This is a summary of 1978 in music in the United Kingdom.

• 14 January - The Sex Pistols played their final show (until a reunion in 1996), at Winterland, San Francisco.
• 24 January - Wings' "Mull of Kintyre" made No.1 for its ninth (and final) week - becoming the biggest-selling single in UK history at that point.
• 25 January - Electric Light Orchestra kicked off their Out of the Blue world tour in Honolulu, Hawaii.
• 11 March - Kate Bush became the first female solo artist to reach number one in the UK charts with a self-written song ("Wuthering Heights").
• 30 April - The Clash, Tom Robinson Band, Steel Pulse, X-Ray Spex, the Ruts, Misty in Roots and Generation X all play live in Victoria Park, Hackney at the Anti-Nazi League/Rock Against Racism festival, following a march from Trafalgar Square.
• 25 May - The Who played their last show with Keith Moon.
• 15 July - The Picnic at Blackbushe Aerodrome, Camberley, Surrey, a concert featuring Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Joan Armatrading, attracted some 200,000 people.^[1]
• 30 July - Thin Lizzy officially announced that Gary Moore had replaced Brian Robertson on guitar.
• 18 August - The Who released their eighth studio album Who Are You. It is The Who's last album with Keith Moon as the drummer; Moon died twenty days after the release of this album.
• September - Second anti-racism event staged in Brockwell Park, South London, featuring Elvis Costello, Stiff Little Fingers and Aswad, with 150,000 attending.^{[citation needed]}
• 27 November - Def Leppard's permanent drummer Rick Allen joined the band at the age of 15.
• December - UB40 formed.
• The Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever became the biggest-selling album of all time (until overtaken in 1983).
• First BBC Young Musician of the Year competition for classical players won by trombonist Michael Hext.
• Operatic contralto Helen Watts is appointed a CBE.
• Multitone Records is founded by Pranil Gohil and specializing in bhangra style music.

The tables below include sales between 31 December 1977 and 30 December 1978: the year-end charts reproduced in the issue of Music Week dated 23 December 1978 and played on Radio 1 on 31 December 1978 only include sales figures up until 16 December 1978.

• Malcolm Arnold - Symphony No. 8
• Peter Maxwell Davies - Symphony no. 1
• Daniel Jones - String Quartet No 4
• Malcolm Williamson
  • Azure
  • Fiesta

• Tony Banks - The Shout, starring Alan Bates, Susannah York and John Hurt.
• Roy Budd - The Wild Geese.
• Ron Goodwin - Force 10 from Navarone directed by Guy Hamilton, starring Robert Shaw and Edward Fox.
• Ed Welch - The Thirty Nine Steps, starring Robert Powell.

• 1 January - Tarik O'Regan, composer
• 3 January - Luke Manning, co-founder of Mostar Records
• 13 January - Shelley Nash, singer (Girls@Play)
• 15 January - Sandi Lee Hughes, singer (allSTARS*)
• 19 January - Wayne Williams, singer (Another Level)
• 13 February - Hamish Glencross, Scottish guitarist
• 14 February - Ryan Griffiths (The Vines)
• 22 February - Jenny Frost, singer (Atomic Kitten)
• 6 April - Myleene Klass, singer (Hear'Say), radio and TV presenter
• 7 April - Duncan James, singer (Blue)
• 9 April - Rachel Stevens, singer (S Club 7)
• 16 April - Terry Daly, Irish singer (Mytown)
• 23 April - Tom Lowe, singer and keyboardist (North and South)
• 25 April - Luke Bedford, composer
• 28 April - Lauren Laverne, singer, radio DJ and TV presenter
• 4 May - Matthew Rose, bass
• 22 May - Jordan, model and would-be singer
• 29 May - Adam Rickitt, singer
• 6 June - Sophie Solomon, violinist
• 16 June - Elisa Cariera, American-born singer (Solid HarmoniE)
• 4 July - Stephen McNally, English singer-songwriter (BBMak)
• 1 August - Jonathan Wilkes, singer and entertainer
• 3 September - Johnny Shentall, singer (Boom!)
• 15 September - David Sneddon, singer-songwriter
• 27 September - Jamie Benson, singer (Hepburn)
• 7 October - Alesha Dixon, singer (Mis-Teeq)
• 9 October
  • Nicky Byrne, Irish singer (Westlife)
  • Beverley Fullen, drummer (Hepburn)
• 26 October - Rachael Carr, singer (Boom!)
• 27 October - Sabrina Washington, singer (Mis-Teeq)
• 29 October - Sam Chapman, singer and keyboardist (North and South)
• 1 November - Bobak Kianovsh, singer (Another Level)
• 7 November - Mark Read, singer (A1)
• 27 November - Mike Skinner, rapper, musician and record producer
• 12 December - Paul Walker, Irish singer (Mytown)
• 18 December - Lindsay Armaou, Greek-born Irish-based singer (B*Witched)
• date unknown - Oliver Weeks, composer, arranger and guitarist

• 11 January - William John Edwards, Cerdd Dant singer (b. 1898)
• 15 January - Jack Jackson, trumpeter, bandleader and radio disc jockey (b. 1906)
• 24 February - Mrs Mills, pianist (b. 1918)
• 9 March - L. Radley Flynn, singer and actor (b. 1902)
• 12 March - Tolchard Evans, songwriter, composer, pianist and bandleader (b. 1901)
• 3 April - Ray Noble, composer and bandleader (b. 1903)
• 21 April - Sandy Denny, singer (Fairport Convention) (b. 1947) (cerebral haemorrhage)
• 14 August - Victor Silvester, dance band leader (b. 1900)
• 7 September
  • Keith Moon, drummer for The Who (b. 1946) (Clomethiazole overdose)
  • Charles Williams, composer (b. 1893)
• 15 September - Robert Bruce Montgomery, composer (b. 1921)
• 13 November - W. S. Gwynn Williams, musician and composer (b. 1896)

• 1978 in British radio
• 1978 in British television
• 1978 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1978