1975/1976: Convoy became C.W. McCall's greatest hit
C.W. McCall's (aka Bill Fries) Convoy was released in the US in November 1975, but it peaked at Number 2 in the UK in mid-March 1976.
It remained in the runners-up position for a solitary week during its 10-week run on the British charts - Tina Charles' I Love to Love blocking its progress.
It is McCall's only hit record in the UK.
It topped the American Billboard Hot 100 in early 1976, staying there for a single week.
It also climbed to Number 1 on the US Country charts over Christmas 1975 and New Year 1976 for a total of six weeks.
Its success was as a direct consequence of the popularity of CB radio at the time.
It became a global hit, entering the charts in several European countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
McCall's record label, MGM, demanded a similarly themed follow-up. McCall reluctantly wrote and recorded 'Round the World With the Rubber Duck - an international version of Convoy - which promptly flopped.
Convoy itself sold in excess of two million copies and spawned the 1978 action movie of the same name starring Kris Kristofferson and Ali MacGraw.
Published in 1974, Goodbye My Love was The Glitter Band's fourth consecutive (and their biggest) UK Top 10 hit as an independent act - separate from the now-disgraced Gary Glitter.
The track peaked at Number 2 in the British charts for a solitary week in early February 1975.
The single which prevented it from hitting the top spot was January by Pilot.
The song was written by band member, the late Gerry Shephard, who wrote or co-wrote most of the act's hits.
At the time, Sayer would perform the song dressed and made up as a Pierrot clown.
The single is a track from Sayer's first album Silverbird, which also peaked at Number 2 (behind The Carpenters' compilation album, The Singles 1969-1973).
The Show Must Go On began a run of seven consecutive Top 10 hits for Sayer in the UK, including a Number 1 (1977's When I Need You) and two further Number 2 songs.
Although this original version failed to dent the charts in America, a cover by Three Dog Night made the Top 10 (#4) on the Billboard Hot 100 later in 1974, becoming the band's last single to do so.
In Leo Sayer's version, the final line of the chorus is "I won't let the show go on". Three Dog Night changed the lyric to "I must let the show go on", which Sayer was apparently unhappy about.
Released in 1972, the record peaked at Number 2 for one week on the British charts in early January 1973, blocked from the Number 1 spot by Little Jimmy Osmond's Long Haired Lover From Liverpool.
Unlike some earlier T.Rex singles, the track made no impression on the American charts.
It sold well enough in Ireland, Norway and Germany to feature in each of those country's Top 10s.
It was never featured on any of the band's albums at the time, but did appear on the 1972 Great Hits compilation issued by EMI.
Some have suggested that this song was Bolan's prediction of his death five years later, as it features the opening line "Life is the same and it always will be / Easy as picking foxes from a tree." The registration number on the vehicle in which Bolan was killed on 16 September 1977 was FOX 661L. And, the car struck a tree.
The track peaked at Number 2 in the UK for three weeks in February/March 1972, held off the top of the charts by both Chicory Tip's Son of My Father and Nilsson's Without You.
In the States, the single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in early 1972, repeating the feat in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
The single (Parts I & II) remains the longest - at 8:37 - to hit Number 1 in America.
American Pie has returned to the British charts on two further occasions to date: 1991 (No.12) and 2012 (No.78).
Madonna recorded a shortened dance version for her album The Next Best Thing (Soundtrack, 1991) and released it as a single which climbed to Number 1 in the UK and other European territories. Although not released in the US, it managed a chart placing (No.29) on airplay alone.
The song is now considered a classic of American pop culture detailing "the loss of innocence of the early rock and roll generation as symbolized by the plane crash which claimed the lives of three of its heroes" - Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. (Reference)
In April 2015, the 16-page original manuscript for the song, along with detailed notes, drafts and alternate verses, was sold at Christie’s in New York for $1.2 million.
In 2017, McLean's original recording was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant". (Reference)
It remains the group's only chart hit in the UK, although they had moderate success in Australia with two follow-up songs: Henry Ford and Captain Zero.
It didn't quite make the Top 40 in America, peaking at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The group's bass player died in a fishing accident in 1978 and the band split not long after. Adding two more more members, the group eventually continued under a different guise, BRIX.
1970: Peter, Paul and Mary: Leavin' On A Jet Plane
Leavin' On A Jet Plane was the folk trio's fourth and final UK hit and their only record to enter the British Top 10.
In America, the single topped the Billboard chart for one week in December 1969.
It peaked at Number 2 in the UK for a single week in February 1970 when Edison Lighthouse's Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) occupied the Number 1 spot.
It remained on the British chart for a run of 16 weeks.
Written by John Denver, it featured on his 1966 album John Denver Sings under the title Babe, I Hate to Go.
The song was first recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary for their 1967 long player Album 1700, but it wasn't released as a single until 1969.
Denver re-recorded versions of the song for his 1969 LP Rhymes and Reasons and the 1973 compilation John Denver's Greatest Hits.
Chiquitita was the eleventh Top 5 hit in the UK for ABBA and followed seven Number One hits by the Swedish supergroup.
As with the majority of ABBA singles, the song was written by group members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.
The single also peaked at Number 2 in the group's homeland.
The track remained at Number 2 in the UK for a fortnight, prevented from getting to the top by Blondie's Heart of Glass.
Chiquitita achieved the highest placing debut position on the UK Singles Chart of any of their releases (Number 8), but only stuck around for nine weeks.
Elsewhere, the track became a Number 1 hit including countries such as Belgium, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Mexico and South Africa.
Among the working titles for the song were 3 Wise Guys, In the Arms of Rosalita and Chiquitita Angelina.
Ever since 1979, 50% of the royalties from the song have been donated to UNICEF due to it featuring in a UNICEF charity event: the Music for UNICEF Concert.
Come Back My Love was the second UK hit by British doo-wop revival group Darts following the Number 6 success of Daddy Cool.
The song was written by Bobby Mansfield, a member of the American R&B vocal group The Wrens. They recorded it in 1955 and it became one of their best-known recordings.
This single was the first of three consecutive No. 2 hits for Darts in 1978.
It was prevented from hitting the top spot by ABBA's Take A Chance on Me which was on the last week of its three-week run as the UK's best seller.
The track remained at Number 2 for a single week during its 12-week chart run.
Come Back My Love is included on the band's debut album, simply called Darts.
After two false starts, Boogie Nights became Heatwave's first UK Top 40 hit, emulated in the USA where it also peaked at Number 2.
The track climbed to Number 2 in the UK charts for a single week in early March 1977, blocked from the top of the charts by Leo Sayer's When I Need You.
In the US, the song was held off the Number 1 spot for two weeks by Debby Boone's You Light Up My Life.
It went to Number 1 in New Zealand but also stalled at Number 2 in Canada.
The single earned a platinum disc in the US and went silver in the UK.
It accumulated a total of fourteen weeks within the UK Top 50.
The track was written by band member (the late) Rod Temperton who would go on to compose many big hits for the likes of Michael Jackson, George Benson and The Brothers Johnson.
Boogie Nights can be found on Heatwave's debut album, Too Hot to Handle.
Strangely, the song is not included on either of the two soundtracks released for the film of the same name.
Never Can Say Goodbye was Gloria Gaynor's first transatlantic hit although she had appeared on the US Dance chart at Number 2 in 1974 with the track, Honey Bee.
The single peaked at Number 2 on the UK charts in mid-January 1975 for a sole week, denied the Number 1 spot by The Tymes' Ms Grace.
The single accumulated a run of thirteen weeks within the UK Top 50, earning a Silver disc.
The song was originally recorded by The Jackson 5 who took it to Number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1971. Their recording could only manage a peak of Number 33 in Britain.
Gloria Gaynor's version has the distinction of holding the Number 1 spot on the very first Dance/Disco chart ever to appear in Billboard magazine.
The song is the title track to Gaynor's debut album which peaked within the Top 40 of the UK album chart and established the singer as one of the earliest disco performers .
Gloria Gaynor appeared several times on the British Singles Chart over the succeeding years, most notably in 1979 when I Will Survive occupied the Number 1 position for four weeks..
It peaked at Number 2 in the British charts in mid-January 1976 for two weeks, denied the Number 1 spot by Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.
The single amassed a run of twelve weeks within the UK Top 50.
It topped the Irish charts and climbed to Number 4 in Australia.
The song was written by lead singer and band co-founder Georg Kajanus.
Kajanus's recollections of his time in the red light district of Paris are reflected in the lyrics of A Glass of Champagne.
The track is included on Sailor's second album Trouble, along with the UK Top 10 follow-up Girls, Girls, Girls. It can also be found on the band's Greatest Hits compilation.
The group only managed to enter the UK Top 40 on one other occasion with the song One Drink Too Many before disappearing.
It spent a total of twenty weeks in the UK Top 50.
In the UK alone, the record sold more than a quarter of a million copies.
Worldwide sales topped 2.5 million with Japan contributing about 400,000 to that number.
The song was included on Reid's first long player which itself went to Number 1 on the UK's Album Chart. This made the Scot the youngest recording artist to achieve the feat - a record which still stands today.
Although entering the listing in 1970, Ride A White Swan was the first record to peak at Number 2 on the UK chart of 1971.
It took fourteen weeks (of a twenty week run) to peak at Number 2.
Grandad by Clive Dunn prevented the song from reaching the Number 1 spot.
Its UK chart run was unusual in that it climbed steadily up the listing until just before Christmas 1970 when it fell out of the Top 10, only to recover after the holiday in its march towards the top.
It was a minor hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at Number 76.
Ride A White Swan was released on the cusp of the group moving from an acoustic to an electric sound.
The song's length is a relatively short 2:15.
The single was the first to feature the new, shortened band name - previously Tyrannosaurus Rex.
It is considered the song that initiated the British glam rock era of the early 1970s, although Hot Love - the band's next single - was the track which truly gave birth to the movement.
It is among several T. Rex songs featured in the movie Billy Elliott.
At Marc Bolan's (lead singer and founder of the band) funeral in 1977, one of the floral tributes was a large white swan.
Elvis's version of Suspicious Minds peaked at Number 2 in the UK in January 1970, making it the first single of the Seventies to do so.
It was held off the Number 1 position for one week by Two Little Boys from Rolf Harris.
It peaked at Number 1 in the US in November 1969, Presley's first American chart-topper in seven years.
Suspicious Minds was Elvis's final US Number 1, although he would return to the top of the UK charts in 1970 with The Wonder of You. He had several posthumous Number 1 hits in the UK, including Way Down which climbed to the top just after his death in 1977.
The recording features the famous false ending - the producer adding an early fade before a booming Presley returns with his ongoing repetition of the chorus.
The song prompted a dispute about money between Elvis and his manager Colonel Parker when the copyright owner turned down demands to surrender a percentage of the publishing royalties. Presley won out in the end.
The single has appeared on the UK chart on three separate occasions: its original 1969 release, a 2001 re-release (#15 peak) and a 2007 release to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Presley's death (#11 peak).
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