List of Billboard number-one dance singles of 1977

Last updated

Village People spent seven consecutive weeks at number one with several tracks from their self-titled album. VillagePeople1978.jpg
Village People spent seven consecutive weeks at number one with several tracks from their self-titled album.

The National Disco Action Top 40 was a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States, which ranked the popularity of dance singles in nightclubs across the country, based on a national survey of club disc jockeys. Launched in 1976, the chart combined the data from 15 major markets, and there were 12 different number ones. The chart methodology of the time allowed for multiple songs ("cuts") from a 12-inch single or album to be bracketed together as a single listing if more than one track from the release was receiving significant play in clubs.

Contents

Thelma Houston had the year's first number one, spending her second consecutive week at number one with "Don't Leave Me This Way" and "Any Way You Like It" on the chart dated January 1. The songs remained atop the chart through the issue dated January 29, before being displaced by "Disco Inferno", "Starvin'", and "Body Contact Contract" by the Trammps, three songs from the group's album Disco Inferno . [1] "Don't Leave Me This Way" was the only song to top both the disco chart and the all-genre Hot 100 during 1977, although it did not reach the top spot on the Hot 100 until late April, nearly four months after it first topped the disco listing. [2] In contrast, neither of the two songs by Love & Kisses which topped the disco chart entered the Hot 100 at all. [3] The Eurodisco act's lengthy tracks proved extremely popular with nightclub DJs but were generally not deemed suitable for top 40 radio airplay, limiting their mainstream appeal. [4]

The band Chic achieved the year's longest-running number one, spending eight consecutive weeks atop the chart with "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)". For the final two weeks, the song "Everybody Dance" was also listed. The eight weeks which the songs spent at number also made Chic the act with the highest total number of weeks in the top spot during 1977, one week ahead of Village People. The only act with more than one number one during the year was Donna Summer, known as the "Queen of Disco". [5] Combined tracks from her album I Remember Yesterday spent three weeks in the peak position in July, and in December she returned to the top spot with all the cuts from her next album Once Upon a Time ; this was the year's final chart-topper.

Chart history

Two of Donna Summer's albums topped the chart. Donna Summer 1977.JPG
Two of Donna Summer's albums topped the chart.
Thelma Houston topped the chart in January. Thelma Houston 1977.JPG
Thelma Houston topped the chart in January.
"Got to Give It Up" was a number one for Marvin Gaye. Marvin Gaye (1973).png
"Got to Give It Up" was a number one for Marvin Gaye.
Issue dateTitle(s)Artist(s)Ref.
January 1"Don't Leave Me This Way" / "Any Way You Like It" Thelma Houston [6]
January 8 [7]
January 15 [8]
January 22 [9]
January 29 [10]
February 5"Disco Inferno" / "Starvin'" / "Body Contact Contract" The Trammps [11]
February 12 [12]
February 19 [13]
February 26 [14]
March 5 [15]
March 12 [16]
March 19"Do What You Wanna Do" T-Connection [17]
March 26 [18]
April 2 [19]
April 9 [20]
April 16 [21]
April 23 [22]
April 30 [23]
May 7"I Need a Man" Grace Jones [24]
May 14 [25]
May 21"Got to Give It Up" Marvin Gaye [26]
May 28"Devil's Gun" / "We Got Our Own Thing" C. J. & Company [27] [28]
June 4 [29] [30]
June 11 [31] [32]
June 18 [33] [34]
June 25 [35] [36]
July 2"I Feel Love" / "I Remember Yesterday Medley" / "Love's Unkind" / "Take Me" [a] Donna Summer [37] [38]
July 9 [39] [40]
July 16 [41] [42]
July 23"Accidental Lover" / "I Found Love (Now That I Found You)" Love & Kisses [43]
July 30 [44]
August 6 [45]
August 13"Quiet Village" / "African Queens" / "Summer Dance" The Ritchie Family [46]
August 20 [47]
August 27 [48]
September 3"San Francisco (You've Got Me)" / "Hollywood" / "Fire Island" Village People [49] [50]
September 10 [51] [52]
September 17 [53] [54]
September 24 [55] [56]
October 1 [57] [58]
October 8 [59] [60]
October 15 [61] [62]
October 22"Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" / "Everybody Dance" [b] Chic [63] [64]
October 29 [65] [66]
November 5 [67] [68]
November 12 [69] [70]
November 19 [71] [72]
November 26 [73] [74]
December 3 [75] [76]
December 10 [77] [78]
December 17 Once Upon a Time... (all cuts) Donna Summer [79]
December 24 [80]
December 31 [81]

Notes

  1. "Love's Unkind" only listed in the issue dated July 2, "Take Me" only listed in the issues dated July 9 and July 16
  2. "Everybody Dance" only listed in issues dated December 3 and December 10

See also

Related Research Articles

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This is the discography of American disco and soul band the Trammps.

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