Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth. In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.
We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 1979, the year I started kindergarten and turned five. I still have no knowledge of these songs from their original release, but we are starting to get to an era where the songs would become some of my favorites. Only 16 of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with just five of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.
#95: Van Halen – Dance the Night Away
iTunes stats: 7 plays
Thought to be the only track written explicitly for the group’s second album, the track peaked at #15 on the Hot 100.
#92: Robert Palmer – Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)
iTunes stats: 16 plays
Originally recorded by Moon Martin the year prior, the cover version from Palmer reached #14 on the charts.
#81: Electric Light Orchestra – Don’t Bring Me Down
iTunes stats: N/A
Perhaps best known for the misheard lyric of “Bruce” following the title line, the track is the band’s highest charting hit in the US.
#78: Earth, Wind & Fire – September
iTunes stats: N/A
Peaking at #8, the song has become an Internet meme in the 21st century, becoming popular every year in September as we approach the 21st.
#53: Sister Sledge – We Are Family
iTunes stats: 14 plays
Chosen by Willie Stargell to be the official theme song of the 1979 Pirates on their way to a World Series title, the track topped out at #2 on the Hot 100.
#48: Village People – In the Navy
iTunes stats: N/A
The group’s final top 10 hit, it reached #3 on the charts.
#40: Kenny Rogers – The Gambler
iTunes stats: N/A
A crossover hit that reached the top of both the Hot 100 and the country charts, the song earned Rogers a Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1980.
#34: Cheap Trick – I Want You to Want Me
iTunes stats: 30 plays
After the original release from 1977 failed to chart, a rockier live version released eleven months later cracked the top 10, peaking at #7.
#31: Peaches & Herb – Shake Your Groove Thing
iTunes stats: N/A
The group’s first charting single since 1971, it spent 22 weeks on the charts, topping out at #5.
#9: Anita Ward – Ring My Bell
iTunes stats: N/A
Sampled by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince in 1991, the song, which reached the top of the charts, was Ward’s only major hit.
#8: Village People – Y.M.C.A.
iTunes stats: N/A
Peaking at #2, the song has long been used at Wrigley Field when the opposing team makes their first mid-inning pitching change.
#6: Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive
iTunes stats: N/A
Released in October of 1978, the anthem spent three non-consecutive weeks atop the Hot 100 in 1979.
#5: Peaches & Herb – Reunited
iTunes stats: N/A
A huge crossover smash, it spent four weeks at #1 on both the R&B singles chart and the Hot 100 chart.
#4: Rod Stewart – Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?
iTunes stats: N/A
Ranked at #301 in Rolling Stone’s 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, it spent four weeks atop the charts in February of 1979.
#3: Chic – Le Freak
iTunes stats: N/A
The group’s third single, it became their first #1 on both the Hot 100 and the R&B charts.
#1: The Knack – My Sharona
iTunes stats: 34 plays
The band’s debut single, it spent six weeks at the top of the charts in the summer of 1979.