Top 1970s Artists Who Never Charted Before or After: One-Decade Wonders, Vol. 2:

(April 19, 2025). The 1970s gave us the most stylistically diverse Top 40 radio of the 20th century — disco anthems, arena rock, Motown, Philly soul, funk, punk, outlaw country, new wave, yacht rock, and AM gold all jockeying for position on the Billboard Hot 100.  It was a golden age of musical experimentation and, for many artists, it was the decade where everything came together — and in a flash it was gone!

While many of the biggest stars of the ‘70s made seamless transitions into the ‘80s and beyond — think Elton John, Olivia Newton-John, or Fleetwood Mac — others saw the decade serve as their rise, their peak, and their collapse — at least chart-wise.  As Dick Clark’s ball dropped on New Year’s Eve 1979, so did their Hot 100 careers.

Whether victims of tragic deaths, changing tastes, label shakeups, or simply lightning that refused to strike beyond the decade of huge Afros and bell-bottom pants, these artists left an outsized footprint on the charts during one of pop’s most transformative eras — only to permanently vanish from the Hot 100 once the calendar turned to 1980.

So once again, djrobblog dove into the Billboard archives and compiled the 30 biggest acts whose entire chart lives — every hit, every peak, every Casey Kasem story — were lived out between January 1, 1970, and December 31, 1979.

Similar Reading: One-Decade Wonders, Vol. 1 — the ‘80s.

You’ll recognize some as icons of the era, their hits forever etched into the bell-bottomed soul of the ‘70s.  Others might feel like long-forgotten 8-track tapes or that warped vinyl you just unearthed in your parents’ attic — scratched, faded, but still oddly magical.

Scroll down to see the 30 biggest acts who started charting in the ‘70s, helped define the decade, and then disappeared from the Hot 100’s pages altogether — ranked using a system similar to one late legend Joel Whitburn used for his chart books.  How many of these decade-only dynamos do you remember?  And how many made you say, “I totally forgot about them… but I loved their music”?

30. Love Unlimited Orchestra

1st Hot 100 entry: “Love’s Theme” (12/1/73)

Last: “Theme from King Kong (Pt. 1)” (1/22/77)

29. Leon Russell

1st Hot 100 entry: “Tight Rope” (8/26/72)

Last: “Rainbow In Your Eyes” (6/19/76)

28. Gloria Gaynor

1st Hot 100 entry: “Never Can Say Goodbye” (11/2/74)

Last: “Let Me Know (I Have A Right)” (9/22/79)

27. Raspberries

1st Hot 100 entry: “Don’t Want to Say Goodbye” (5/13/72)

Last: “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)” (9/14/74)

26. Shaun Cassidy

1st Hot 100 entry: “Da Doo Ron Ron” (5/14/77)

Last: “Our Night” (9/9/78)

25. The Sylvers

1st Hot 100 entry: “Fools Paradise” (9/2/72)

Last: “Any Way You Want Me” (11/26/77)

24. Chairmen of the Board

1st Hot 100 entry: “Give Me Just a Little More Time” (1/17/70)

Last: “Finder’s Keepers” (6/9/73)

23. Loggins & Messina

1st Hot 100 entry: “Vahevala” (4/15/72)

Last: “A Lover’s Question” (10/18/75)

22. Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds

1st Hot 100 entry: “Don’t Pull Your Love” (5/22/71)

Last: “Everyday Without You” (4/3/76)

21. Lynyrd Skynyrd

1st Hot 100 entry: “Sweet Home Alabama” (7/27/74)

Last: “You Got That Right” (4/15/78)

20. 10cc

1st Hot 100 entry: “Rubber Bullets” (9/15/73)

Last: “For You and I” (2/3/79)

19. The Main Ingredient

1st Hot 100 entry: “You’ve Been My Inspiration” (6/27/70)

Last: “Rolling Down a Mountainside” (5/24/75)

18. Curtis Mayfield

1st Hot 100 entry: “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below We’re All Going To Go” (11/21/70)

Last: “So In Love” (9/27/75)

17. Donny & Marie Osmond

1st Hot 100 entry: “I’m Leaving It All Up To You” (7/6/74)

Last: “On the Shelf” (10/7/78)

16. The Dramatics

1st Hot 100 entry: “Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get” (7/3/71)

Last: “Ocean of Thoughts and Dreams” (5/6/78)

15. Gilbert O’Sullivan

1st Hot 100 entry: “Alone Again (Naturally)” (6/17/72)

Last: “Happiness Is Me and You” (3/23/74)

14. Melanie

1st Hot 100 entry: “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)” (4/25/70)

Last: “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (12/15/73)

13. Rare Earth

1st Hot 100 entry: “Get Ready” (3/14/70)

Last: “Warm Ride” (4/29/78)

12. Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes

1st Hot 100 entry: “I Miss You” (7/1/72)

Last: “Reaching for the World” (2/12/77)

11. Bay City Rollers

1st Hot 100 entry: “Saturday Night” (10/11/75)

Last: “The Way I Feel Tonight” (10/15/77)

10. The Partridge Family

1st Hot 100 entry: “I Think I Love You” (10/10/70)

Last: “Friend and a Lover” (4/14/73)

9. Bachman Turnover Overdrive

1st Hot 100 entry: “Blue Collar” (12/1/73)

Last: “Heartaches” (2/24/79)

8. Seals & Crofts

1st Hot 100 entry: “Summer Breeze” (9/9/72)

Last: “Takin’ It Easy” (9/2/78)

7. Jim Croce

1st Hot 100 entry: “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” (7/1/72)

Last: “Chain Gang Medley” (1/3/76)

6. Cat Stevens/Yusef

1st Hot 100 entry: “Wild World” (2/13/71)

Last: “Bad Brakes (1/27/79)

5. Ohio Players

1st Hot 100 entry: “Pain (Part 1)” (12/15/71)

Last: “O-H-I-O” (7/23/77)

4. The Osmonds

1st Hot 100 entry: “One Bad Apple” (1/2/71)

Last: “I Can’t Live a Dream” (10/2/76)

3. Bread

1st Hot 100 entry: “Make It With You” (6/13/70)

Last: “Hooked On You” (4/6/77)

2. Stylistics

1st Hot 100 entry: “You’re a Big Girl Now” (1/9/71)

Last: “You Are Beautiful” (3/13/76)

1. Tony Orlando & Dawn

1st Hot 100 entry: “Candida” (7/25/70)

Last: “Sing” (4/2/77)

Every one of those acts’ first and last Hot 100 entries occurred in the 1970s, and Tony Orlando & Dawn is the biggest of them all with 20 Hot 100 hits including three No. 1 smashes!

Near Misses:

There were many other acts whose biggest impact came in the ‘70s but, because of one stray hit outside of that decade, just missed qualifying for this list.  They include Helen Reddy, Ringo Starr, Badfinger, Gordon Lightfoot, Lobo, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Peter Frampton, Art Garfunkel, and David Cassidy, among many others.

Yes, their chart runs began and ended with the decade, but for those who lived it, their songs still crackle with the same magic they had on the first spin.

Be on the lookout for the next article in this series, where I’ll rank the 1960s acts whose hits were all confined to that decade!

And click here for the ‘80s version of One-Decade Wonders.

DJRob

DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff!  You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.

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