70s Soft Rock: 174 Songs You Can Play in One List

By Charlie · Published August 9, 2026 · Updated November 11, 2026

The biggest 70s soft rock hit is Tonight's the Night by Rod Stewart, with 8 weeks at No. 1 and the top spot on the 1977 Year-End Hot 100, followed by Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel, the top song of 1970.

The genre's biggest chart year came late, in 1979, when 25 soft rock records made the Year-End Hot 100.

This page lists 174 songs, from Carole King to Gerry Rafferty, and every one of them plays right here in one continuous list.

Carole King at the piano in 1971, the year her album Tapestry helped define 70s soft rock

Carole King, 1971.

Image credit: Ode/A&M, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Full List: Press Play Once

161 songs are tagged soft rock in this site's chart data.

The other 4 are gentle pop hits from the same years, in place of soft rock hits whose original recording has no official upload on YouTube.

Each one placed on a Billboard Year-End Hot 100 from 1970 to 1979.

Press Play on any row and the list keeps going, song after song, until you press Stop.

Tap a column heading to sort by year, year-end rank or weeks at No. 1.

165 soft rock songs on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100, 1970 to 1979, with weeks at No. 1 on the weekly chart

Bridge Over Troubled Water	Simon & Garfunkel	1970	1	6
Make It with You	Bread	1970	13	1
Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)	Melanie	1970	23
Cecilia	Simon & Garfunkel	1970	49
Fire and Rain	James Taylor	1970	67
It's Too Late / I Feel the Earth Move	Carole King	1971	3	5
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart	Bee Gees	1971	5	4
You've Got a Friend	James Taylor	1971	17	1
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down	Joan Baez	1971	20
Superstar	The Carpenters	1971	30
For All We Know	The Carpenters	1971	35
If You Could Read My Mind	Gordon Lightfoot	1971	36
Rainy Days and Mondays	The Carpenters	1971	38
That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be	Carly Simon	1971	47
Me and You and a Dog Named Boo	Lobo	1971	59
If	Bread	1971	61
One Toke Over the Line	Brewer & Shipley	1971	63
Wild World	Cat Stevens	1971	73
Woodstock	Matthews Southern Comfort	1971	79
Amazing Grace	Judy Collins	1971	80
Lonely Days	Bee Gees	1971	82
I Am...I Said	Neil Diamond	1971	91
The Wedding Song (There Is Love)	Paul Stookey	1971	92
Here Comes the Sun	Richie Havens	1971	95
Without You	Harry Nilsson	1972	4
Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)	Looking Glass	1972	12	1
Heart of Gold	Neil Young	1972	17	1
A Horse with No Name	America	1972	27	3
Sunshine	Jonathan Edwards	1972	37
Day After Day	Badfinger	1972	39
Morning Has Broken	Cat Stevens	1972	44
City of New Orleans	Arlo Guthrie	1972	45
Everything I Own	Bread	1972	52
Mother and Child Reunion	Paul Simon	1972	57
You Don't Mess Around with Jim	Jim Croce	1972	68
Anticipation	Carly Simon	1972	72
Taxi	Harry Chapin	1972	85
I Saw the Light	Todd Rundgren	1972	88
Doctor My Eyes	Jackson Browne	1972	92
Vincent	Don McLean	1972	94
My Love	Paul McCartney & Wings	1973	5	4
You're So Vain	Carly Simon	1973	9	3
Delta Dawn	Helen Reddy	1973	14	1
Drift Away	Dobie Gray	1973	17
Wildflower	Skylark	1973	25
Loves Me Like a Rock	Paul Simon	1973	27
Shambala	Three Dog Night	1973	31
Dancing in the Moonlight	King Harvest	1973	37
Diamond Girl	Seals and Crofts	1973	40
Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)	George Harrison	1973	42	1
Daniel	Elton John	1973	48
Feelin' Stronger Every Day	Chicago	1973	54
Sing	The Carpenters	1973	59
Yesterday Once More	The Carpenters	1973	70
Kodachrome	Paul Simon	1973	74
Peaceful	Helen Reddy	1973	81
Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend	Lobo	1973	87
It Never Rains in Southern California	Albert Hammond	1973	98
Seasons in the Sun	Terry Jacks	1974	2	3
Midnight at the Oasis	Maria Muldaur	1974	13
Sunshine on My Shoulders	John Denver	1974	18	1
Time in a Bottle	Jim Croce	1974	24	2
Annie's Song	John Denver	1974	25	2
Sundown	Gordon Lightfoot	1974	27	1
The Air That I Breathe	The Hollies	1974	50
Rikki Don't Lose That Number	Steely Dan	1974	51
Mockingbird	Carly Simon & James Taylor	1974	52
Help Me	Joni Mitchell	1974	53
Please Come to Boston	Dave Loggins	1974	65
Oh Very Young	Cat Stevens	1974	70
Hello It's Me	Todd Rundgren	1974	82
I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song	Jim Croce	1974	85
The Lord's Prayer	Sister Janet Mead	1974	86
My Eyes Adored You	Frankie Valli	1975	5	1
One of These Nights	Eagles	1975	10	1
Best of My Love	Eagles	1975	13	1
At Seventeen	Janis Ian	1975	20
Jackie Blue	Ozark Mountain Daredevils	1975	30
Sister Golden Hair	America	1975	34	1
Mandy	Barry Manilow	1975	36	1
I'm Not in Love	10cc	1975	43
Fallin' in Love	Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds	1975	45	1
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)	James Taylor	1975	69
Dance with Me	Orleans	1975	70
I'm Sorry	John Denver	1975	77	1
Lonely People	America	1975	83
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover	Paul Simon	1976	8	3
Love Is Alive	Gary Wright	1976	9
Afternoon Delight	Starland Vocal Band	1976	12	2
I Write the Songs	Barry Manilow	1976	13	1
Get Closer	Seals and Crofts	1976	16
I'd Really Love to See You Tonight	England Dan & John Ford Coley	1976	21
Take It to the Limit	Eagles	1976	25
Moonlight Feels Right	Starbuck	1976	34
Only Sixteen	Dr. Hook	1976	35
Dream Weaver	Gary Wright	1976	37
All by Myself	Eric Carmen	1976	40
A Little Bit More	Dr. Hook	1976	46
If You Leave Me Now	Chicago	1976	48	2
Lowdown	Boz Scaggs	1976	49
Say You Love Me	Fleetwood Mac	1976	53
Welcome Back	John Sebastian	1976	58	1
Let 'Em In	Wings	1976	67
Wham Bam	Silver	1976	71
I'm Easy	Keith Carradine	1976	72
Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)	Bee Gees	1976	79
Still the One	Orleans	1976	82
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do	Neil Sedaka	1976	91
Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again	Barry Manilow	1976	95
Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)	Rod Stewart	1977	1	8
Whatcha Gonna Do?	Pablo Cruise	1977	16
Dreams	Fleetwood Mac	1977	39	1
I'm in You	Peter Frampton	1977	42
Handy Man	James Taylor	1977	46
Just a Song Before I Go	Crosby, Stills & Nash	1977	47
You and Me	Alice Cooper	1977	48
New Kid in Town	Eagles	1977	59	1
Lost Without Your Love	Bread	1977	70
I Never Cry	Alice Cooper	1977	82
Year of the Cat	Al Stewart	1977	92
Kiss You All Over	Exile	1978	5	4
How Deep Is Your Love	Bee Gees	1978	6	3
Baby Come Back	Player	1978	7	3
Just the Way You Are	Billy Joel	1978	17
Love Is Like Oxygen	Sweet	1978	23
Baker Street	Gerry Rafferty	1978	26
Magnet and Steel	Walter Egan	1978	40
Love Will Find a Way	Pablo Cruise	1978	44
Slip Slidin' Away	Paul Simon	1978	48
Thunder Island	Jay Ferguson	1978	50
Imaginary Lover	Atlanta Rhythm Section	1978	51
This Time I'm in It for Love	Player	1978	58
Peg	Steely Dan	1978	62
Reminiscing	Little River Band	1978	65
Count On Me	Jefferson Starship	1978	66
Sentimental Lady	Bob Welch	1978	78
Falling	LeBlanc & Carr	1978	79
Fool (If You Think It's Over)	Chris Rea	1978	84
Ebony Eyes	Bob Welch	1978	96
Deacon Blues	Steely Dan	1978	100
Sad Eyes	Robert John	1979	10	1
Too Much Heaven	Bee Gees	1979	11	2
When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman	Dr. Hook	1979	13
What a Fool Believes	The Doobie Brothers	1979	19	1
You Don't Bring Me Flowers	Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand	1979	21
Stumblin' In	Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman	1979	23
Don't Cry Out Loud	Melissa Manchester	1979	26
Just When I Needed You Most	Randy VanWarmer	1979	29
Lotta Love	Nicolette Larson	1979	41
Lady	Little River Band	1979	42
Sharing the Night Together	Dr. Hook	1979	46
(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away	Andy Gibb	1979	58
Chuck E.'s In Love	Rickie Lee Jones	1979	63
Lonesome Loser	Little River Band	1979	66
Love Is the Answer	England Dan & John Ford Coley	1979	68
Shake It	Ian Matthews	1979	73
I Just Wanna Stop	Gino Vannelli	1979	75
Time Passages	Al Stewart	1979	79
Promises	Eric Clapton	1979	82
Get Used to It	Roger Voudouris	1979	83
How Much I Feel	Ambrosia	1979	84
How You Gonna See Me Now	Alice Cooper	1979	87
Everytime I Think of You	The Babys	1979	89
We've Got Tonight	Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band	1979	94
Strange Way	Firefall	1979	100

Year is the year-end list the song appears on, and Year-End Rank is its place on that list.

Weeks at No. 1 counts the song's weeks on top of the weekly Hot 100, from this site's chart data (how the data was built).

Linked titles open the full story of that song on this site.

Nine More Hits the Year-End Lists Left Out

The Year-End Hot 100 keeps only each year's 100 biggest songs.

These 9 soft rock favorites charted high on the weekly Hot 100 but missed every year-end list from 1970 to 1979.

9 soft rock hits that charted weekly but missed the year-end top 100, by release year and weekly Hot 100 peak

Summer Breeze	Seals and Crofts	1972	6
Goodbye to Love	Carpenters	1972	7
Ventura Highway	America	1972	8
I Got a Name	Jim Croce	1973	10
Carefree Highway	Gordon Lightfoot	1974	10
Amie	Pure Prairie League	1975	27
You Are the Woman	Firefall	1976	9
Right Down the Line	Gerry Rafferty	1978	12
Crazy Love	Poco	1979	17

Weekly Peak is each song's best spot on the weekly Billboard Hot 100, checked against the song's own Wikipedia article (listed under Sources).

What Counts as Soft Rock

Soft rock is rock with the edges smoothed off: simple tunes, warm full arrangements, and the voice of a singer-songwriter or a close-harmony group up front.

Most of the records in the list share a few things:

Acoustic guitar or piano carrying the song, in place of a loud electric riff.
Close vocal harmonies.
A slow or middle tempo.
Clean, polished studio sound.
Lyrics about love, loss and looking back.

The sound took shape in the late 1960s in the United States and Britain.

It reached its commercial peak in the middle and late 1970s.

In the 1980s it turned into the synthesizer-heavy adult contemporary format.

The tag in this site's data marks where a record sits, so Hotel California sits with rock while the Eagles' quieter hits are here.

Soft Rock on the Charts, Year by Year

Soft rock placed songs on every year-end list of the decade, and it grew stronger as the decade went on.

Soft rock records on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100, and how many reached No. 1 on the weekly chart, by year
Year	Soft rock records on the year-end list	Weekly No. 1s among them
1970	5	2
1971	19	3
1972	16	3
1973	18	4
1974	15	5
1975	13	7
1976	23	5
1977	11	3
1978	20	3
1979	25	3

1970 had just 5 soft rock records on the year-end list, the fewest of the decade.
1976 had 23, the second-highest count.
1979 had 25, the most of any year, even with disco on top of the charts.
1975 had the most weekly No. 1s, with 7.

Every weekly chart-topper of the decade, soft or loud, is in 70s Number One Hits.

The Three Biggest Records

Two soft rock records finished a whole Billboard year at No. 1, and a third came close.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Paul Simon wrote it, and Art Garfunkel sang the lead.

The single came out on January 20, 1970.

It spent six weeks at No. 1 and finished as the top song of the 1970 year-end list.

It's Too Late / I Feel the Earth Move

Carole King's double A-side spent 5 weeks at No. 1 in 1971.

It finished third on that year's year-end list.

Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)

Rod Stewart wrote it for his 1976 album A Night on the Town.

It reached No. 1 on November 13, 1976, and stayed eight weeks, into January 1977.

That run made it the No. 1 song of the 1977 year-end list.

Karen Carpenter at the drums and Richard Carpenter on stage at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in 1975

The Acts With the Most Songs Here

Twelve acts placed three or more soft rock records on the year-end lists.

Acts with the most soft rock records on the 1970 to 1979 year-end lists, with weekly No. 1s and total weeks at No. 1

Bee Gees	5	3	9
The Carpenters	5	0	0
Paul Simon	5	1	3
Eagles	4	3	3
John Denver	3	3	4
Bread	4	1	1
James Taylor	4	1	1
Dr. Hook	4	0	0
America	3	2	4
Carly Simon	3	1	3
Barry Manilow	3	2	2
Jim Croce	3	1	2

The Bee Gees spent 9 weeks at No. 1 with their ballads, more than any other act here.

The Carpenters placed five songs without a single week at No. 1 among them in this list.

John Denver took all three of his soft rock entries to No. 1.

Paul Simon's five are all solo records from after Simon & Garfunkel.

Tapestry and the Singer-Songwriters

Carole King released Tapestry on Ode Records on February 10, 1971.

It spent 15 straight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

At the 1972 Grammys she won Album of the Year, Record of the Year for It's Too Late, and Song of the Year for You've Got a Friend.

James Taylor won the male pop vocal Grammy that same night for his recording of You've Got a Friend.

Other early names of the sound include:

James Taylor, with Fire and Rain and How Sweet It Is.
Carly Simon, with You're So Vain and Anticipation.
Cat Stevens, with Wild World and Morning Has Broken.
Bread and America, the soft-harmony groups of the early decade.

Keep the Mellow Going

Soft rock sits right next to three other genres on this site.

1970s Pop Songs plays the polished radio pop of the decade.
Folk Rock in the 70s covers the acoustic roots this sound grew from.
70s Country Rock takes the harmonies out West.
The Random 70s Song Generator picks a track for you.

For hours of mellow hits mixed with the rest of the decade, tune in to Listen Now, the site's 70s radio.

Every genre on the site is collected on the 70s Genres page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who speaks the French words on Tonight's the Night?

Britt Ekland, Rod Stewart's girlfriend at the time, speaks the French lines near the end of the record.

The BBC banned the song over its suggestive words, the Reverend Jesse Jackson protested it, and some American stations played an edited version instead of the album cut.

Who wrote It's Too Late by Carole King?

Toni Stern wrote the words and Carole King wrote the music.

The single, a double A-side with I Feel the Earth Move, spent five weeks at No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Easy Listening chart, so it ruled pop and adult radio at the same time.

How many Grammys did Bridge Over Troubled Water win?

The song won four at the 13th Grammy Awards in 1971.

They were Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Contemporary Song, and Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals.

Song of the Year is a songwriter's award, so that one went to Paul Simon alone, while Record of the Year honored the duo's recording itself.

Is yacht rock the same as soft rock?

No, yacht rock is a later and narrower style that only partly overlaps with soft rock.

It covers the late 1970s and the early 1980s.

It grew out of the polished studio work of California session musicians, while soft rock had already been on the charts since the late 1960s.

Sources

Chart ranks, year counts and weeks at No. 1 come from this site's Billboard data, described on the methodology page.

Each other fact was checked against the sources below on November 11, 2026.