The Top 10 Songs of 1978 (UK)

Ranked #2,416 in Music, #67,283 overall

The UK's Top 10 Best Selling Songs of 1978

The Top 10 best selling songs of 1978 in the UK somewhat reflected the music trends of the year, but more so reflected the power of the modern musical movie, as tracks from both Grease and Saturday Night Fever dominated singles sales.

The Bee Gees reigned supreme, and it appeared the Gibb brothers could do no wrong. The enormous success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack produced not only their own hit songs, but also high selling discs by the likes of Tavares, Trammps and Yvonne Elliman - all written by the prolific brothers.

Doing battle with Saturday Night Fever was the soundtrack to the movie, Grease. It produced several big hits, but none bigger than the two songs ranking at Number 2 and Number 3 of 1978. Between them, You're the One That I Want and Summer Nights locked up the Number 1 position for a total of sixteen weeks during the year. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John seemed to be constantly in the public conscience.

However, neither could outrank the astounding interest in the latest Boney M track. Such was the demand for Rivers of Babylon that British presses could not keep pace. Between May and June of 1978, the best selling single of the year had exceeded the million sales mark.

But not everything was about disco and these two movies, as novelty songs and the rise of new wave had record buyers parting with their money. And the tremendous Kate Bush had also arrived.

1. Rivers of Babylon / Brown Girl in the Ring

Boney M

Boney M. - Rivers of Babylon (D) 1978
by fritz51345 | video info

68 ratings | 33,345 views
curated content from YouTube

2. You're the One That I Want

John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

Grease, your the one that i want
by 0002nimmajneb | video info

37 ratings | 50,851 views
curated content from YouTube

3. Summer Nights

John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

Grease Summer Night
by mizusu11 | video info

134 ratings | 123,145 views
curated content from YouTube

4. Three Times A Lady

The Commodores

COMMODORES - Three Times A Lady (Long Version)
by Chrissie644 | video info

249 ratings | 116,691 views
curated content from YouTube

5. Night Fever

The Bee Gees

Bee Gees - Night Fever (Remastered 30 Year Tribute)
by VideoClipRevival | video info

95 ratings | 56,969 views
curated content from YouTube

The Top 10 UK Albums of 1978

Loading
Loading

6. The Smurf Song

Father Abraham & the Smurfs

The Smurf Song - Father Abraham
by tunespinner | video info

233 ratings | 225,642 views
curated content from YouTube

7. Take A Chance On Me

ABBA

Abba - Take A Chance On Me
by AbbaVEVO | video info

14,500 ratings | 8,085,092 views
curated content from YouTube

8. Matchstalk Men & Matchstalk Cats & Dogs

Brian & Michael

Matchstalk cats and dogs
by caerleonman | video info

1,150 ratings | 543,863 views
curated content from YouTube

9. Rat Trap

The Boomtown Rats

Loading

10. Wuthering Heights

Kate Bush

Kate Bush Wuthering Heights.
by dawnrun911 | video info

19,712 ratings | 7,661,777 views
curated content from YouTube

The 1978 UK Top 10 Songs at iTunes

The UK's Top 10 songs of 1978 are directly downloadable from here to your favourite mp3 player!

Track Artist Album  
You're the One That I Want John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John Grease (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture)
Rivers of Babylon  Boney M. Golden Hits Forever Vol. 1
Summer Nights John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John Grease (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture)
Three Times a Lady The Commodores 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Commodores
Night Fever Bee Gees The Ultimate Bee Gees
Take a Chance On Me ABBA ABBA Gold - Greatest Hits
Rat Trap The Boomtown Rats Best of The Boomtown Rats
Wuthering Heights Kate Bush The Kick Inside

More Top UK Hits From 1978

Songs That Hit the British Charts

TAKE ME I'M YOURS - BY SQUEEZE
by FRANZ4EVA | video info

559 ratings | 140,258 views
curated content from YouTube

The 1978 UK Best Sellers Poll

Register Your Vote!

The Best Selling Songs of 1978
Loading poll. Please Wait...

PS: The Top Sellers in the USA

1978 American Hits

The US Top 10 Best Selling Singles for 1978


1. Shadow Dancing

Andy Gibb


2. Night Fever

Bee Gees


3. You Light Up My Life

Debby Boone


4. Stayin' Alive

Bee Gees


5. Kiss You All Over

Exile


6. How Deep Is Your Love

Bee Gees


7. Baby Come Back

Player


8. (Love Is) Thicker Than Water

Andy Gibb


9. Boogie Oogie Oogie

A Taste Of Honey


10. Three Times a Lady

Commodores





AND:

Record of the Year: Just the Way You Are - Billy Joel
Album of the Year: Saturday Night Fever - Bee Gees
Song of the Year: Just the Way You Are
Best New Artist of the Year: A Taste of Honey

More Music For Your Enjoyment

If pop and rock is your pleasure, then please enjoy these musical pages.

Loading

For Your Bookmarking Pleasure

If you enjoyed this page about the UK's top selling songs from 1978, why not share it with your friends?

Add this to your lens »

Bookmark and Share

About Your Author

 


Squidoo LensographyWith each article, Richard invites you to step into his world of music, television and entertainment. He will introduce you to The Top 10 Albums in the UK, share The 20 Scariest Film Scores Ever? and even give you an up close look at some classical actors like Christopher Lee as Dracula.

For a complete list of Richard's articles, please visit Waxing-Lyrical on Squidoo.

More Top 10 Best Selling Songs from the 1970s can be found at
The Seventies Music Page

Love This Page About the Songs of 1978?

If you would like to rate this page, then please do so here (Squidoo members only).

This module only appears with actual data when viewed on a live lens. The favorite and lensroll options will appear on a live lens if the viewer is a member of Squidoo and logged in.

Add this to your lens »

Your Thoughts About the Music of 1978

Your Comments Are Welcomed!

  • outsource123 Jan 30, 2011 @ 6:21 am | delete
    amazing lens!!
  • hayleylou Sep 26, 2010 @ 7:52 pm | delete
    Greece and Abba were great. These were the years when real music was made. Good job :)
  • 24websurf Sep 14, 2009 @ 1:17 am | delete
    I had forgotten that 1978 had so many types of really popular music all going on at one time! What a great year! Great lens!
  • drifter0658 Jun 10, 2009 @ 4:23 pm | delete
    The Who, Stones and Genesis.......yesssssssssss. The rest....nah. I had an original release of Some Girls. Bought it before they pulled it from the shelf because of racially offensive lyrics. Someone decided that really wanted the album worse than I did.
  • GypsyGirl68 Oct 25, 2008 @ 7:30 pm | delete
    amazing! one of my all time fave songs (yes it's true I fear) Matchstalk Men... is here! we had to sing this in chorus in 4th grade and I've never forgotten it...4th grade would have been right around 1978...
  • poddys Oct 3, 2008 @ 7:26 pm | delete
    Very nice lens, 5***** Not all my type of music, but there was so much happening in 1978. Punk was in full swing, the old rock bands were also still doing great, motown and pop and disco too very popular. I lensrolled this into my song lyric lenses.

by

Waxing-Lyrical

The Top 10 Songs of 1978 include some of my favourite tracks of the era.

Feeling creative? Create a Lens!

Musically Speaking 

Loading

Seventies Pop Classics 

Hard to Find 45s on CD, Volume 8: 70's Pop Classics

Amazon Price: $10.47 (as of 05/24/2012)Buy Now

Seventeen of these songs made the Billboard Top 20! All recordings have been digitally re-mastered from the best available sources in true stereo. Includes detailed 8-page booklet with notes on each of the 20 songs.

More Memories of the 1970s 

Loading