Best Song: Congregation - Softly Whispering I Love You
When I was picking my record of the year for my yearly chart reviews I picked this record for 1971. I love the contradiction of a choir singing at the start and then a singer with a rough voice starts singing over the top. I've loved this record since as far back as I can remember.
Worst Song: Cher - Gypsys Tramps And Thieves
It had been 4 years since Cher had last been in the Top 40 either as a solo artist or with Sonny who she was still married to at this point. It was her only big hit of the 70s with her only other Top 40 hit of the decade reaching 36. Quite unusually for Cher this wasn't a cover, but it very much sounds like a karaoke record.
Top 40 Review
The 70s are considered by some as the decade of the Christmas song. It may therefore come as a surprise to hear that the Christmas charts of 1971 and no Christmas songs in them.
The Christmas number one was a novelty record by Benny Hill with "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)" which was his swan song having had a brief Top 40 career in the early 60s. There were also a couple of Jonathan King related novelty record.
There were no less than 3 orchestras in the Top 40 who were Johnny Pearson Orchestra, John Barry Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. All 3 records get half marks.
The biggest contributor of the points for this chart was the funk and soul records. All of them get at least half marks and highlights include the Northern Soul record "Run Baby Run" by Newbeats and "Tired Of Being Alone" by Al Green. There was also a collaboration between The Supremes And The Four Tops with "You Gotta Have Love In Your Heart".
It was the year that Jim Morrison of The Doors died and there's a posthumous hit for them with "Riders On The Storm" which surprisingly was just their 2nd Top 40 hit.
A strong candidate for best song was "I Will Return" by Springwater. A great record which is possibly helped by the fact it was sampled on a drum & bass record in the 90s that I liked.
Overall this looks like a Top 40 that could have existed any time of the year. Perhaps aside from the novelty Christmas number one there's nothing really telling me this is a Christmas chart. Even novelty records top the charts at other times of the year.
As a result we end up with a very respectable score.
Score: 16.5
Table
The 1971 Christmas charts beat the 1971 best year chart and sits 2nd in the table so far:
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