1976_in_British_music

1976 in British music

1976 in British music

Overview of the events of 1976 in British music

This is a summary of 1976 in music of all genres in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

Quick Facts List of years in British music ...

Overview

This year saw the emergence of disco as a force to be reckoned with, a trend which would hold for the rest of the decade and peak in the last two years. This was also the year which truly established ABBA as the top selling act of the decade with them achieving their second, third and fourth number ones (as well as releasing the biggest-selling album of the year). The ABBA formula was also replicated in the biggest-selling song of the year - the Eurovision-winning "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man, who began a three-year run in the UK charts from 1976. Other acts to achieve notable firsts were Elton John, who scored his first UK number one single this year (albeit as a duet with Kiki Dee), Showaddywaddy had their first and only number one and long-standing hitmaker Johnny Mathis also scored his biggest hit this year. The album charts saw TV advertising become a major factor in changing the landscape of big sellers with non-regular singles artists achieving high sales with compilations. Among these were Slim Whitman, Bert Weedon, Glen Campbell and The Beach Boys, who remained at number one for ten consecutive weeks.

Also emerging this year was a new trend, which became known as punk rock. This was little evident on the charts as yet, and was more a lifestyle choice, but would become much more significant the following year, as many new acts who typified the trend came onto the scene.

Overall, 1976 is not considered a vintage year by music critics, with its overwhelming dominance by pop and MOR acts. Certainly, many consider 1976 to be the nadir of British music and hold the year's charts up to be the very reason why Punk and New Wave music emerged with such force the following year.

Britain's foremost classical composers of the late 20th century, including Sir William Walton, Benjamin Britten and Sir Michael Tippett, were still active. Sir Charles Groves conducted the Last Night of the Proms, and the soloist for "Rule Britannia" was contralto Anne Collins; the programme included Walton's Portsmouth Point overture.

Events

Charts

Number One singles

More information Date, Song ...

[10]

Number One albums

More information Date, Album ...

[11]

Year-end charts

Between 5 January and 10 December 1976.

Best-selling singles

[12][13]

More information No., Title ...

Best-selling albums

The list of the top fifty best-selling albums of 1976 were published in Music Week and in Record Mirror at the end of the year, and reproduced in the second edition of the BPI Year Book in 1977. However, in 2007 the Official Charts Company published album chart histories for each year from 1956 to 1977, researched by historian Sharon Mawer, and included an updated list of the top ten best-selling albums for each year based on the new research. The updated top ten for 1976 is shown in the table below.[14]

More information No., Title ...

Bands formed

Bands disbanded

Classical Music: new works

Opera

Film and Incidental music

Musical films

Births

Deaths

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Official Singles Chart Top 50 | Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  2. [2]
    "Eurovision Song Contest 1976". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  3. [3]
    Fred Bronson (1997). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. Billboard Books. ISBN 978-0-8230-7641-3.
  4. [4]
    "No. 46954". The London Gazette. 6 July 1976. p. 9295.
  5. [5]
    Reebee Garofalo (1992). Rockin' the Boat: Mass Music and Mass Movements. South End Press. pp. 67. ISBN 978-0-89608-427-8.
  6. [6]
    Tony Fletcher (4 March 2010). Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon. Omnibus Press. p. 523. ISBN 978-0-85712-222-3.
  7. [7]
    BBC - Proms. Accessed 13 April 2013
  8. [8]
    Brian Southall (11 November 2009). Sex Pistols - 90 Days at EMI. Music Sales Group. ISBN 978-0-85712-037-3.
  9. [9]
    Dave Renton (2006). When we touched the sky: the Anti-Nazi League, 1977-1981. New Clarion Press. p. 91. ISBN 9781873797488.
  10. [10]
    "Number One singles of 1976". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  11. [11]
    "The Official Charts Company - Top albums of 1970". The Official Charts Company. 6 May 2013.
  12. [12]
    "Top 50 Singles of 1976". Music Week. London, England: Spotlight Publications: 25. 25 December 1976.
  13. [13]
    Hunter, Nigel, ed. (1977). "Top 100 Singles 1976". BPI Year Book 1977 (2nd ed.). London, England: The British Phonographic Industry Ltd. pp. 216–18. ISBN 0-906154-00-6.
  14. [14]
    Mawer, Sharon. "Album Chart History: 1976". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007.
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