Wednesday, May 14, 2014

1978 - The Golden Age of Soundtracks?


In 1978, 20 singles reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Of those 20, six came from the soundtracks from the movies Saturday Night Fever and Grease.  More remarkably, 5 of those 6 songs were written by Barry Gibb (Barry had two additional #1 hits that year that were recorded by his brother Andy).

The soundtrack albums from Saturday Night Fever and Grease spent a combined 36 weeks in the #1 spot. That's 70% of the year.




"How Deep is Your Love"
Bee Gees
#1 for one week, January 7 
from the movie Saturday Night Fever
"Stayin' Alive"
Bee Gees
#1 for four weeks, February 4-25
from the movie Saturday Night Fever


"Night Fever"
Bee Gees
#1 for eight weeks, March 18-May 6
from the movie Saturday Night Fever
"If I Can't Have You"
Yvonne Elliman
#1 for one week, May 13
from the movie Saturday Night Fever


"You're the One That I Want"
John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
#1 for one week, June 10
from the movie Grease
"Grease"
Frankie Valli
#1 for two weeks, August 26-September 2
from the movie Grease





Click on the year to check out similar soundtrack lists for the following years:

YearNo. of soundtrack #1'sTotal no. of weeks at #1
19786 of 2017
19790 of 240
19802 of 1610
19813 of 1714
19823 of 1610
19832 of 178
19847 of 2021
19859 of 2714


Other soundtrack hits from 1978 that didn't make the top spot include:
  • "Hopelessly Devoted to You" by Olivia Newton-John from Grease  (peaked at #3)
  • "Last Dance" by Donna Summer from Thank God It's Friday (#3)
  • "Summer Nights" by John Travolta and Olivia Newton John from Grease (#5)
  • "Got to Get You Into My Life" by Earth, Wind & Fire from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (#9)
  • "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps from Saturday Night Fever (#11)
  • "Ready to Take a Chance Again" by Barry Manilow from Foul Play (#11)
  • "Theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind" by John Williams (#13)
  • "Oh! Darling" by Robin Gibb from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (#15)
  • "Theme Song from Which Way is Up" by Stargard (#21)
  • "Love Theme from Eyes of Laura Mars (Prisoner)" by Barbra Streisand (#21)
  • "Thank God It's Friday" by Love & Kisses from Thank God It's Friday (#22)
  • "FM (No Static at All)" by Steely Dan from FM (#22)
  • "Come Together" by Aerosmith from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (#23)
  • "Too Hot Ta Trot" by Commodores from Thank God It's Friday (#24)
  • "More Than a Woman" by Tavares from Saturday Night Fever (#32)
  • "Boogie Shoes" by KC & The Sunshine Band from Saturday Night Fever (#35)
  • "Ease on Down the Road" by Diana Ross & Michael Jackson from The Wiz (#41)
Special honorable mention award goes to the Meco disco versions of "Theme from Close Encounters" (#25) and "Themes from The Wizard of Oz" (#35).
    The winner of the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 51st Academy Awards was "Last Dance" performed by Donna Summer, written by Paul Jabara.


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