The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart published since August 1958 by Billboard magazine which ranks the best-performing singles in the United States. In 1979, it was compiled based on a combination of sales and airplay data sourced from surveys of retail outlets and playlists submitted by radio stations, respectively. During the year, 23 different singles spent time at number one.

In the issue of Billboard dated January 6, the Bee Gees reached number one with "Too Much Heaven", displacing the final chart-topper of 1978, "Le Freak" by Chic. "Too Much Heaven" was the fourth consecutive single by the Bee Gees to top the Hot 100; later in the year the group returned to number one with "Tragedy" and "Love You Inside Out", making them only the second act since the creation of the Hot 100 in 1958 to achieve six consecutive number ones, following the Beatles. The Bee Gees' chart domination ended at the end of the 1970s, however, following the decline in popularity of the disco genre with which they had become strongly associated: they never achieved another number one after 1979 and indeed all of their subsequent singles missed the top 10 with the sole exception of 1989's "One". Chic and Donna Summer were the only acts other than the Bee Gees to have more than one song spend time at number one in 1979. Chic's "Le Freak", a number one at the end of 1978, returned to the peak position for three further weeks in the new year and the group achieved a second number one with "Good Times" in August. Summer spent three non-consecutive weeks in the top spot with "Hot Stuff" in June and five consecutive weeks atop the chart with "Bad Girls" in July and August, and returned to number one in November with "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)", a duet with Barbra Streisand. Summer's total of ten weeks at number one was the most by any act in 1979.

The year's longest-running number one was "My Sharona" by the Knack, which spent six consecutive weeks atop the Hot 100 beginning with the chart dated August 25. The band was one of ten acts to top the chart for the first time in 1979 but only one of the ten went on to achieve a second number one and most had only brief success on the Hot 100. Although the Knack had the longest-running chart-topper of 1979 with its debut single, the band did not reach the top 10 again and its chart career had ended completely by the end of 1981. The chart run of Anita Ward was even shorter; she reached number one with her first charting single, "Ring My Bell", in June 1979, but her follow-up single peaked only at number 87 and she never appeared on the Hot 100 again. The shortest Hot 100 career of any of the year's chart-topping acts was that of M; "Pop Muzik", which reached number one in November, was the only single by the act ever to enter the listing. Gloria Gaynor, Amii Stewart, Peaches & Herb, Robert John, Styx, and Rupert Holmes all reached number one for the first and only time in 1979. Peaches & Herb had first charted in 1966 but took more than a decade to reach the top spot. John had first appeared on the Hot 100 when "White Bucks and Saddle Shoes", released under his real name of Bobby Pedrick, Jr., reached number 74 in 1958 when he was just 12 years old. The 21-year gap between his first chart appearance and his first number one was a new record. Blondie was the only one of 1979's first-time chart-toppers to achieve further number ones; the new wave band went on to top the Hot 100 with three more singles before disbanding in 1982.

Chart history

+Issue dateTitleArtist(s)457"Too Much Heaven"Bee Gees456 (re)"Le Freak"Chic458"Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"459"I Will Survive"460"Tragedy"Bee Gees459 (re)"I Will Survive"461"What a Fool Believes"462"Knock on Wood"463"Heart of Glass"Blondie464"Reunited"Peaches & Herb465"Hot Stuff"466"Love You Inside Out"Bee Gees465 (re)"Hot Stuff"467"Ring My Bell"468"Bad Girls"469"Good Times"Chic470"My Sharona"471"Sad Eyes"472"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"473"Rise"474"Pop Muzik"M475"Heartache Tonight"Eagles476"Still"Commodores477"No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" and Donna Summer478"Babe"Styx479"Escape (The Piña Colada Song)"

Notes

Number-one artists + List of number-one artists by total weeks at number one Weeks at No. 1 Artist 10 Donna Summer 6 The Knack 5 Bee Gees 4 Rod Stewart Peaches & Herb Chic 3 Gloria Gaynor 2 Anita Ward Herb Alpert Barbra Streisand Styx Rupert Holmes 1 The Doobie Brothers Amii Stewart Blondie Robert John Michael Jackson M Eagles Commodores

See also 1979 in music List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1979 List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of the 1970s

References

Works cited