UK Singles Chart: 1977

There are many years which you can attribute to a certain style of music, but the most obvious one is 1977 being the year of Punk. Perhaps it's because of the Queens Silver Jubilee happening the same year. But did the charts reflect the Punk movement which was happening at the time?

The end of 1976 saw the Sex Pistols chart for the first time with the first Punk record to reach the Top 40. However we'd have to wait until April until we saw the next Punk record chart, "White Riot" by The Clash. The same month from the American Punk scene we had Television chart with "Marquee Moon".

Then in May we had debuts from The Jam with "In the City" and The Stranglers with "Peaches/Go Buddy Go", and from America we had The Ramones with "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker". So that's five Punk records prior to "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols which charted in June.

This opened up the floodgates in July with further hits from the Sex Pistols, The Stranglers, The Jam and Television, plus the only hit from Australian Punk band The Saints with "This Perfect Day".

In August we had The Ramones second hit "Shallow Is My Pride" plus debuts from The Boomtown Rats with "Looking After No1" and The Adverts with "Gary Gilmore's Eyes". We also had pub rockers Eddie & the Hot Rods have a Punk record with "Do Anything You Wanna Do" under the alias "The Rods".

September saw the debut of Generation X with "Your Generation", October saw Tom Robinson Band debut with "2-4-6-8 Motorway", November had Elvis Costello debut with "Watching The Detectives" and December had The Banned have their only hit with "Little Girl". During this period we had further hits from The Stranglers, Sex Pistols, Boomtown Rats and The Jam.

So in summary we have 9 punk acts from the UK, 2 from America, 1 from Ireland and 1 from Australia plus a pub rock band having a punk tune in the charts this year.

As well as punk though, we had the very music Punk was trying to kill off in the charts, Progressive Rock. Their was a return to the charts for Genesis with "Spot the Pigeon EP". We also had the debut of former Genesis singer Peter Gabriel with "Solsbury Hill". Also debuting despite being around for almost a decade was Yes with "Wondrous Stories".

There are two acts which you could say enjoyed the greatest success in the charts this year. There was Abba who had two hits "Knowing Me Knowing You" and "The Name of the Game" which both made number one. This meant Abba were now level with Slade in fifth place for most number ones with 6.

Also scoring two number ones this year was David Soul with "Don't Give Up On Us" and "Silver Lady". He also had a number two with "Going In With My Eyes Open" and a number 8 with "Lets Have A Quiet Night In", though this wouldn't peak until the following year.

The year 1977 was also as year remembered for the death of Elvis Presley. This didn't stop his chart career though, he scored his 17th number one with "Way Down" to equal the Beatles in first place with most number ones. He also had hits with "Moody Blue" and "My Way" bringing his total number of hits to 97 and continue his streak of hits every year since 1956.

Cliff Richard had one hit this year bringing his total to 69, whilst Frank Sinatra and Lonnie Donegan remained in third and fourth place, neither adding to their total this year.

From Motown, Stevie Wonder kept his streak of hits every year since 1966 and Diana Ross kept her streak of hits every year since 1970. This year would mark the end of the run for both artists though. We also had Marvin Gaye return with his final hit for Motown with "Got To Give It Up". Also returning for the first time since their debut in 1974 was the Commodores with "Easy" which they followed up with "Sweet Love/Brick House". We also saw Thelma Houston have her only top 40 hit with "Don't Leave Me This Way".

The Carpenters and Hot Chocolate kept their run of hits every year of the 70s going with Hot Chocolate having their only number one with "So You Win Again".

After being one of the chart heavyweights earlier on in the decade, this year would be the last we'd so of Slade in the 70s with the number 32 single "My Baby Left Me - That's All Right". They would return again in the 80s. Also charting not only for the last time in the 70s, but last time full stop was Bay City Rollers, their final hit being the number 34 "You Made Me Believe In Magic".

This was also the year 1952 debutant Bing Crosby died and he would return to the charts after a 20 year absence with "White Christmas". This was the first time his version charted as it was originally released before the charts existed.

After a 15 year absence we saw the return of Danny Williams with his final hit "Dancin Easy".

The disco scene was still going strong, this was the year Donna Summer reached number one with "I Feel Love". We also had debuts from Earth Wind & Fire with "Saturday Nite" and Chic debut with "Dance Dance Dance".

Given this was the year the Sex Pistols were at the height of their success, plus having 12 more punk acts make their debut, calling this the year of punk seems quite accurate. As you would expect though, it wasn't the only thing happening in the charts. The music which dominated the early part of the 70s was dying out by this point. The acts who have continued to have hits since the start of the decade aren't acts which you would say are music that defined any part of the decade, this may be why they had longevity.

The question is whether punk would go from strength to strength in 1978 or would it be in decline? how would disco fare? and is their any sign that the 80s aren't too far away?