In 1979, Billboard magazine published a chart ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the easy listening or adult contemporary music (AC) market. The chart was entitled Easy Listening through the issue dated March 31 and Adult Contemporary thereafter. It has undergone further name changes but has again been published under the title Adult Contemporary since 1996. [1] In 1979, 19 songs topped the chart based on playlists submitted by radio stations. [1]
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On the first chart of the year, the Scottish singer Al Stewart held the top spot with "Time Passages", which was in its ninth week at number one. [2] The song ended its run at the top after ten weeks, the longest unbroken spell at number one on the chart for more than ten years. [3] Stewart had been a recording artist since the mid-1960s and continued to be active into the 21st century, [4] but his U.S. chart success was confined to a four-year period at the end of the 1970s. [5] [6] The Canadian singer Anne Murray was the only act with more than one Easy Listening/AC number one in 1979. One of Canada's biggest musical exports of the 1970s, Murray topped the U.S. country and Easy Listening/AC charts, as well as Billboard's pop listing, the Hot 100, during the decade. [7] [8] [9] In 1979 she topped the Easy Listening/AC chart with "I Just Fall in Love Again" in February and March, "Shadows in the Moonlight" in June, and "Broken Hearted Me" in October and November, and spent a total of 13 weeks in the top spot.
The country rock band Poco had the longest unbroken run at number one during the year, spending seven consecutive weeks in the top spot with "Crazy Love". The song was eventually knocked from the top of the chart in the issue of Billboard dated April 28 by "I Never Said I Love You" by Orsa Lia. One of the most obscure acts to top the chart, Lia never placed any other songs on either the AC or pop charts, [10] [11] and there is no record of her having released another album after her self-titled 1979 debut. [12] Other acts who gained their only AC number ones in 1979 included the British singer Maxine Nightingale, who had three separate runs in the top spot with "Lead Me On", [13] and JD Souther, who had a five-week run at number one with "You're Only Lonely". [14] Souther experienced a brief period of chart success in his own right, [14] but was much better known as a songwriter for other artists, most notably the Eagles. [15] Only one AC number one of 1979 also topped the Hot 100: [16] the trumpeter Herb Alpert reached the top spot on both charts with his instrumental "Rise". [17] The final AC number one of the year was "Send One Your Love" by Stevie Wonder.
