A No.92 smash in the States, ‘Psycho Killer’ is vintage Talking Heads, sweating with paranoia, its limbs flying all over the shop. David Byrne scrapped his initial plans to include descriptions of the act of murder in the lyrics but it doesn’t take anything away from the song, as taut and just-about-funky as all the best ‘Heads and the starting point of a flood of new wave genius. One of Blondie’s finest, down to its nursery rhyme simplicity, skipping along on with giddy new wave swagger. Like most of ‘Parallel Lines’, its pure pop rush is addictive, so much so that it quite disguises the fact that Debbie Harry is actually behaving like a nightmare stalker. And one that it would be foolish to try and resist.

Originally a B-side from Jamaican artist Prince Buster, ‘One Step Beyond’ was turned into a hit by Madness, who as pioneers of the British ska scene, remade it as a giddy runaround jam. It remains an effervescent festival favourite to this day. In which Paul Weller declares holy class war through the medium of awesome Moddish new wave. As the 70s juddered to a close, the divisions in society were becoming more prominent, and The Jam’s fiery broadside tells a bitter tale of coming off worst after a brawl with some poshos, because indeed, “all that rugby puts hair on your chest.” David Cameron, missing the point, professed to love it. In which the folkster recounts a sexual encounter at one of the most famous Bohemian hostelries. Rather ungallantly, Cohen revealed that the lady in question had been Janis Joplin, which he lived to regret, saying later, “an indiscretion for which I’m very sorry, and if there is some way of apologising to the ghost, I want to apologise now, for having committed that indiscretion.” Produced and written with legendary Memphis soul man Willie Mitchell, Al Green’s persuasive soul smoothie slinked to No.1 in the States – his only single to do so – and a dozen years later provided Tina Turner with her big return to the limelight. As with all Green’s tunes from a classic period, lazy horns offer the perfect bed for his keening falsetto, soaking the song with heat and lust.Donna Summer’s second collaboration with Giorgio Moroder – after the interminable disco lustfest ‘Love To Love You Baby’ in 1975 – is a record with the sort of insignificance that cannot be understated. So let’s not understate it. ‘I Feel Love’ is one of the earliest purely synthetic recordings, the very first house record and the future in an orgasmic space-age nutshell. Inspired by a TV play by Ken Loach, Chris Difford’s lyrics were brilliant street poetry, a kitchen sink drama that zipped along with soap opera like speed via bawdy colloquialisms. The grand keyboard line was just as important as the words in making this a new wave classic.

Dolly Parton’s signature smash actually limped to a mere No.60 in the States but it endures as an oddly jaunty plea to the titular stunner to leave Dolly’s man alone, even though she could take him any time she likes. There’s no artifice here – which is Parton’s main strength. However brassy and unreal she can be, she’s never less than pure-hearted. Later covered by the White Stripes. Separate it from the weddings, hen parties, endless party showings of Mamma Mia and screeching karaoke versions and – well – here you have one of the greatest pop songs ever. It’s difficult to shake the baggage, sure, but soon you’re swept up by the trilling piano, easy beats and elegant meld of Agnetha and Frida’s voices on the single that gave ABBA their only US No.1. Of course there was no “ Nigel”. Instead, bassist Colin Moulding wrote of his dad attempting to make his son get his “ hair cut and stay on at school”. This theme of parental domination fits perfectly with the urgency of the music – part new wave muscle, part very British ska-ish funk workout. Beneath XTC’s wonky pop exterior lay one of the most experimental groups of the decade.

100. Funkadelic – ‘One Nation Under a Groove’

Producing an accurate list of the best-selling singles of the 1970s in the United Kingdom has therefore never been a simple task because of the difficulty in obtaining accurate sales data from the period. An official chart of the best-selling singles of the 1970s was produced by the BMRB and broadcast on the UK's national pop music radio station BBC Radio 1 on 31 December 1979. However, this chart is no longer considered accurate due to the method of data collection by the BMRB and has since been superseded. He’d soon depart this singer/songwriter terrain for more ambient territory, but the opener from ‘Here Come The Warm Jets’ was an exuberant slice of post-Roxy Music solo power. A clanging, multi-layered, Velvet Underground-aping thumper which would influence his Berlin experiments with Bowie and a decade of synth/sonic exploration. Ross, John (10 October 2010). "Mull estate tunes up for a multi-million sale". The Scotsman. Edinburgh: Johnston. ISSN 0307-5850. OCLC 3856993 . Retrieved 18 July 2011. ...Mull of Kintyre, which became his band Wings' biggest hit in 1977 as a Christmas No 1 and was the first single to sell over two million copies in the UK.... The Clash always had a message to impart and what better than a bug-eyed apocalyptic warning? The “ nuclear error” at Three Mile Island in the States could happen here too and Joe Strummer wanted us to know, driving the point home with those choppy guitars and vulpine howls. Finishing with a radio signal, this is the World Service in a time of terror. Maconie, Stuart (11 January 2008). "The golden age of pop". The Times. London, England: News International.