The Top Ten Best Songs of 1977

Good evening everyone, and welcome back to 1977.

And thank God we are done with the worst list because now I get to go over ten songs that I absolutely love!

As I went over at the beginning of the worst list, the seventies is my favorite decade of pop music. And after analyzing on the last list what made the seventies cheesy and lame, we move over to the flip side today to learn what made the seventies so amazing.

First off, 1977 wasn’t an entirely bad year in the wider world. While it was the year of more weather disasters and more economic struggles throughout the country, it was also the year Spain held its first free elections in 41 years, and also the year where Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat announced his intention to recognize Israel. And it’s also the year where Roots became the most-watched TV program in history at that time.

And then there was the music. For how much I raged on the worst list about how much worse music was in 1977 than it was in 1976, music still had plenty of bright spots. Classic rock music, particularly hard rock and blues rock, was still going strong with Eagles, Steve Miller Band, and Kansas all scoring big hits. Disco may have been in transition, but mainstays such as KC & The Sunshine Band and ABBA kept the groove alive. R&B may have begun to decline with the impending collapse of Philly Soul, but Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr., Deneice Williams, and William Bell still set bedrooms across the country on fire, and several R&B stars such as Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye found a refuge with funky jams true to the name.

And I will be blunt. This was the hardest best list to put together yet. While I try to narrow down the list based on a combination of my personal favorite songs and objective opinions, this one was largely based on pure instinct. This is probably going to cause the most controversy among readers, as several songs that are locks for these lists didn’t even make the honorable mentions. For a taste, here’s a list of songs that narrowly missed the cut: “Somebody To Love” by Queen, “Got To Give It Up” by Marvin Gaye, “You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)” by Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr., and “Don’t Leave Me This Way” by Thelma Houston. That’s right, there are 20 songs I would rather listen to from 1977 before I would put these songs on. But granted, this is my favorite pop music decade, so of course I am going to think outside the box and put in songs you wouldn’t expect to be on a best list. So buckle up everyone, because this is going to be a wild list.

And for a second time, here are the house rules:

As with the worst list, I will be expanding outside of Billboard for the list of eligible songs. In order to make the list, the song must have charted on the year-end list for one of the following charts:
1. The Billboard Hot 100
2. The Cashbox Year-End List
3. The American Radio Charts Top 100, as listed in Francis Pelletier’s Top Pop Songs series on YouTube

With these new regulations, congratulations to “Isn’t It’s Time” by The Babys, “Tryin’ To Love Two” by William Bell, and “Just Remember I Love You” by Firefall. You may not get a chance on a typical best list, but you do here.

The song must not have charted on a previous Billboard Year-End Chart.
If the song made the Cashbox Year-End list or the American Radio Charts year-end lists but not the Billboard year-end lists, the song must not have appeared on next year’s chart. So forget about me mentioning “You Can’t Turn Me Off (In The Middle Of Turning Me On)” by High Inergy for this list.
The Cashbox chart has precedence over the ARC chart, so a song on the ARC chart cannot have charted in a different year on the Cashbox chart.

With these rules in place, 118 songs were eligible for this countdown. Sins of Omission will be revealed first, while Honorable mentions will be revealed before the number one slot.

42 songs were nominated for the best list. Only 20 will be mentioned and 10 will be listed. Who will make an appearance? Let’s find out!

THE TOP TEN BEST SONGS OF 1977

Today’s Transition Music: The album 1977 by Ash

Sins Of Omission

#10. “Couldn’t Get It Right”

#9. “Livin’ Thing”

#8. “Dazz”

#7. “Boogie Nights”

#6. The Star Wars Theme

#5. “Easy”

#4. “Best Of My Love”

#3. “Hotel California”