Not much to say about Bohemian Rhapsody, of course it’s excellent but obviously ubiquitous now. There’s many Queen songs I’d rather hear nowadays though.

I don’t mind I’d Like To Teach The Word To Sing, but it’s very saccharine. The message is a good one but I find it really hard to get past the association to the adverts at the time. Thanks Coke, for ‘inventing’ peace and harmony……they would later go on to introduce us to the idea of Christmas!

Bohemian rhapsody only number 8 😮😮

The other song is awful ILTTTWTS 😬

Great to see 'Bohemian Rhapsody' confirmed as a million seller within the 70s. Did it also sell a million in the 90s? The sales threads in the chart vault have the same figure of 960,000 for 1991 and the 90s as a whole, which can't be right with 1992 factored in.

I am shocked - I thought Bo Rap would be #1 in this.

Very good song as is 'My Sweet Lord'.

Edited September 18Sep 18 by TheSnake

4 hours ago, Jaz13music said:

I don’t mind I’d Like To Teach The Word To Sing, but it’s very saccharine.

I like the No Way, Sis cover version - #27 in 1996.

43 minutes ago, jimwatts said:

Great to see 'Bohemian Rhapsody' confirmed as a million seller within the 70s. Did it also sell a million in the 90s? The sales threads in the chart vault have the same figure of 960,000 for 1991 and the 90s as a whole, which can't be right with 1992 factored in.

973k in the 90s

I wasn't expecting Bohemian Rhapsody to be in the top 2 but thought maybe somewhere from 3rd to 5th. My Sweet Lord is very good and Tie A Yellow Ribbon is enjoyable. I've never really liked I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing.

well thats a shock - 9 weeks on top and not the 2nd-biggest seller of the 70's! I bought it and it topped my chart for weeks too, Queen's 3rd up to that point, though interrupted by the best xmas record of all time, Greg Lake and then Mamma Mia. The New Seekers were never mentioned as million-sellers, 1972 seems to be very upfront compared to previous listings. I never did buy I'd Like To Teach but it topped my charts as a bit of a fan for 12 months or so. It hasn't aged that well, but it's a nice tune and the advert was ground-breaking, ahead of it's time by about 30 years. Never Ending Song Of Love should have been the number one though! Or I Get A Little Sentimental. Or Circles.

14 hours ago, TheSnake said:

I like the No Way, Sis cover version - #27 in 1996.

well Oasis did borrow the melody....😄

3 hours ago, Popchartfreak said:

though interrupted by the best xmas record of all time, Greg Lake

Oh that’s my favourite Christmas song too! Also the first single I ever bought

06.BRIGHT EYES- Art Garfunkel (1,040,100)

 

1979

19 weeks on chart

Peak position: 1

 

 

A song which faced opposition from radio who deemed it “too slow” it needed a promo of clips from the animated film “Watership Down” in which It appeared to get TV interested in it. The composer Mike Batt was asked to write a song about death and was asked who he would want to sing it- he picked Art Garfunkel not thinking for a minute that he would get him.  Ironically the director of the movie died shortly after the song was completed from complications from surgery.  It was the best selling single of 1979 officially crossing the million mark.

05. SAILING- Rod Stewart (1,082,600)

 

1975

30 weeks on chart

Peak position: 1

 

Rod’s biggest 70s hit if only by virtue of the fact that it was a major hit twice! The song was penned by The Sutherland Brothers and was about (in the words of the writer):

 

“"The amusing thing about 'Sailing' is that most people take the song to be about a young guy telling his girl that he's crossing the Atlantic to be with her. In fact, the song's got nothing to do with romance or ships; it's an account of mankind's spiritual odyssey through life on his way to freedom and fulfillment with the Supreme Being."

 

There you go!  Anyway the single failed to chart in 1972 upon release but it was brought to he attention of Rod Stewart via his then girlfriend and wanted to record it for his album “Atlantic Crossing” as it complemented the nautical theme of the album. For all that, Stewart argued with the label over releasing it as a single insisting that it shouldn’t be, however he was overruled as the single sailed to No 1 for a month!  It was re-issued a year later after being used as the theme to the BBC 1 series “Sailor” and made the top 3 all over again, and finally No 41 in 1987 in the wake of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster.

I did think Sailing would do quite well as it hit the top 3 in two separate chart runs. Bright Eyes is a wonderful song which I like more now than I did at the time. The top 4 is the one I expected and I have an order in which I think they will be so I'll find out soon whether or not I've got it right.

Eurgh, I despise Sailing. I love a bit of Bright Eyes though, even if the film is terrifying.

If I was wealthy enough to have a boat and go sailing I'd prefer Sailing. I used to like it more but it just seems to go on a bit too long. The frequent Halifax advert in the 2000s covering it didn't help.

Bright Eyes is sad but a good song. I have never watched Watership Down in full.

Edited September 19Sep 19 by TheSnake

50 minutes ago, TheSnake said:

If I was wealthy enough to have a boat and go sailing I'd prefer Sailing. I used to like it more but it just seems to go on a bit too long. The frequent Halifax advert in the 2000s covering it didn't help.

Bright Eyes is sad but a good song. I have never watched Watership Down in full.

Don't. I haven't seen the very end since I was about 15. Sobbed for an hour

Bright Eyes is very pretty, Art’s vocals as great as always. As you mentioned, quite a dark subject for what is essentially a children’s film.

Ah, Sailing was the song that I couldn’t think of when I was trying to guess the remaining songs. Of course it had two very successful chart runs within the 70s. It’s okay, but nowhere near one of Rod’s best. My parents both love it though, so there’s that!

Bright Eyes is a nice record, and I have never watched the film, too aware of sobbing kids getting traumatised by it, I gave it a pass. Mike's autobiography has some anecdotes about Art in the recording studio, and I've been swapping the odd message with Mike about some of his forgotten gems! Art is an angelic vocalist, I caught him just as his voice was about to decline - he's not done owt for 15 years I reckon.

I really rated the original Sailing, Rod's version not so much, too slow and plodding compared to the original and it got overplayed, by the end of the second run 50 years ago I pretty much just needed maybe one play a decade for old time's sake, but it in no way deserved to outsell The Killing Of Georgie, Maggie May, You Wear It Well or in a mushy love song vibe You're In My Heart. Plus side it set up The Sutherland Brothers financially, and they got their hit with Arms Of Mary.

04. SUMMER NIGHTS- Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta (1,194,300)

 

1978

19 weeks on chart

Peak position:  1

 

If anything rivalled “Saturday Night Fever” in terms of films making a cultural impact in the late 70s then it could only be “Grease”.  Based on the 1971 musical of the same name, “Summer Nights” was not in the original score for the Chicago run of “Grease” but was written for its transfer to Broadway the following year, it earned Newton-John and Travolta a second straight million seller – the last act to pull off that feat for 6 years and the only (to that point) male/ female duo to grab two No 1’s.

03. MULL OF KINTYRE/ GIRL’S SCHOOL- Wings (1,216,700)

 

1977

17 weeks on chart

Peak position: 1

 

So officially (on the BMRB chart) this was the best seller of the 70s and the first track to sell two million in the UK but not on the basis of panel sales (admittedly some will have been lost in the traditional-non-tracked- period of the Christmas week).  Written as an homage to where McCartney was living at the time the song spent 9 long weeks at the top over December 77/ January 78, not bad for a song that McCartney was not convinced would be a hit so made it a double A-Side.