Top 10 Decade Defining Songs: 1970s

Bohemian Rhapsody not only defines the seventies as a whole and should be number one it is still as big now as it was then if not bigger and the movie by the same name blew up made over a billion dollars that text Queen We Will Rock You also but right now Queen Bohemian Rhapsody number one most in for influencing song from the seventies Platinum Queen Brian May Rodger Taylor John Deacon and Freddie Mercury talk to me

“ it’s rock, it’s opera, it’s life, it’s brilliant.”
It’s a bloody masterpiece darling

BOHEMIAN RAPSODY NUMBER THREE WE HALF TO TALK

You could make a top 100 and still miss some.

Well, I know I didn't buy every copy of Saturday Night Fever, so the Bee Gees couldn't have been so bad.

The woman narrating these lists has bad taste, her lists never make sense.

How is sabbath not on here.
Death and hatred to mankind.

RIP JOHN BONHAM

Imagine is literally about communism lol

Yawn no 5 zzzzzzz
Feminist. CRAP

Bowie deserves more

No ac/dc?

Every single song on rumours with the exception of the chain was one band members F U to another bend member

What about The Ramones or Black Sabbath or Elo

No prog rock?

You ask if we agree with your list...well, no. I'd taken Hotel California at #1, put Staying Alive instead of I Will Survive at #5 because it came around the time Disco started to die out, yet Rock anthems are very much alive and kicking with their influence in modern music.

Ridiculous. It's not that i don't like Bee gees. But it's importance to the world music is nothing compared with Queen, and in particular, the master piece that's Bohemian Rhapsody. Are you crazy?

Staying Alive is more influential than Bohemian Rhapsody and Starway to Heaven? Wtf ....

I feel like country roads should of deserved a honorable mention.

Swap #1 and #3, and replace #10 with any of the honorable mentions, and I'm on board. And maybe replace "Another Brick in the Wall" with "Money", but that's personal preference, they're both iconic.

Have you even heard American pie! Apparently not because it deserves more respect than to be banished to the “ honorable mentions” good god did you look up 70s songs and base your list off that fuck you watch mojo 🖕

Ahahahah you think bee gees is better than Stairway, Bohemian and Imagine u fuckers

Okay. There are some enormous mistakes in this list and I know and understand why. The main one is that this list of songs was put together by people born after 1988. The reason is clear. If you were in your mid 20's when the 1970's ended, as was myself, then you would be well aware that about half these songs didnt become huge until well after the 1970's and not during. Bohemian Rhapsody did not become big in the U.S till the early 1990's after appearing in the movie, Waynes World. I Will Survive, while still a hit, really became a major song when it was adopted as a gay anthem in the late 1980's. The same with Dancing Queen by Abba. This list is supposed to be defining songs of the 70's during the 70's. This is why Hotel California has to be in the top 5 as well as American Pie. These were iconic 70's songs. As was Imagine. Born To Run by Springsteen should be there as well as Running on Empty by Jackson Browne. Maybe even Minute by Minute by The Doobies. You had to consider what songs were in the majority of music collections by the end of the 70's and not 10 years after. Remember, this was 5 years before Live Aid at best and a lot of people were not Queen fans. I was born in the mid 50's for the record so this list should be Imagine, Stairway, Hotel California, American Pie, Born to Run. Leave out Queen, Pink Floyd and the Sex Pistols.

Freddie Freddie Freddie

One list could never do justice to all the 70’s had to offer: bowie, Elton, Queen, Fleetwood Mac, the eagles, billy Joel, Led Zeppelin, ABBA, Pink Floyd, etc
Simply the best

Freebird should be 1

Can't disagree with the list. Some of these songs I love, some I don't, but they do define the 70's.

Nobody even fucking liked bohemian rhapsody back then

American pie should be top 3

I’m affended how Bohemian Rhapsody isn’t number 1 but the most annoying song at number 1

When I saw Rocket Man I was like: yeeeeeeee
When I saw Bohemian Rhapsody I was like YEEEeEetYeEheWhTwYreTErYyeerr

"Bohemian Rhapsody" must be the most improbable N°1 song of all times…

"The Wall" is overrated. In fact, in time, it's "Confortably numb" wich seems to have left a mark, considering how many bands covered it…

You lost your fucking mind to put the BeeGee's above anything on that list let alone Queen. Then honorable mention to the Eagles? Smoke more of that crack @WatchMojo

No DOORS fuck you!

Yo guys there are so many notable and legendary songs, these are just some of the top, and only one opinion

Piano man???

Another Brick In The Wall was 1980. Spent 4 weeks @ #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April.

I’m pissed stairway isn’t #1

The jam

Hotel California has got to be in the top ten. I thought it would be number one.

That was a tough list to make. Shows what a great decade 70s was fro music.

I don't understand how Stayin alive can surpass Queen and Zeppelin

No one else notices that they put Saturday’s night live as the title for Saturday night fever

Stairway to heaven didnt get the first part But stayin alive gets it.... That pretty much fair aliens

The 1970s was an awesome decade for music. There were so many great songs that it is impossible to remember them all. However Mojo, you have compiled a list that is hard to dispute. Some awesome songs in the honourable mentions as well. Thank you for that Mojo.com.

I understand that these lists will always be subjective, so I suppose it depends on a couple things. First, your definition of "era defining"... are we talking about defining for the masses DURING the 70s, or are we talking about defining viewing the era from today's perspective? Because if it's looking back, then the list becomes influenced by personal music tastes and perceptions, so arguing is a moot point. However, looking at the list of the most popular songs of the era compiled by Billboard (unarguably the most trusted and widely referrenced source of measurement of a song's popularity) would probably come as a shock to most people. (I know it wasn't AT ALL what I expected to see.) And considering how their decade charts are calculated with consideration given to A LOT of additional factors than those used to complile their weekly Hot 100 charts, it's a rather interesting and entertaining read that I highly recommend checking out."The Top 20 Billboard Hot 100 Hits of the 1970s".

For anyone interested, here's the link:
www.billboard.com/articles/news/6296842/billboard-hot-100-hits-1970s

Don’t normally disagree with you guys. But staying alive as number 1?

I was born in 83 and I knew all those songs what can I say mum brought me up on good music but top 3 was wrong should of been
3 stayin alive
2 stairway to heaven
1 bohemian rhapsody Freddie was a legend

All you had to say was Queen!

Ok lemme fix top 3,
3: Staying Alive
2: BohRhap
1:Stairway To Heaven

Fuck disco!

HOW DO U MISS THE GOAT OF SONGS

IMAGINE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is SIMPLY THE GREATEST SONG EVER! EVERY OTHER LIST HAS THIS AT #1

How is Hotel CA only in honorable mentions and Sex Pistols are on here

I disagree with Elton not here but bee gees number 1 you redeemed

This list doesn't have a clue.

KISS

Yasss Queen, Freddie's a legend

And where's Black Sabbath - Paranoid?
And nothing from Electric Light Orchestra (Strange Magic, Telephone Line, Mr. Blue Sky, Confusion, Don' t Bring Me Down)
Kraftwerk? Giorgio Moroder?

Top ten doesn't work for the '70s. Even if they had an honorable mention, you missed:
- Elton John
- Billy Joel
- Steely Dan
- Marvin Gaye
- Donna Summer
- Bruce Springsteen
- The Eagles
- Boston
- Rush
- John Denver
- The Carpenters

Great music, pity about the meaningless narration.

'Reclusive behaviour'? I don't think you quite get what Pink Floyd were saying. As for the Sex Pistols, they probably belong on this list but they weren't quite the rebels they made out according to Malcolm McLaren. Some of the other songs on this list are dubious entries at best. I Will Survive rater than I Feel Love for disco, for instance.

So no highway to hell by AC/DC...?

definition of insane: doing something over and over expecting a different result. ME: let's try another watchmojo vid and see if they can get one right. INSANE

Another brick part 2 # 9 wtf how is it not number 1 another subject you know nothing about fuck u watch mojo

deep purple-soldier of fortune not on the list...this is a joke...

Imagine is one of the worst songs ever. Get it off this list

Shit on the Bee Gees all you want, but there's a reason why they were proclaimed the masters of the universe by the media in the latter half of the 70s. That's how uber popular they were in that decade.

Imagine should be number one

The 70’s has too much good music to make this list, every comment is calling for another amazing song that wasn’t included

Imagine should have been higher like in 1 or 2 because it is honestly the best song ever created although I do believe that staying alive should be number 1.

Imagine should of been fucking number one

Did anyone Else notice at 4:02 she said fucking finest

Everybody’s so obsessed with Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2. I wish they showed some attention to the other masterful songs in The Wall.

No Fear The Reaper? Not even an honourable mention?

Now everytime I listen to ABBA I only hear CHER! Thanks A LOT MAMMA MIA! 😂

I'm offended. Bo Rhap on 3th place?

DO YOU FEEL LIKE WE DO? Hello?

Free Bird is #1 mojo smh

I also would add Electric light orchestra - Don't bring me down and My Sherona by The Knack atleast as honorable mention

Am I the only one that thinks Imagine is egotistical, simple-minded and elitist of John Lennon?

13:56 I thought it was "Fever".

Hotel California as an Honorable Mention?!?!?! off with your head

csn&y?

Where Is Rod Stewart???

"Decade defining" may be a nebulous concept, but some of the list's detractors aren't even pretending to try to understand the concept. It doesn't mean "which song is best" or "which song has stood the test of time".

Where is don't stop till you get enough or rock with you

We all knew what number 1 was going to be

Layla?

Anarchy in the UK is not singing it is screaming

Look, I don't know how you come up with these lists but uh Stairway should be number 1. How do you leave Money from pink floyd off this list? How in the world do you leave Hotel California off this list. It seems The Watch Mojo people weren't around in the 70'ies.

No Billy Joel, no Bruce Springsteen, no John Denver, and no Carpenters? HOW can you say this list covers the '70s without ANY of these artists? They were ALL a bigger part of the '70s and it's legacy than the Sex Pistols were(to name just one of the artists you did include). :(

I agree with Pink Floyd Queen Lennon - the 70s was awash with talent though - everyone's top 10 will be different.

Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is the remarkable song of the 70’s. You keep on listening to Queen day after day. Bee Gees was a wind that blew and now is a distant memory.

Really a stupide Bee Gee's song beat out Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen as the most defining song of the 70's. You have got to be kidding me with that. BoRhap is the greatest song ever written and most defo the best song of the 70's.

Floyd should be higher and Bee Gees and Bohemian Rhapsody should probably switch positions.

Come and get your love

Fortunate Son?????

Born To Run should be on this list

I’m confused why Staying Alive is at the top spot. Disco was prominent during the 70s, but it wasn’t the most widespread genre at the time. I like the song though