CS Knowledge Base

The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart published since August 1958 by Billboard magazine which ranks the best-performing singles in the United States.^[1] In 1974, it was compiled based on a combination of sales and airplay data sourced from surveys of retail outlets and playlists submitted by radio stations respectively.^[1] During the year, 36 different singles spent time at number one, the most in the chart's history to that point.^[2]

In the issue of Billboard dated January 5, Jim Croce was at number one with "Time in a Bottle", retaining the top spot from the final chart of 1973.^[3] A week later, it was displaced by "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band, the first Hot 100 number one for the group.^[4] In February, Barbra Streisand topped the chart for the first time. She had first reached number one on Billboard's Pop-Standard Singles chart (later variously known as Easy Listening and Adult Contemporary) in 1964,^[5] but it was a further ten years before she reached the peak position on the Hot 100 with "The Way We Were".^[6] The song was taken from the soundtrack of the film of the same name, in which she starred.^[6] Streisand is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, with reported sales of 200 million records worldwide,^[7] and is one of a select group of entertainers to have won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards.^[8] "The Way We Were" spent three non-consecutive weeks at number one, being displaced for a single week by "Love's Theme" by the Love Unlimited Orchestra, another first-time chart-topper.^[9] Barry White, who had assembled and led the Love Unlimited Orchestra, gained his first number one under his own name in September with "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe".^[10] In the issue dated March 2, "The Way We Were" was replaced at number one by "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks, the first and only chart-topper for the Canadian singer.^[11] "Seasons in the Sun" held the top spot for three consecutive weeks; no single spent longer at number one during 1974.

John Denver gained his first number one when "Sunshine on My Shoulders" topped the chart in the issue dated March 30.^[12] Denver returned to the top spot in late July with "Annie's Song"; he was the only act with more than one number one in 1974. "The Streak" by Ray Stevens was the second single of 1974 to spend three consecutive weeks at number one and the third to spend three weeks in total in the top spot, beginning in the issue dated May 18. On the chart dated June 15, Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods reached number one for the first and only time with "Billy Don't Be a Hero".^[13] The original version of the song by the British band Paper Lace had been a number one in the United Kingdom earlier in the year;^[14] although that recording had only reached number 96 on the Hot 100, Paper Lace gained its first U.S. number one in August with "The Night Chicago Died".^[15] The third number one of the year to spend three consecutive weeks in the peak position was "(You're) Having My Baby" by Paul Anka and Odia Coates; it was Anka's first number one since 1959 and the first of Coates's career, achieved with her first single to enter the Hot 100.^[16] Other acts to earn their first number one in 1974 were Al Wilson, Blue Swede, MFSB, the Three Degrees, Gordon Lightfoot, the Hues Corporation, George McCrae, Eric Clapton, Andy Kim, Olivia Newton-John, Dionne Warwick, the Spinners, Bachman–Turner Overdrive, Billy Swan, Carl Douglas, and Harry Chapin.^[17] After George Harrison had his first solo number one in 1970, Paul McCartney in 1971, and Ringo Starr in 1973, John Lennon became the final former member of the Beatles to top the Hot 100 as a soloist when "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" spent a single week atop the listing in November.^[18] It was the only solo number one he achieved in the United States prior to his murder in 1980.^[19]

• 1974 in music
• List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1974
• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of the 1970s