American Top 40 - Fourth of July 1978 Special: "The 40 Biggest Acts of the 70's"

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For the American Top 40 episode of July 1, 1978, Casey counted down "The 40 Biggest Act of the 70's."

Casey Kasem celebrates AT40's eighth birthday by stacking up and ranking the hit careers of the biggest superstars of the decade so far. Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Wings, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac. They'll all appear...but where? Another special American Top 40 Tabulation - from #40 to #1.

Rank	Act	Representative Song Played	Its Top 40 Debut	Eventual '70s Rank*
40	Earth, Wind & Fire	Sing a Song	12/13/75	23
39	Electric Light Orchestra	Evil Woman	12/13/75	-
38	Grand Funk	We're an American Band	8/18/73	-
37	Abba	Waterloo	6/22/74	-
36	Steve Miller	Rock'n Me	9/4/76	-
35	Ringo Starr	Photograph	10/20/73	-
34	Captain & Tennille	Love Will Keep Us Together	5/24/75	-
33	Stylistics	Rockin' Roll Baby	11/17/73	-
32	Carly Simon	That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be	6/5/71	-
31	Donny Osmond	Go Away Little Girl	8/21/71	-

30	Linda Ronstadt	You're No Good	1/4/75	-
29	Rod Stewart	Maggie May	8/28/71	20
28	Roberta Flack	Killing Me Softly With His Song	2/3/73	-
27	Temptations	Papa was a Rollin' Stone	10/28/72	-
26	James Taylor	You've Got a Friend	6/19/71	-
25	Paul Simon	Loves Me Like a Rock	8/18/73	-
24	War	The Cisco Kid	3/24/73	-
23	Bread	Make It With You	7/11/70	-
22	Olivia Newton-John	I Honestly Love You	8/24/74	9
21	Elvis Presley	The Wonder of You	5/23/70	11

Rank	Act	Representative Song Played	Its Top 40 Debut	Eventual '70s Rank*
20	Spinners	The Rubberband Man	10/2/76	25
19	Marvin Gaye	What's Going On	3/6/71	-
18	Barry Manilow	Mandy	12/7/74	12
17	Aretha Franklin	Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)	12/15/73	21
16	Neil Diamond	Cracklin' Rosie	8/29/70	10
15	John Denver	Take Me Home, Country Roads	6/26/71	14
14	Eagles	New Kid in Town	12/25/76	13
13	Al Green	Let's Stay Together	12/11/71	-
12	Diana Ross	Ain't No Mountain High Enough	8/15/70	15
11	Tony Orlando & Dawn	Knock Three Times	12/5/70	16

10	Helen Reddy	You and Me Against the World	7/20/74	19
9	Gladys Knight & The Pips	Midnight Train to Georgia	9/15/73	18
8	Three Dog Night	Mama Told Me (Not to Come)	6/6/70	8
7	Chicago	Saturday in the Park	8/12/72	6
6	Jackson 5	I Want You Back	12/6/69	5
5	Stevie Wonder	Superstition	12/9/72	7
4	Carpenters	(They Long to Be) Close to You	6/27/70	4
3	Wings	Band on the Run	5/4/74	2
2	Bee Gees	Jive Talkin'	6/28/75	3
1	Elton John	Philadelphia Freedom	3/15/75	1

*according to the table found on page 819 of The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (7th ed.) by Joel Whitburn.