Nineteen-seventy was weird. Honestly, there is no other way to describe the sonic whiplash happening on the Billboard Hot 100 that year. You had the Beatles literally falling apart in the public eye while a group of siblings from Gary, Indiana, were just starting to take over the world. It was the year the "Sixties" actually died, and the number 1 hits of 1970 prove that nobody really knew what was coming next.
Music wasn't just background noise back then. It was the news.
If you look at the charts from January to December, you’ll see a bizarre tug-of-war between flower-power leftovers and the birth of heavy arena rock, bubblegum pop, and sophisticated soul. We aren't talking about a smooth transition. It was messy. One week you’re listening to the psychedelic fuzz of B.J. Thomas, and the next, you’re hit with the precision-engineered soul of the Jackson 5.
The Beatles' Long Goodbye and the Rise of the New Guard
The year kicked off with a hangover. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" by B.J. Thomas held the top spot as the calendar flipped. It’s a classic, sure, but it felt like a safe, easy-listening bridge out of a very turbulent decade. But the real story of the number 1 hits of 1970 begins with "Let It Be."
The Beatles were essentially a ghost by the time the song hit number one in April.
Paul McCartney had already announced his departure. The dream was over. When you listen to "Let It Be" or "The Long and Winding Road" (their final chart-topper that June), you can hear the exhaustion. These weren't "She Loves You" rockers. They were funeral dirges for the greatest band in history. Phil Spector’s "Wall of Sound" production on "The Long and Winding Road" famously annoyed McCartney, yet it defined the sound of the era's end—bloated, grand, and deeply sentimental.
But while the Fab Four were exiting stage left, the Jackson 5 were sprinting through the door.
They did something no one else had done: their first four singles all hit number one. In 1970 alone, they clocked "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save," and "I'll Be There." Think about that. A group of kids—led by a pre-teen Michael Jackson—was dominating the airwaves with a level of vocal precision that made veteran rockers look sloppy. "I Want You Back" isn't just a pop song; it’s a masterclass in bass-driven soul. It signaled a shift toward a more polished, commercial version of R&B that would dominate the decade.
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Why Simon & Garfunkel Owned the Year
You can't talk about the number 1 hits of 1970 without mentioning the behemoth that was "Bridge over Troubled Water."
It spent six weeks at the top starting in February. It was the biggest seller of the year. Art Garfunkel’s vocal performance is often cited by musicologists as one of the peak moments in 20th-century recording. It’s basically a secular hymn. At a time when the Vietnam War was tearing the U.S. apart and the Kent State shootings (which happened in May 1970) were about to shatter the student movement, "Bridge over Troubled Water" offered a sort of sonic sanctuary.
It’s interesting, though.
Paul Simon wrote it, but he didn't sing lead. He later admitted to feeling a twinge of jealousy when audiences gave Garfunkel standing ovations for it. That tension eventually broke them up, mirroring the Beatles' collapse. 1970 was the year of the "Great Breakup."
The Strange Case of "Venus" and "The Tears of a Clown"
Sometimes the charts just got weird.
In February, a Dutch band called Shocking Blue hit number one with "Venus." It’s a garage-rock-meets-pop masterpiece with a riff that everyone knows but few people associate with 1970. Then you had "The Tears of a Clown" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. This is a fascinating bit of trivia: the song was actually three years old. It had been an album track on Make It Happen since 1967.
It only became a hit because the UK wing of Motown released it as a single and it blew up, prompting the US office to follow suit. It reached number one in December 1970, proving that sometimes the "new" sound was just a recycled gem that finally found its moment.
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The Year of the Sensitive Singer-Songwriter
As the political rage of the late 60s began to curdle into the "Me Decade" of the 70s, the music got quieter. More introspective.
Ray Stevens gave us "Everything Is Beautiful," a gospel-tinged plea for unity. Bread brought us "Make It with You," the quintessential "soft rock" track. Even Three Dog Night’s "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)"—which hit number one in July—was a song about feeling uncomfortable at a wild party. The shift was palpable. The counterculture was tired. People wanted to retreat into their own heads, or at least into a comfortable chair with some headphones.
The number 1 hits of 1970 reflected a society trying to find its footing after a decade of revolution.
Notable Number Ones That Defined the Transition:
- "War" by Edwin Starr: A raw, aggressive soul track that didn't mince words. It spent three weeks at number one in the fall. It’s arguably the most "60s" sounding hit of 1970 because of its overt political stance.
- "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Diana Ross: This wasn't the upbeat duet she did with Marvin Gaye. This was the six-minute, cinematic, spoken-word-heavy reimagining. It was Ross’s "I’m a superstar" announcement after leaving the Supremes.
- "Cracklin' Rosie" by Neil Diamond: The start of the Diamond era. Catchy, slightly over-the-top, and perfect for the emerging FM radio format.
Misconceptions About the 1970 Charts
A lot of people think 1970 was just "The Beatles and Woodstock." It wasn't.
Actually, Woodstock was already a year old, and the 1970 charts were surprisingly conservative in some ways. You had "(They Long to Be) Close to You" by The Carpenters holding the top spot for four weeks in the summer. Karen Carpenter’s voice was flawless, but the song was a throwback to a pre-rock era of pop standards. It was "safe" music for a dangerous time.
There's also this idea that rock music was the only thing that mattered.
Look at the data. 1970 was arguably the year soul and R&B became the dominant commercial force. From the Jackson 5 to Freda Payne’s "Band of Gold" (which peaked at #3 but was everywhere) to Edwin Starr, the "Black sound" of America was the actual heartbeat of the charts, even as rock bands got the most magazine covers.
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The Technical Shift: From Mono to Stereo
By 1970, the way people heard these hits was changing.
AM radio was still king for singles, but FM was gaining ground. This meant producers were starting to think about "space" in their recordings. "Bridge over Troubled Water" sounds massive because it was designed to fill a room. The drum sound on "Instant Karma!" (John Lennon’s solo hit that year) was intentionally loud and "slap-back" heavy.
Engineers like Tom Dowd and Al Schmitt were becoming as important as the musicians. They were crafting the "hi-fi" sound that would define the rest of the decade. If you listen to a number one hit from 1964 and compare it to a number one hit from 1970, the 1970 track sounds like it was recorded in a different century. The fidelity jump was massive.
How to Truly Experience the 1970 Sound
If you want to understand why these songs worked, you have to listen to them in context.
Don't just play a "Greatest Hits" shuffle. Look at the timeline. Listen to the Jackson 5's "ABC" immediately followed by The Guess Who’s "American Woman." The contrast is jarring. You have the ultimate bubblegum soul track followed by a Canadian hard rock anthem that was essentially a protest song against American imperialism.
That was the 1970 experience. Chaos.
Essential Listening Steps:
- Analyze the "Wall of Sound" Influence: Listen to "The Long and Winding Road" and notice how the orchestration almost drowns out the band. It's the sound of a producer (Spector) taking over.
- Contrast the Vocals: Listen to the raw grit of Edwin Starr in "War" versus the polished, angelic layering of The Carpenters in "Close to You." Both were number one hits within weeks of each other.
- Track the Soul Evolution: Follow the progression from The Miracles to the Jackson 5. You can hear the "Motown Sound" evolving from 60s charm to 70s powerhouse pop.
Nineteen-seventy wasn't a year with a single identity. It was a bridge. It carried the weight of the 1960s' failures and the shimmering, sometimes shallow, promise of the 1970s. When you look back at the number 1 hits of 1970, you aren't just looking at a list of songs; you're looking at a map of a culture trying to figure out who it wanted to be now that the party was over.
To get the full picture, go back and find the Billboard charts for July 1970 specifically. It's the perfect microcosm of the year—a mix of Three Dog Night, The Carpenters, and the Jackson 5. Listen to those three back-to-back. It tells you everything you need to know about the messy, beautiful transition of the era.