The number one song in Australia for the year 1979 was "Some Girls" by Racey, although several massive hits like The Knack's "My Sharona" and Patrick Hernandez's "Born to be Alive" also topped the charts at different times during that year.
This is a list of Billboard magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1979. The Top 100, as revealed in the year-end edition of Billboard dated December 22, 1979. "My Sharona" by The Knack (singer Doug Fieger pictured) was the number-one song of 1979.
Best-selling singles
Art Garfunkel had the best-selling single of the year with "Bright Eyes". The single spent nine weeks in the top 10 (including six weeks at number one) and was certified platinum by the BPI.
Pop Hits: 1979
Party Like It's 1979
1979 Best Selling Albums Based on Worldwide Sales
1979 was the the year of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster and controversial SALT-II treaty negotiations with the Soviet Union. President Jimmy Carter promised to bring the hostages home from Iran as the dramatic situation inside the American embassy unfolded before a national television audience.
In "The Early Show"'s weeklong "Time Machine" series, the anchors discussed several products Monday that made their debut or were big hits in 1979: the Sony Walkman, the Burton snowboard, the McDonald's Happy Meal, leg warmers and Strawberry Shortcake. Relics of '79!
1979 was the year that new wave became the genre. It went from being a purely underground movement to a massive commercial success. There were so many top-notch new wave albums that came out that year, with Talking Heads, Blondie, The Police, Squeeze, and more all climbing the charts with their releases.
The Guinness World Records named the holiday single "White Christmas" (1942) by Bing Crosby as the best-selling single worldwide. According to Guinness, "White Christmas" sold over 50 million copies. The single is known as the "best-selling single of all time".
Donna Summer's "Bad Girls" from her seventh studio album of the same name hit #1 on the US singles chart 46 years ago on July 14, 1979. The one-two punch of the Hot Stuff and Bad Girls singles ruled disco, pop and r&b radio for the spring and Summer of 1979.
The song appears in the film Clerks II (2006) and during the credits of the video game Gran Turismo 5 (2010). It was also released as part of a Smashing Pumpkins-themed DLC pack for the rhythm game Guitar Hero World Tour.
Country Hits: 1979
1979/1981: Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears
As the character and her friends hit animation, toy company Kenner turned the characters into a more figural line of dolls with pet pals, playsets, and an infused scent for each character associated with their name.
Major Events of 1979
Examples include the personal computer, the drugs Cisplatin, lovastatin and Omeprazole, the dual cyclone vacuum cleaner, voicemail, and genetic engineering.
The biggest box office bomb is often debated, but Disney's John Carter (2012) is frequently cited, losing an estimated $200 million or more on a huge budget, with other major flops including Disney's Strange World (2022) and Disney's Mars Needs Moms (2011). These films suffered massive financial losses due to high production/marketing costs and poor audience turnout, with John Carter losing potentially $225M and Strange World around $197M.
Classic releases from multiple genres like rock, rap, R&B, disco, and new wave were crashing up against our ears on our radios, our boomboxes, and — in the Summer of '79 — on a new device called the Sony Walkman.
Things That Were Popular During The 1979 Eclipse
Born in 1979
You see 1979 was the year that FEMA and the Department of Education were created in the USA. It was the year of the Clean Air Act, PCB bans, Clean Water, Asbestos regulation (although that took 10 years to finish), and Lead paint bans.