I've been doing a list of the top 100 most popular songs of each year here since I left college in 2014. About halfway through this year, I decided it wasn't that fun anymore. I still worked on a list for 2022, and could have it finished within the next hour. But I just didn't want to put any effort into finishing and publishing the list, for a number of reasons.
What I have been doing for several years in addition to making a Top 100 list for each current year is compiling similar list for each year preceding my first list in 2014. So what I think I'll do is publish a list, maybe each month, for different years. I'm going to do this at random.
Maybe eventually I'll post the 2022 list too, but I'm going to play with a different process in 2023 and if I like that better I may rescore 2022 and post it retroactively in the next few years.
With that said, introducing: The Top 100 Songs of 1970!
The top artist of 1970 was, unquestionably, the Jackson Five. They scored four number ones that year, including the year's top song "I'll Be There." "ABC," "The Love You Save," and "I Want You Back" all finished among the top 25 songs of 1970 as well.
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| This quintet from Gary, Indiana absolutely owned pop music in 1970. (Michael Ochs // Getty) |
Among other stars of the opening year of the '70s, the Carpenters hit number two overall with "(They Long To Be) Close To You" and number five with "We've Only Just Begun." The Beatles also saw their last two Hot 100 toppers in 1970; one of my all-time favorite songs "Let It Be" reached number four for the year and their final number one song "The Long And Winding Road" finished the year 49th overall.
I personally have always enjoyed the overall sound of 1970. Music was beginning to modernize along with technology, but artists by and large still were able to incorporate many natural instrumental and vocal tones too.
Some of my other favorite 1970 songs are "War" by Edwin Starr, "Spirit In The Sky" by Norman Greenbaum, "Signed Sealed Delivered" by Stevie Wonder, and "House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals.
Here are 98 of the top 100 songs from 1970, all in one convenient Spotify playlist:
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