Top Songs of 1979

The musical landscape of 1979

Dance music, funk, soft rock, album-oriented rock and crossover pop created one of the most stylistically crowded periods in chart history.

Donna Summer appears 3 times in the Top 20, making the artist one of the clearest recurring presences in this year’s list.

What to listen for

Listen for rhythm-section prominence, layered studio production and the way dance-floor energy sits beside softer radio favourites.

This list contains 17 different credited artists. The number gives a quick indication of whether the year was concentrated among repeat hitmakers or spread across a wider field.

Billboard Year-End Top 20 songs of 1979

Build a 1979 playlist

Start with “My Sharona” by The Knack, then alternate familiar high-ranking records with contrasting selections from the lower half of the list.

Open the playlist builder

How this page should be used

Year-End charts summarize performance across an extended chart year. They are not simply a list of songs that reached number one, and historical methodology has changed. Treat this page as a guided listening resource and compact chart-history reference rather than a mathematical comparison with other eras.