Top songs of 1973

What was the number one song of 1973?

The number one song of 1973 was “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” by Tony Orlando and Dawn, the top song on Billboard's year-end Hot 100 for 1973. It spent 4 weeks at number one on the weekly chart, starting with the chart dated April 21, 1973.

“Killing Me Softly with His Song” by Roberta Flack was number one for the most weeks of 1973: 5 of the year's 52 weekly charts, starting with the chart dated February 24, 1973.

Born in 1973? The birthday number one finder shows the song at number one in the exact week of your birthday, and the number one on every birthday since.

Chart data: Billboard Hot 100, as compiled on Wikipedia (number ones of 1973, year-end Hot 100 of 1973).

How many songs reached number one in 1973?

27 songs reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973, across the year's 52 weekly charts.

Of the songs that first reached number one in 1973, “Killing Me Softly with His Song” by Roberta Flack stayed there longest: 5 weeks in total, from the chart dated February 24, 1973.

Weeks at No. 1 counts every week the song spent at the top, including weeks in other years; the number in brackets is the weeks on charts dated 1973. Dates are chart issue dates.

Which artists had more than one number one in 1973?

2 acts had more than one number one in 1973, counting lead and featured credits. Jim Croce and Stevie Wonder had 2 each.

• Jim Croce: “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” and “Time in a Bottle”
• Stevie Wonder: “Superstition” and “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”

What were the biggest songs of 1973?

The five biggest songs of 1973 on Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 were “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” by Tony Orlando and Dawn, “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce, “Killing Me Softly with His Song” by Roberta Flack, “Let's Get It On” by Marvin Gaye and “My Love” by Paul McCartney & Wings.

The year-end chart ranks songs by how they performed on the weekly Hot 100 across Billboard’s chart year, so a song that peaked late in the year can rank lower than its weekly peak suggests, or count toward the next year’s list. The top 30 below show each song’s length where we could match the recording.

Numbers 31 to 100

31. “Shambala” Three Dog Night
32. “Love Train” The O'Jays
33. “I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby” Barry White
34. “Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose” Tony Orlando and Dawn
35. “Keep on Truckin'” Eddie Kendricks
36. “Danny's Song” Anne Murray
37. “Dancing in the Moonlight” King Harvest
38. “Monster Mash” Bobby 'Boris' Pickett
39. “Natural High” Bloodstone
40. “Diamond Girl” Seals and Crofts
41. “Long Train Runnin'” The Doobie Brothers
42. “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” George Harrison
43. “If You Want Me to Stay” Sly & the Family Stone
44. “Daddy's Home” Jermaine Jackson
45. “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” Gladys Knight & the Pips
46. “I'm Doin' Fine Now” New York City
47. “Could It Be I'm Falling in Love” The Spinners
48. “Daniel” Elton John
49. “Midnight Train to Georgia” Gladys Knight & the Pips
50. “Smoke on the Water” Deep Purple
51. “The Cover of "Rolling Stone"” Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
52. “Behind Closed Doors” Charlie Rich
53. “Your Mama Don't Dance” Loggins and Messina
54. “Feelin' Stronger Every Day” Chicago
55. “The Cisco Kid” War
56. “Live and Let Die” Paul McCartney & Wings
57. “Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?” Hurricane Smith
58. “I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)” Johnnie Taylor
59. “Sing” The Carpenters
60. “Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)” The Four Tops
61. “Dueling Banjos” Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell
62. “Higher Ground” Stevie Wonder
63. “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” Al Green
64. “My Maria” B.W. Stevenson
65. “Superfly” Curtis Mayfield
66. “Last Song” Edward Bear
67. “Get Down” Gilbert O'Sullivan
68. “Reelin' in the Years” Steely Dan
69. “Hocus Pocus” Focus
70. “Yesterday Once More” The Carpenters
71. “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” Bette Midler
72. “Clair” Gilbert O'Sullivan
73. “Do It Again” Steely Dan
74. “Kodachrome” Paul Simon
75. “Why Can't We Live Together” Timmy Thomas
76. “Do You Want To Dance?” Bette Midler
77. “So Very Hard to Go” Tower of Power
78. “Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” Johnny Rivers
79. “Ramblin' Man” The Allman Brothers Band
80. “Masterpiece” The Temptations
81. “Peaceful” Helen Reddy
82. “One of a Kind (Love Affair)” The Spinners
83. “Funny Face” Donna Fargo
84. “Funky Worm” Ohio Players
85. “Angie” The Rolling Stones
86. “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” Blue Ridge Rangers
87. “Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend” Lobo
88. “Break Up to Make Up” The Stylistics
89. “Daisy a Day” Jud Strunk
90. “Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)” Deodato
91. “Stir It Up” Johnny Nash
92. “Money” Pink Floyd
93. “Gypsy Man” War
94. “The World Is a Ghetto” War
95. “Yes We Can Can” The Pointer Sisters
96. “Free Ride” The Edgar Winter Group
97. “Space Oddity” David Bowie
98. “It Never Rains in Southern California” Albert Hammond
99. “The Twelfth of Never” Donny Osmond
100. “Papa Was a Rollin' Stone” The Temptations

Chart data: Billboard Hot 100, as compiled on Wikipedia (number ones of 1973, year-end Hot 100 of 1973).

What songs should go on a 1973 mix CD?

A 1973 mix that fits one 80-minute CD holds 21 of the year's biggest songs, opening with “You're So Vain” by Carly Simon and closing with “The Most Beautiful Girl” by Charlie Rich, for 78:17 of music.

We built it from the year-end top 30 and every number one of 1973, taking songs in year-end order until the disc was full, then sequenced it to follow the year: the number ones in the order they reached the top, with the year’s other big hits placed between them. With a 2-second gap before each track it runs 78:59, under the 79 minutes we fill a CD to.

Lengths are the recordings matched in Deezer’s catalog. Single edits, album versions and remasters can run a little longer or shorter, so check your own playlist before you burn it.

Turn 1973 into a CD. Send us this list, or your own 1973 songs, and we burn it to a real audio CD, test-play it and post it. It makes a good gift for a birth year, a graduation year or a wedding year.

To change the songs, paste the list into the playlist length calculator to keep it under 80 minutes, then print an insert with the CD case template. Our guide to making a mixtape covers sequencing, and nostalgic gift ideas has more ways to give a year as a present.

What was popular music like in the 1970s?

Popular music in the 1970s ran from singer-songwriters and soft rock to soul, funk and, by the end of the decade, disco. The Bee Gees, Donna Summer and Chic all reached number one with disco records in 1978 and 1979, while ballads and soft rock filled the charts between them.

From 1970 to 1979, 253 songs reached number one on the Hot 100, and 1 song stayed there for 10 weeks or more. Of those 253, “You Light Up My Life” by Debby Boone spent the most weeks at number one: 10 in total. Bee Gees had the most number ones that reached the top in these years, with 9. The typical number one of these years ran 3:40 (the median of the 229 with a known length).