Adult Contemporary is a chart published by Billboard ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the adult contemporary music (AC) market. In 1978, 17 songs topped the chart, then published under the title Easy Listening, based on playlists submitted by radio stations. [1]
In the first issue of Billboard of the year, Billy Joel reached number one with "Just the Way You Are", replacing "How Deep Is Your Love" by the Bee Gees in the top spot. [2] Joel had launched his solo career in 1971 and achieved a number of minor hits over the next six years, but his breakthrough to stardom did not come until the release of the album The Stranger in the fall of 1977. [3] Taken from the album, "Just the Way You Are" won two Grammy Awards, [3] and gave him his first Billboard number one. [4] He would continue to be a regular on the Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary chart for more than two decades, topping the chart eight times. [4] His 1993 song "The River of Dreams" would break a 25-year-old record by spending twelve consecutive weeks atop the listing. [5] [6] In contrast to Joel's lengthy and successful career was that of another act to top the chart for the first time in 1978, the band Toby Beau. Despite topping the Easy Listening chart and placing highly on the magazine's all-genres listing, the Hot 100, with "My Angel Baby", the band would achieve only two more hit songs before dropping into relative obscurity after 1980. [7] [8] Similarly jazz trumpeter Chuck Mangione topped the Easy Listening chart for the first time in 1978 and enjoyed a brief period of chart success before falling from public favor in the 1980s. [9]
"Time Passages" by the Scottish singer Al Stewart was the final number one of the year. It held the top spot for the last eight weeks of 1978, the longest unbroken run atop the chart during the year. The only act to achieve more than one Easy Listening number one in 1978 was Barry Manilow; as his two chart-toppers only totalled five weeks in the top position, Stewart also had the highest total number of weeks at number one by an act during the year. Stewart had been a recording artist since the mid-1960s and would remain active for more than forty years, but his U.S. chart success was confined to a three-year period at the end of the 1970s. [10] [11]
† | Indicates best-performing easy listening song of 1978 [12] |
"Just the Way You Are" is a song by Billy Joel from his fifth studio album The Stranger (1977), released as the album's second single in early November 1977. It became both Joel's first US Top 10 and UK Top 20 single, as well as Joel's first Gold single in the US. The song also topped the Billboard Easy Listening Chart for the entire month of January 1978.
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 gone under 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 "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus.
"Feels So Good" is the title of an instrumental composition by the American flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione. It was written and produced by Mangione, and is the title track from his 1977 album.
"Shameless" is a song written by American singer Billy Joel and recorded on his 1989 album Storm Front. His version peaked at No. 40 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts. Two years later, the song was covered by country music artist Garth Brooks on his third studio album, 1991's Ropin' the Wind. Brooks' rendering of the song was his seventh No. 1 hit on the Billboard country charts in late 1991. It also reached No. 71 on the UK Singles Chart.
"My Angel Baby" is a 1978 song by Toby Beau. "My Angel Baby" was written by band members Danny McKenna and Balde Silva. The single, from the group's self-titled album, went to #1 on the Easy Listening chart for one week, and peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. "My Angel Baby" was the group's only Top 40 single. In Canada, the song reached #10 on the Top 100 chart.