"What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released in 1967 as a single. In April 1968, it topped the pop chart in the United Kingdom, but performed poorly in the United States because Larry Newton, the president of ABC Records, disliked the song and refused to promote it.
"Why" is a song written by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards and performed by American singer-songwriter Carly Simon. Recorded for the film Soup for One in 1982, the film was a commercial flop but the soundtrack album was a success. One of many film-inspired singles by Simon, the song became a top 10 hit in the UK, and was successful throughout Europe.
"I Write the Songs" is a popular song written by Bruce Johnston in 1975 and released on his album Going Public in 1977. Barry Manilow's version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1976 after spending two weeks atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart in December 1975. It won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and was nominated for Record of the Year in 1977. Billboard ranked it as the No. 13 song of 1976.
"Emotion" is a song written by Barry and Robin Gibb. It was first recorded by Australian singer Samantha Sang, whose version reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1978. The Bee Gees recorded their own version of the song in 1994 as part of an album called Love Songs, which was never released, but it was eventually included on their 2001 collection titled Their Greatest Hits: The Record. In 2001, "Emotion" was covered by the American R&B girl group Destiny's Child. Their version of the song was an international hit, reaching the top ten on the US Hot 100 chart and peaking in the top five on the UK Singles Chart. English singer Emma Bunton also covered the song on her 2019 album My Happy Place.
"Love You Inside Out" is a 1979 hit single by the Bee Gees from their album, Spirits Having Flown. It was their last chart-topping single on the Billboard Hot 100, interrupting Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff", becoming the third single from the album to do so. In the UK, the single peaked at No. 13 for two weeks. It was the ninth and final number-one hit for the Bee Gees in the US, and the twelfth and final number-one hit in Canada as well. The trio would not return to the top 10 for ten years, with the song, "One".
"You Should Be Dancing" is a song by the Bee Gees, from the album Children of the World, released in 1976. It hit No. 1 for one week on the American Billboard Hot 100, No. 1 for seven weeks on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart, and in September the same year, reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. The song also peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Soul chart. It was this song that first launched the Bee Gees into disco. It was also the only track from the group to top the dance chart.
"It's Like That" is the debut single of American hip hop group Run-D.M.C., released in 1983 by Profile Records. The song was remixed by house DJ Jason Nevins in 1997. His version was originally released in 1997 on 10-inch vinyl in the United States and became a sleeper hit in 1998. It sold around five million copies worldwide, placing it amongst the biggest selling singles of all time. In 2008, it was ranked number 40 on VH1's "100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs".
"'It's a Heartache'" is a song recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler. Written by Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe, and co-produced with David Mackay, the single was released in November 1977 through RCA Records. The song topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and numerous European countries, and reached No. 3 in the US and No. 4 in the UK. Worldwide, "It's a Heartache" sold around six million copies.
"It's Only Make Believe" is a song written by drummer Jack Nance and Mississippi-born singer Conway Twitty, while they were touring across Ontario, Canada in 1958. Twitty was a relatively unknown rock n' roll singer at the time, and this song was his first hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard chart in November 1958 for two weeks.
"Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" is a song performed by singers Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams. Lyrics and music were arranged by Nat Kipner and John Vallins. The single was a comeback of sorts for Mathis as his last U.S. top 10 hit was 1963’s "What Will Mary Say" and his last U.S. #1 hit was 1957's "Chances Are."
"Disco Inferno" is a song by American disco band the Trammps from their 1976 fourth studio album of the same name. With two other cuts by the group, it reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart in early 1977, but had limited mainstream success until 1978, after being included on the soundtrack to the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, when a re-release hit number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
"September" is a song by the American band Earth, Wind & Fire released as a single in 1978 on ARC/Columbia Records. Initially included as a track for The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1, "September" was very successful commercially and reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, No. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart. The song remains a staple of the band's body of work and has been sampled, covered, remixed, and re-recorded numerous times.
"Hold the Line" is a song by American rock band Toto from their 1978 eponymous debut studio album. Written by the band's keyboardist David Paich, the lead vocals on the song were performed by Bobby Kimball.
"You Needed Me" is a song written by Randy Goodrum, who describes it as being about "unconditional undeserved love". It was a number-one single in the United States in 1978 for Canadian singer Anne Murray, for which she won a Grammy Award. In 1999, Irish pop band Boyzone recorded a hit cover of the song that reached number one on the UK Singles Chart.
"Boogie Nights" is a 1977 single by international funk-disco group Heatwave. It was written by keyboardist Rod Temperton and was included on Heatwave's debut album, Too Hot to Handle. Harpist Carla Skanger played harp and American actor and singer Clarke Peters performed backing vocals on the recording.
"Let's Groove" is a song by American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released as the first single from their eleventh studio album, Raise! (1981). It is written by Maurice White and Wayne Vaughn, and produced by White. The song was a commercial success, and was the band's highest-charting single in various territories. It peaked inside the top 20 in countries including the United States, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada and other component charts in America. In 1979 and the early 1980s, there was a severe backlash against disco music. In spite of this, the band decided to revive the disco sound that was included on their previous works and later records. Musically, "Let's Groove" is post-disco, pop and funk which includes instrumentation of synthesizers and keyboards along with live electric guitars.
"Lovely Day" is a song by American soul and R&B singer Bill Withers. Written by Withers and Skip Scarborough, it was released on December 21, 1977, and appears on Withers's 1977 album Menagerie. Withers holds a sustained note towards the end which, at 18 seconds long, is one of the longest ever recorded on an American pop song. The song was listed at No. 402 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time" in 2021.
"Always and Forever" is an R&B song written by Rod Temperton and produced by Barry Blue. It was first recorded by the British-based multinational funk-disco band Heatwave in 1976. Released as a single on December 3, 1977, the song is included on Heatwave's debut album Too Hot to Handle (1976) and has been covered by numerous artists, becoming something of a standard.
Heatwave is a disco-funk band formed in London, England in 1975. Its most popular line-up featured Americans Johnnie Wilder Jr. and Keith Wilder (vocals) of Dayton, Ohio; Englishmen Rod Temperton (keyboards) and Roy Carter (guitar); Swiss Mario Mantese (bass); Czechoslovak Ernest "Bilbo" Berger (drums); and Jamaican Eric Johns (guitar).
"Every 1's a Winner" is the third single from the 1978 Hot Chocolate album of the same name. The single was released on 4 March 1978 on RAK Records in the UK and Infinity Records in the US. It peaked at #12 on the UK Singles Chart and #6 on the US Billboard Hot 100; it was the band's second-highest-charting single in the US, behind "You Sexy Thing".
