Disco music has been a polarizing genre since it started hitting the radio in the early 70’s. Although the genre was hated by many – there were rallies to burn Disco records – the popularity in the US is undeniable. From 1974 to 1979, there were 45 Disco songs that went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Many of the Disco hits were recorded by new artists that associated directly with the genre such as KC & the Sunshine Band and Rose Royce while some hits were recorded by traditional soul artists such as Johnny Taylor and Marvin Gaye and even artists completely outside the genre such as Blondie. The list below shows every Disco song that reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. One note: I selected all of the songs that were obvious Disco songs and ended with the last #1 that was closely related to Disco (perhaps post-Disco) with Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration.
As a summary, here are the #1’s by year:
1974 – 4
1975 – 6
1976 – 8
1977 – 9
1978 – 8
1979 – 10
1980 – 4
1981 – 1
“TSOP” by MFSB and the Three Degrees (1974)
“Rock the Boat” by Hues Corporation (1974)
“Rock Your Baby” by George McCrae (1974)
“Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas (1974)
“Lady Marmalade” by Labelle (1975)
“The Hustle” by Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony (1975)
