davetaylor

The big top 20 begins with: Elton & Kiki cpYINo85USQ The hot Summer (remember them?!) 6 weeks at Number One & 890,000 sold in 1976.

Number 21: Now you either like bagpipes or you don't TwAnHW4KaFE Number One in April 1972 & 890,000 sold.

Number 22: Thankfully no Terry Wogan! ysc5sXpFQlA Number 2 to Mull Of Kintyre in December 1977 & 870,000 sold.

Number 25: A dangerous thing to have WGU_4-5RaxU Number One in February 1979. Some say a million seller during the 70s. Not so. It shipped a million by the end of the year, but was a long way from the top seller of 1979 & actually sold 849,000 through the year.

Number 23: Fools everywhere on Lulu FF6nrM1JVG0 The big sales of December 73/January 74 & the Country on strike (just about everything in fact). The New Seekers scored probably more than one week at the top, but got caught up in shortened samples, during strike periods & a 3 day working week. They managed to sell 870,000 though.

Number 27: Johnny nicked "Soleado" & A child was born RGMky4tVN7c Number One in December 1976, where it just snook in front of Showaddywaddy for Christmas Number One & sold 845,000 in total. And (for comparison) at the start of 1976, there had been this version by Cloud 99, that just missed the top 30: LyRq11s_4rE

Number 26: Blockheads abound 0WGVgfjnLqc The enormous sales of January 1979. Only one week at Number One, but 846,000 sold in total.

Number 28: Hi Cliff! htZir_Taizg The big 79 comeback. Number One in August 1979 & 840,000 sold.

Number 30: The song written by the late member of Badfinger _bQGRRolrg0 Number One in April 1972. Re-issued in 1976 & a total of 837,000 sold.

Number 31: The Chicago Transit Authority shortened their name in 1969 & fortunes grew in 1976 32GdEFADy6s Number One in November 1976 & 810,000 sold in total.

Number 32: The Follie that declined Evita adUPdnzCAk8 Elaine Paige took up the honours on stage. Julie recorded the song, but then decided not to do the show. She took the record to Number One in February 1977 & sold 808,000 copie between 76 & 78.

To re-iterate: To stop anyone re-posting this list elsewhere, there will be no re-cap on the top 200 & the top 51 of the chart is out of sequence. A brief re-cap on how this chart was compiled: We looked at all Panel Sales from BMRB, Record Business Magazine, Radio & Record News & Needletime Magazine. The multipliers range from 16 to 22. In contrast to a certain list posted on Wikipedia & also a rundown appearing on YouTube, we've stayed true to the multipliers of the day. Some of the stuff on Wiki, changes multiplers to a 16 for 1975/76, but it was actually 17 at that period, a decrease brought in by the inclusion of Woolworths data, from 1975 onwards. Number 29: A late Beatle 9qdKZBXMX5E A court battle followed. Did it really sound like "He's So Fine"? Probably no more than the intro of Cyndi Lauper's "Girl Just Wanna Have Fun" sounding like Dana's "Fairytale"!! "My Sweet Lord" was Number One (during a postal strike) in February 1971 & sold 840,000 copies.

Number 33: The Gibbs return XpqqjU7u5Yc Caught behind Wings & the Brighouse & Rastrick Band in December 1977. In actual fact 1977's Christmas was pretty much on a par with 1978's Christmas sales. The Bee Gees only made #3 & shifted 802,000 copies.

Cheers Simon. Number 24: Ww4v2cP-MDo Number One in June 1973 & 868,000 sold.

29th June 1978 http://vimeo.com/68454400

15th June 1978 https://vimeo.com/67434504 Making no comments, but enjoying the memory of the show.

Number 34: Yes Lieutenant! qnOxfT6E_Bk Number One in October 1972 & 790,500 sold.

Number 35: A pretty scarey film xpxd3pZAVHI The last Number One of the 70s & 790,000 sold by 31st December 1979.

Number 36: A Queen dancing? xFrGuyw1V8s Number 1 in September 1976, when the British Market Research Bureau went to a Saturday to Friday sales period. Hence 23, 16, 1...Which more likely would of been 23, 9, 1. Still selling into 1977 & 780,000 sold in total.

There is a bit of a clique in TV & Radio. Always has. The I know someone, who could do this job or i'm related to someone already employed by that company, or in the media. Leslie Grantham's walk into tv came, as he was a chum of Louise Jameson (Dr Who's Leela at the time). She constantly visited him in Jail (where he used to take drama classes). Later Louise goes to some other pal (BBC Chief) & he's given various acting roles, before the big one in Eastenders....Amazingly everybody knew about his crime, but still watched him in this awful programme, every week. Commisioned by Michael Grade, that thought nothing of axing many a comedy & other popular shows (including Dr Who) to plough money into a soap, far to expensive to make. And then there was another Grsde clique in operation...A mate of "Eat" enders writers & production crew. I always hated working where cliques ruled the roost. People that always stick up for each other, not worrying whether criminal activities had taken place. Pay offs to keep people quiet, everyone up each others arses. How can you work like that? Awful.

Number 37: Lionel goes all soppy for the first time! B4dl6JSf-bc Number One in August 1978 & 777,300 copies sold.

Number 38: The Hook's back cxpYN-NK54Y Oh, yeah another British Market Research Bureau error in force. Paul Burnett annouced it, as the new number one (a week early) due another mess up. It sold 775,000 & was Number One in November.

Number 39: Father who? kWbMikrZ91U Why wasn't it Number One in the UK? Well John & Olivia were not to blame, oh no. Decca records had pressing problems & couldn't keep up demand & estimated in a loss of 90,000 orders in the week beginning 26th June 1978. It would of almost certainly have gone to the top & sold 40,000 more than "You're The One That I Want" that week, but it didn't. It topped out at Number 2 & sold 766,360....Should it of sold 856,000? Who knows!

Number 40: And they called it...A Paul Anka copycat! zI2hgm65WhE Number One in July 1972, when Radio One announced that "Pick Of The Pops" would end in September, to be replaced by actor Tom Browne in "Solid Gold Sixty", which would include the non top 20 Radio One Airplay chart. "Puppy Love" sold 756,000 copies & went to Number One in a week, when some crazed looney decided to set fire to Alan Freeman's script at 12.30 on a Tuesday lunchtime. So, whatever happened to Travis? Oh yeah, Mark Williams-Thomas struck!

The Top 40 looms. But let's remind ourselves of every single 70s Number One: L9zrvGHpTNg Y-INfhGHV60 mqyeHvLOvEE Some awful versions in there (especially Pink Floyd) ...but worth it just for that & they didn't bother with the great Rolf. Shocking!