In 1974, Billboard magazine published a chart ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the easy listening market. The chart, which in 1974 was entitled Easy Listening, has undergone various name changes and has been published under the title Adult Contemporary since 1996. [1] In 1974, 35 songs topped the chart based on playlists submitted by radio stations and sales reports submitted by stores. [1]
The first number one of the year was "Time in a Bottle" by Jim Croce. It was a posthumous chart-topper for the singer, who had died in an airplane crash in September of the previous year. [2] Croce achieved a second posthumous number one in April with "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song". Chicago, Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray and Charlie Rich also achieved two number ones in 1974, as did the Three Degrees, who had one chart-topper in their own right and another as featured vocalists on the song "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" by MFSB, the theme tune to the syndicated television show Soul Train . [3] John Denver and Helen Reddy each had three number ones during 1974, with Denver's total of seven weeks in the top spot being the highest by any act. The country-rock singer Denver was at the peak of his career in 1974, selling millions of records and achieving number ones on the pop, easy listening and country charts. [4]
Many of 1974's Easy Listening number ones also topped Billboard's pop singles chart, the Hot 100, reflecting the fact that at the time mellower styles were popular across a range of demographics and on pop music radio as well as the easy listening format. [5] Songs by Croce, Barbra Streisand, the Love Unlimited Orchestra, Terry Jacks, MFSB featuring the Three Degrees, Denver, Gordon Lightfoot, Olivia Newton-John and Reddy all topped both listings. [6] The final easy listening number one of the year was "Mandy" by Barry Manilow, which would go on to top the Hot 100 in 1975 and prove to be the breakthrough song for an artist who would become one of the most successful acts in the easy listening field. [7]
The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by Billboard magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to Billboard by stations that are members of the Adult Contemporary radio panel. The chart debuted in Billboard magazine on July 17, 1961. Over the years, the chart has undergone a series of name changes, being called Easy Listening(1961–1962; 1965–1979), Middle-Road Singles(1962–1964), Pop-Standard Singles(1964–1965), Hot Adult Contemporary(1984–1996) and Adult Contemporary(1979–1984, 1996–present). The current number-one song on the chart is "Lose Control" by Teddy Swims.
"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" is an uptempo, strophic story song written by American folk rock singer Jim Croce. Released as part of his 1973 album Life and Times, the song was a No. 1 hit for him, spending two weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1973. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1973.
"Time in a Bottle" is a song by singer-songwriter Jim Croce. He wrote the lyrics after his wife Ingrid told him she was pregnant in December 1970. It appeared on Croce's 1972 ABC debut album You Don't Mess Around with Jim and was featured in the 1973 ABC made-for-television movie She Lives! After he was killed in a plane crash in September 1973, the song was aired frequently on radio, and demand for a single release built. The single of "Time in a Bottle" became Croce's second, and final track to reach number one in the United States.
"Another Saturday Night" is a 1963 hit single by Sam Cooke from the album Ain't That Good News. The song was written by Cooke while touring in England when staying in a hotel where no female guests were allowed. It reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was No. 1 on the R&B chart for a single week. In the UK, the song peaked at No. 23 on the UK Singles Chart.
You Lay So Easy on My Mind is the thirty-fourth studio album by American pop singer Andy Williams, released in November 1974 by Columbia Records. The idea for this LP was mentioned in an interview with Williams in the November 3, 1973, issue of Billboard magazine that emphasized his desire to move away from recording albums of Easy Listening covers of hits by other artists, noting that he was "planning an album to be cut in Nashville with Columbia's high-flying country-pop producer, Billy Sherrill." The article coincided with the release of his first attempt to shift directions, Solitaire, which performed poorly. A return to the Easy Listening hits formula, The Way We Were, followed in the spring of 1974 but failed to even chart, so this next attempt to eschew soft rock songs leaned heavily on Country hits.