UK Singles Chart: 1974

Although they wouldn't add to their number ones this year, it was a solid year for Slade with all three of their hits reaching the top 3. The year though was the turn of Mud to enjoy their greatest success. They were the only act to have two number ones with "Tiger Feet" and the Christmas number one "Lonely This Christmas". They also had a number two with "The Cat Crept In" and a number six with "Rocket".

Elvis and Cliff continue their streaks of hits every year since 1956 and 1958 respectively with Elvis having three more hits bringing his total to 88 and Cliff adding one more to his total bringing it to 64. Lonnie Donegan and Frank Sinatra still both remain in third place for most top 40 hits.

From the 50s we have Slim Whitman returning to the charts for his final hit with "Happy Anniversary" and Paul Anka returning with his final hit "You're Having My Baby". Meanwhile, the comeback from Perry Como would end this year with his final hit "I Want to Give".

The Hollies had a number two hit with "The Air That I Breathe" keeping up their run of hit every year since 1963. This would however be the end of this run, the only future top 40 hits they would have are a medley of their hits called "Holliedaze" and a re issue of "He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother" both in the 80s. Their total number of hits would stand at 27.

The Rolling Stones had a top ten hit with "It's Only Rock n Roll" this year. Despite having top 40 hits every year except 1970 since 1963, their total hits only stood at 20.

Also from the class of 1963 saw Cilla Black return to the charts with her final hit "Baby We Can't Go Wrong". Their was also a return for The Tymes with "You Little Trustmaker". At this point it was just the third hit from The Tymes, their second being in 1969, and all three had failed to reach the top 10. They would fair better on their fourth and final hit this year with "Ms Grace" which was a number one.

The year also marked the end of a run of a hit every year since 1965 for Tom Jones with the hit "Something Bout You Baby I Like". He would return 3 years later before having a 10 year absence from the charts.

After enjoying hits for most years since 1961, this would be the end of Gene Pitneys solo chart career with "Blue Angel". He would return 15 years later as part of a duet with Marc Almond on "Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart".

The year saw the beginning of Donny Osmonds chart career as part of a duo with his sister Marie with the number two hit "I'm Leaving It (All) Up To You", and the end of his 70s solo career with "Where Did All the Good Times Go".

It was the turn of the British teen idols to enjoy chart success though with David Essex scoring his first number one with "Gonna Make You A Star". We also saw a return to the charts for the Bay City Rollers with the number six hit "Remember (Sha-La-La)" followed by a further three top 10 hits.

Despite the chart careers of some Motown acts now being over and other acts now gone from the label, they would still be present on the charts via Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross, who would have a couple of duets with Marvin Gaye. Their were also a couple of new acts for Motown in the charts this year. There was the solo career of Smokey Robinson who had now left The Miracles with "Just My Soul Responding". Then there was the debut of The Commodores with "Machine Gun".

There was a new style of music making its way into the charts this year, disco music. There were several tunes which you could say were disco or funk/soul, but the first record to hit the top 40 which could only be really described as disco was "Loves Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra.

The first disco number one came this year from George McCrae with "Rock Your Baby". Other disco number ones included "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas and "You're the First, the Last, My Everything" by Barry White.

We saw the chart debut this year of Queen with number ten hit "Seven Seas of Rhye" followed by the number two hit "Killer Queen".

Another chart heavyweight making their debut was Abba with the number one "Waterloo". Quite surprisingly their follow up hit "Ring Ring" only made number 32. They were the first act from Sweden to top the charts.

There was a rare chart appearance from the Peter Gabriel era Genesis who got to number 21 with "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)". The next time we would see them in the top 40, Phil Collins would have taken over as lead singer.

After being absent from the charts since early 1973, the latter part of the year saw reggae music return to the charts with Ken Boothe scoring a number one with "Everything I Own". We would also have reggae top 10s from Rupie Edwards with "Ire Feelings (Skanga)" and from John Holt with his reggae cover of "Help Me Make It Through the Night" which had been a hit for Gladys Knight & the Pips a couple of years earlier.

Despite the fact there were still 50s acts in the charts, the rock n roll revival in the charts began this year with Showaddywaddy making their debut with the number two hit "Hey Rock n Roll".

The year saw the first act from the Bahamas on the charts with Beginning Of The End having their only hit with "Funky Nassau".

So although glam rock and the teen idols were still very much present in the charts, there was plenty of other music having its say. Would it still be around in 1975 and would we continue to see the rise of disco? and will there be any more chart heavyweights making their debut?