’s cool vocal delivery and Giorgio Moroder-inspired basslines yielded a genre-crossing number-one classic.
8. Boney M. – Rivers of Babylon
German producer Frank Farian took a Rastafarian hymn based on Psalm 137 and turned it into a Euro-disco phenomenon in 1978. The record sold over two million copies in the UK alone, becoming one of the top ten best-selling singles in British history.
7. Deep Purple – Smoke on the Water
Ritchie Blackmore’s four-note blues riff, recorded in Montreux after the casino caught fire during a Frank Zappa concert, became the first riff every aspiring guitar player learns. Its driving rhythm remains a cornerstone of hard rock.
6. Stevie Wonder – Superstition
Stevie Wonder inaugurated his legendary golden era with this 1972 funk masterpiece, anchored by a clavinet riff that revolutionized rhythm and blues. His energetic drumming and socially conscious lyrics warned against giving in to irrational fears.
5. David Bowie – Heroes
Recorded at Hansa Studios by the Berlin Wall in 1977 alongside Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, Heroes tells the story of two lovers kissing beneath the watchtowers. Fripp’s sustained guitar feedback created an anthem of triumphant romantic defiance.
4. Earth, Wind & Fire – September
Maurice White and Al McKay crafted the most joyful dance single of the decade in 1978. Driven by horn charts from the Phenix Horns, Philip Bailey’s falsetto, and an irresistible groove, it remains an indispensable celebration anthem.
3. The Rolling Stones – Angie
Keith Richards and Mick Jagger traded roaring guitars for Nicky Hopkins’ acoustic piano on this delicate 1973 ballad. Jagger’s raw, weary vocal delivery captured the bittersweet resignation of a romance that had run its natural course.
2. Donna Summer – I Feel Love
In 1977, producer Giorgio Moroder abandoned acoustic orchestras to record an entirely synthesized backing track using a Moog modular synthesizer. Summer’s hypnotic vocals floated over the sequenced bassline, effectively inventing modern electronic dance music.
1. Fleetwood Mac – Go Your Own Way
The lead single from Rumours (1977), Go Your Own Way was Lindsey Buckingham’s biting, acoustic-driven kiss-off to bandmate Stevie Nicks during the emotional disintegration of their relationship. With Mick Fleetwood’s explosive drumming and Buckingham’s raw guitar solo, it stands as the definitive rock single of the 1970s.
