London Calling
1979 · From London Calling
Strummer borrowing the BBC's wartime call sign to announce the end of the world, and sounding thrilled about it.
★ 9.2
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1979
Showing 28 songs from 1979
Rapper's Delight
1979
Big Bank Hank auditioned outside the pizzeria where he worked, rapping lines borrowed from Grandmaster Caz's notebook.
★ 9.0
Comfortably Numb
1979 · From The Wall
A tranquilizer shot before a 1977 Philadelphia show gave Waters the lyric; Gilmour brought the chords and the solo.
★ 8.9
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
1979 · From Off the Wall
Jackson wrote it himself and steered the session; a whisper, a water-bottle rattle, then Louis Johnson's bass takes over.
★ 8.3
Good Times
1979
Edwards' bassline turned up on Rapper's Delight within months; the settlement put Chic's names on rap's first pop hit.
★ 8.1
Highway to Hell
1979 · From Highway to Hell
Mutt Lange took over production, the band cut it in London in 1979, and America finally caught on.
★ 8.0
Another Brick in the Wall Part 2
1979 · From The Wall
Ezrin sent Gilmour to the discos, and twenty-three Islington schoolchildren got forty minutes to sing themselves onto a number one.
★ 7.9
Rock With You
1979 · From Off the Wall
Rod Temperton offered it to Karen Carpenter first; Quincy Jones and Jackson took it to number one.
★ 7.6
New York, New York
1979 · From Trilogy: Past Present Future
De Niro called the first theme too weak, so Kander and Ebb wrote this one in anger.
★ 7.6
My My, Hey Hey
1979 · From Rust Never Sleeps
Recorded live at San Francisco's Boarding House in 1978, and Devo's Mothersbaugh handed Young the phrase that titled the album.
★ 7.4
Message in a Bottle
1979 · From Reggatta de Blanc
Summers' arpeggiated riff, Sting's castaway pleading over it, and the first of the Police's five UK number ones.
★ 7.3
Cars
1979
By Numan's account a road-rage scare in London started it; a bass riff, a Polymoog, and a UK number one.
★ 7.2
Hot Stuff
1979
Moroder's four-on-the-floor, Jeff Baxter's rock guitar solo bolted on, and the first female rock vocal Grammy.
★ 7.2
Train in VainThe Clash
Train in Vain
1979 · From London Calling
Mick Jones wrote it overnight for an NME flexi-disc that fell through, and the printed sleeves never listed it.
★ 6.7
Brass in Pocket
1979 · From Pretenders
Honeyman-Scott's guitar lick came first, and Hynde told her producer he could release the thing over her dead body.
★ 6.7
Video Killed the Radio StarThe Buggles
Video Killed the Radio Star
1979
Sixteen national number ones, then a second life at 12:01 a.m. on 1 August 1981 as MTV's first video.
★ 6.6
One Way or AnotherBlondie
One Way or Another
1979
Harry turned a 1973 stalker into a chase song, and Nigel Harrison's riff supplies the relentless forward motion.
★ 6.5
Oliver's ArmyElvis Costello
Oliver's Army
1979 · From Armed Forces
Steve Nieve's piano lifts its shimmer from "Dancing Queen," and Costello's biggest UK hit smuggles Belfast into a singalong.
★ 6.2
Cruisin'
1979
Tarplin handed over the guitar melody, and Robinson spent years finding words sensual enough to deserve it.
★ 6.2
Dancing BarefootPatti Smith
Dancing Barefoot
1979 · From Wave
Written with Ivan Kral and dedicated to women like Jeanne Hebuterne, Modigliani's mistress; Rundgren produced and played the bass.
★ 5.9
What I Like About You
1979
Jimmy Marinos sang it from behind the drum kit; the single stalled at 49 and never went away.
★ 5.5
Honesty
1979 · From 52nd Street
Number twenty-four on the Hot 100, and still a Song of the Year nominee; Ramone cut it at A&R.
★ 5.0
Goodbye Stranger
1979
Davies wrote and sang it, Hodgson answered in falsetto, and that Wurlitzer figure runs the whole drifter's farewell.
★ 4.9
Working My Way Back to You
1979
A 1966 Four Seasons song rebuilt as a medley, John Edwards out front, and two weeks at British number one.
★ 4.7
Sail On
1979
Richie handed a funk band a country ballad, rode it to number four, and re-cut it with Tim McGraw.
★ 4.2
Please Don't Go
1979
Casey and Finch's first ballad after a run of dance hits, and the first American number one of the 1980s.
★ 3.7
I'll Never Love This Way Again
1979
Barry Manilow produced Warwick's Arista debut, and this Kerr and Jennings ballad won her a 1980 Grammy.
★ 3.1
Wonderful Christmastime
1979
Recorded alone in Sussex in the summer of 1979, every instrument McCartney's own, and a UK number six by January.
★ 1.6