Not Paul McCartney, Not Elton John: This Act Scored The Most No. 1 Hits Of The '70s

When thinking of the biggest artists of the 1970s, you might think of the world's once-biggest rock act, Led Zeppelin. Or maybe Pink Floyd and 1973's "The Dark Side of the Moon," which outsold every other album that decade, at 50 million copies sold. But as far as No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 are concerned, one group tops them all, beating out Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John: the Bee Gees.  

That's right: The disco trio from the Isle of Man beat out a former Beatle and one of the greatest songwriters of all time — in the '70s, that is. Paul McCartney, Elton John, and the Bee Gees all have nine No. 1 hits, but all of the Bee Gees' hits are compressed into an eight-year span: 1971 to 1979, with eight of those released from 1975 to 1979. This is how explosive and brief disco's time in the sun was. By contrast, McCartney's and John's hits stretch across the '70s to the '80s and '70s to the '90s, respectively.

So, it's not that the Bee Gees have left a more meaningful musical legacy than Paul McCartney or Elton John overall — it's just that disco caught on in a really big way in the second half of the '70s. A big part of this dance-floor flare-up came from 1977's "Saturday Night Fever." The album's soundtrack sold 40 million copies, with four of the Bee Gees' No. 1 hits coming from the album.

Across the entire '70s, disco's success was definitely an outlier. Disco had a tangled and messed-up history rooted in European dance clubs exported to New York City's underground music scene. In an example of perfect timing, the Bee Gees scored its second No. 1 hit, 1975's "Jive Talkin'," right when disco songs hit the mainstream in the mid-'70s. And when "Saturday Night Fever" came out in 1977, the Bee Gees went from tragic, struggling pop act to ultra-superstardom practically overnight. 

As mentioned, four Bee Gees No. 1 hits come from the soundtrack to "Saturday Night Fever": "Stayin' Alive," "How Deep Is Your Love," "Night Fever," and "You Should Be Dancing," with their previous No. 1, "Jive Talkin'," added to the album. These four songs, plus "More than a Woman" (which didn't chart), came from a single weekend recording session. Music and film producer Robert Stigwood had contacted the Bee Gees after the group had already started recording a new album to ask them for five songs for an upcoming film centered on disco. It's Stigwood who masterminded "Saturday Night Fever's" fame, hired an unknown John Travolta, and gave both the music and film industries immense shots in the arm. It was an absurd, brilliant gamble that 100% paid off — literally. It's also the reason why the Bee Gees outpaced the likes of Paul McCartney and Elton John for No. 1 '70s songs.

And yet, it's not as though the Bee Gees' music had no music merit without "Saturday Night Fever." In the hands of different songwriters, Stigwood's request wouldn't have produced such outrageously successful results. Hand it to the Gibbs brothers for making some of the most memorable, catchy tunes of the decade.