70s Party Songs: 30 Dance Floor Hits You Can Play Here
The best 70s party songs filled a dance floor before anyone knew what a playlist was.
This page collects 30 of them, from 1970 to 1979.
Every song is checked against Billboard chart data, and every one can be played from the table below.
27 of the 30 reached number one on the Hot 100.
Each row carries one verified line of story, not a guess.
How the 30 70s party songs on this list break down by year-end Hot 100 year.
Chart: Music of the 70s, from this site's Billboard year-end data.
30 70s Party Songs, Playable and Sortable
Press Play on any row and the list keeps going, song after song, until you press Stop.
Tap a column heading to sort by song, artist, year or year-end rank.
| Play | #1 Hit | The story | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | The Jackson 5 | 1970 | 15 | Yes | Two weeks at number one from April 25, 1970, taking the top spot from The Beatles' "Let It Be." | |
| Mama Told Me (Not to Come) | Three Dog Night | 1970 | 11 | Yes | Two weeks at number one in July 1970, between The Jackson 5's "The Love You Save" and The Carpenters' "(They Long to Be) Close to You." | |
| Knock Three Times | Tony Orlando and Dawn | 1971 | 10 | Yes | Three weeks at number one from January 23, 1971, right after George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord." | |
| Joy to the World | Three Dog Night | 1971 | 1 | Yes | Six weeks at number one in spring 1971, and Billboard's top single of the year. | |
| Crocodile Rock | Elton John | 1973 | 7 | Yes | Three weeks at number one from February 3, 1973, taking over from Stevie Wonder's "Superstition." | |
| Love Train | The O'Jays | 1973 | 32 | Yes | One week at number one on March 24, 1973, a pause in the run of "Killing Me Softly with His Song." | |
| Superstition | Stevie Wonder | 1973 | 26 | Yes | Wonder wrote it as part of a deal with Jeff Beck, and his own version reached number one for one week on January 27, 1973. | |
| Keep on Truckin' | Eddie Kendricks | 1973 | 35 | Yes | Eddie Kendricks' two weeks at number one began November 10, 1973, right after "Midnight Train to Georgia." | |
| Hooked on a Feeling | Blue Swede | 1974 | 20 | Yes | Blue Swede's one week at number one, April 6, 1974, sat between "Sunshine on My Shoulders" and "Bennie and the Jets." | |
| TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia) | MFSB & The Three Degrees | 1974 | 7 | Yes | Two weeks at number one from April 20, 1974, right after Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets." | |
| The Loco-Motion | Grand Funk Railroad | 1974 | 6 | Yes | Two weeks at number one from May 4, 1974, taking over directly from "TSOP." | |
| Rock the Boat | The Hues Corporation | 1974 | 43 | Yes | One week at number one on July 6, 1974, and "Rock Your Baby" took the top spot the next week. | |
| Rock Your Baby | George McCrae | 1974 | 38 | Yes | Two weeks at number one from July 13, 1974, directly after "Rock the Boat." | |
| Kung Fu Fighting | Carl Douglas | 1975 | 15 | Yes | Two weeks at number one from December 7, 1974, which is why it sits on the 1975 year-end list. | |
| Lady Marmalade | Labelle | 1975 | 23 | Yes | One week at number one on March 29, 1975, followed by Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You." | |
| The Hustle | Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony | 1975 | 22 | Yes | One week at number one on July 26, 1975, between Wings' "Listen to What the Man Said" and the Eagles' "One of These Nights." | |
| Get Down Tonight | KC and the Sunshine Band | 1975 | 65 | Yes | One week at number one on August 30, 1975, ahead of Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy." | |
| Fly, Robin, Fly | Silver Convention | 1976 | 14 | Yes | Three weeks at number one from November 29, 1975, split between KC and the Sunshine Band's two weeks of "That's the Way (I Like It)." | |
| Disco Lady | Johnnie Taylor | 1976 | 3 | Yes | Four weeks at number one from April 3, 1976, taking over from "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)." | |
| Play That Funky Music | Wild Cherry | 1976 | 5 | Yes | Three weeks at number one from September 18, 1976, right after KC and the Sunshine Band's "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty." | |
| A Fifth of Beethoven | Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band | 1976 | 10 | Yes | One week at number one on October 9, 1976, between "Play That Funky Music" and "Disco Duck." | |
| You Make Me Feel Like Dancing | Leo Sayer | 1977 | 13 | Yes | The first of Leo Sayer's two number ones in 1977, for one week from January 15. | |
| Car Wash | Rose Royce | 1977 | 26 | Yes | One week at number one on January 29, 1977, right after Stevie Wonder's "I Wish." | |
| Stayin' Alive | Bee Gees | 1978 | 4 | Yes | Four straight weeks at number one from February 4, 1978, and the Bee Gees wrote it before Saturday Night Fever had a finished script. | |
| Boogie Oogie Oogie | A Taste of Honey | 1978 | 9 | Yes | A Taste of Honey's three weeks at number one from September 9, 1978, right after Frankie Valli's "Grease." | |
| Last Dance | Donna Summer | 1978 | 34 | No | It reached number three on the Hot 100 in August 1978 and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. | |
| Le Freak | Chic | 1979 | 3 | Yes | Six weeks at number one in three separate stretches between December 9, 1978, and February 3, 1979. | |
| I Will Survive | Gloria Gaynor | 1979 | 6 | Yes | Three weeks at number one in March 1979, after Gloria Gaynor carried copies to Studio 54 herself and asked the DJ to play it. | |
| Y.M.C.A. | Village People | 1979 | 8 | No | Released October 9, 1978, it stalled at number two on the weekly Hot 100 in early 1979. | |
| September | Earth, Wind & Fire | 1979 | 78 | No | Never got higher than number eight on the Hot 100, and it came out on November 18, 1978. |
Song titles in gold link to a full story on this site.
Year is the year-end Hot 100 the song appears on, and Year-End Rank is its place on that list.
The #1 Hit column is flagged from the weekly Billboard Hot 100 number ones, not from year-end rank.
Prefer a hands-off listen? Open the same songs on Listen Now and let the jukebox run.
The Short Answer: What Makes a 70s Party Song
A 70s party song is a Billboard Hot 100 hit from 1970 to 1979 that people danced to, sang along with, or both.
That covers more than the disco floor.
It takes in pop singalongs, funk grooves and a Beethoven remix.
The decade's chart rewarded all of them, and 27 of the 30 on this page reached number one.
Here is what the list shows at a glance:
- The earliest song on the list reached number one in April 1970, and the latest charted on the 1979 year-end list.
- 1974 has the most songs on the list, with 5, and every one of them reached number one.
- Two songs tie for the longest run at number one, with 6 weeks each.
- Three songs missed number one, and each has a story of its own further down.
70s Party Songs Were Not Only Disco
Disco gets the credit, and it earns most of it.
But "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)," "Joy to the World" and "Crocodile Rock" all reached number one before disco took over the chart.
So the label here follows the room, not the genre.
How These 70s Party Songs Were Chosen
The starting pool came from this site's own song data, not from a critic's mood board.
It holds 1,000 year-end Hot 100 songs for 1970 to 1979, and each one carries a vibe tag.
299 of them are tagged party or dance and have a YouTube video on record.
From that pool, 30 made the list on three tests:
- The song works as a party or dance record, in its rhythm or its singalong chorus.
- Its chart facts can be checked against the weekly or year-end Billboard data on this site.
- Its story line can be backed by the weekly chart file or by this site's own Songs pages.
That is why the list leans toward big chart hits.
A song with a great dance floor reputation but no checkable chart record did not make the cut.
Where the Year-End Rank on These 70s Party Songs Comes From
The Year-End Rank column is a position on that year's Billboard year-end list.
It is not the song's weekly peak.
"Get Down Tonight" sits at 65 for 1975, even though it reached number one.
A year-end rank measures a song's whole run on that year's chart, not how high it climbed.
Not sure which of the 30 fits your night? The Mood Song Matcher works from this site's own mood tags.
The Longest Runs at Number One
Staying power at the top is the clearest sign a party song landed.
These 10 songs held number one for three weeks or more.
| Song | Artist | Weeks at #1 | Year-End List |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joy to the World | Three Dog Night | 6 | 1971 |
| Le Freak | Chic | 6 | 1979 |
| Disco Lady | Johnnie Taylor | 4 | 1976 |
| Stayin' Alive | Bee Gees | 4 | 1978 |
| Boogie Oogie Oogie | A Taste of Honey | 3 | 1978 |
| Crocodile Rock | Elton John | 3 | 1973 |
| Fly, Robin, Fly | Silver Convention | 3 | 1976 |
| I Will Survive | Gloria Gaynor | 3 | 1979 |
| Knock Three Times | Tony Orlando and Dawn | 3 | 1971 |
| Play That Funky Music | Wild Cherry | 3 | 1976 |
The 10 party songs with three or more weeks at number one.
Chart: Music of the 70s, from this site's weekly Billboard Hot 100 data.
"Joy to the World" Started the Decade's Party
Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World" reached number one in the spring of 1971.
It stayed there for six straight weeks.
It then finished as Billboard's top single of the year.
The full story is on the Joy to the World page.
"Le Freak" Took Six Weeks in Three Stretches
Chic's "Le Freak" first reached number one on December 9, 1978.
It lost the top spot, came back, lost it again and returned for a last run that ended on February 3, 1979.
Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" and the Bee Gees' "Too Much Heaven" took the weeks in between.
Added up, that is six weeks at number one, tied for the most on this list.
The Sound of the List: Disco, Funk and Beyond
This site tags every song in its data with a genre.
Counting the 30 songs by that tag shows how much of the list is disco.
| Genre tag | Songs on this list | Reached #1 |
|---|---|---|
| Disco | 17 | 15 |
| Funk | 4 | 3 |
| Soul | 3 | 3 |
| Pop | 3 | 3 |
| Classic rock | 3 | 3 |
Disco Carries the List
17 of the 30 songs carry the disco tag, from "Rock the Boat" in 1974 to "Y.M.C.A." in 1979.
For the genre's full arc, read 70s disco music, which follows how it peaked and nearly died.
Funk, Soul and Rock Still Get a Seat
"Superstition," "Play That Funky Music," "Keep on Truckin'" and "September" are tagged funk.
"Joy to the World," "Crocodile Rock" and "The Loco-Motion" are tagged classic rock.
None of those songs needed a mirror ball to get a room moving.
Back to Back: Party Songs That Passed the Baton
The weekly chart file shows which song held number one right before and right after each one on the list.
Several of these party songs handed off to each other:
- "Superstition" gave way to "Crocodile Rock" on February 3, 1973.
- "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" was followed by "The Loco-Motion" on May 4, 1974.
- "Rock the Boat" held on July 6, 1974, and "Rock Your Baby" took the next week.
- "Fly, Robin, Fly" came between KC and the Sunshine Band's two weeks of "That's the Way (I Like It)."
- "Play That Funky Music" was followed by "A Fifth of Beethoven," then "Disco Duck."
- "Love Train" held number one on March 24, 1973, between two stretches of "Killing Me Softly with His Song."
All of these hand-offs come straight from the weekly chart file.
An Odd Couple at the Top
"A Fifth of Beethoven" held number one for one week on October 9, 1976.
The next song to take over was Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots' "Disco Duck."
The chart really did put a Beethoven remix and a novelty duck back to back at the top.
Party Songs That Stopped Short of Number One
Three songs on the list never topped the Hot 100.
Each one is here because the chart does not tell the whole story.
"Last Dance" Won the Oscar
Paul Jabara wrote it for the 1978 film Thank God It's Friday.
Donna Summer recorded it, and it reached number three on the Hot 100 in August 1978.
It also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
The Last Dance page has the rest.
"Y.M.C.A." Stalled at Number Two
Jacques Morali and Victor Willis wrote it together in a New York studio in 1978.
Casablanca Records released it on October 9, 1978.
It stalled at number two on the weekly Hot 100 in early 1979.
The Y.M.C.A. page covers the dance and the Library of Congress pick.
"September" Never Passed Number Eight
Maurice White and Allee Willis wrote it in 1978, and it came out on November 18 of that year.
It never got higher than number eight on the Hot 100.
It sits at rank 78 on the 1979 year-end list.
The September page tells how it was written.
Year by Year: When the Party Songs Landed
Counting the 30 songs by the year-end Hot 100 each one appears on.
| Year-End List | Songs on this list | Reached #1 |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 2 | 2 |
| 1971 | 2 | 2 |
| 1972 | 0 | 0 |
| 1973 | 4 | 4 |
| 1974 | 5 | 5 |
| 1975 | 4 | 4 |
| 1976 | 4 | 4 |
| 1977 | 2 | 2 |
| 1978 | 3 | 2 |
| 1979 | 4 | 2 |
1974 Is the Peak Year
Five songs from 1974 made the list, and every one of them reached number one.
That year gave us "Hooked on a Feeling," "TSOP," "The Loco-Motion," "Rock the Boat" and "Rock Your Baby."
All five hit the top between April 6 and July 20, 1974.
The Decade Closes on the Dance Floor
"Le Freak" and "I Will Survive" carried the party into 1979.
For the rest of the decade's chart story, start at Music of the 70s, then see the 70s number one hits page.
For the slower side of the same chart, play the 70s love songs list.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best 70s party songs?
The best 70s party songs on this site's list include Chic's "Le Freak," Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" and Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World." All 30 are checked against Billboard chart data and can be played from the table at the top of the page.
What is the number one party song of the 70s?
Two songs on this list tie for the longest run at number one: Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World" in 1971 and Chic's "Le Freak" in 1978 and 1979. Each spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. "Joy to the World" was also Billboard's top single of 1971.
What are the best 70s dance songs?
The best 70s dance songs here run from "Love Train" and "Rock Your Baby" in the early part of the decade to "Le Freak," "I Will Survive" and "September" at the end. 17 of the 30 songs are tagged disco in this site's data, and the rest are funk, soul, pop and classic rock.
Did every 70s party song on this list reach number one?
No, 27 of the 30 party songs on this list reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Donna Summer's "Last Dance" peaked at number three, Village People's "Y.M.C.A." stalled at number two, and Earth, Wind & Fire's "September" never got higher than number eight.
Where can I listen to 70s party songs?
You can play all 30 70s party songs from the table at the top of this page, one after another, with no sign-in. Press Play on any row and the list continues song after song until you press Stop. You can also open the same songs on Listen Now, this site's 70s music player.
Want a surprise from the same decade?
Spin the Random 70s Song Generator and see what comes up.
Related Posts
70s Love Songs
The slow-dance side of the decade, 30 playable songs from the same chart data.
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70s Number One Hits
Every Billboard number one of the decade, from the same chart data as this page.
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70s Disco Music
How the dance floor sound peaked and nearly died, with the chart data behind it.
Read postSources
- Billboard Hot 100, Wikipedia, for how the weekly chart used for number one runs works.
- Last Dance, Wikipedia, for the number three peak and the Oscar win.
- Y.M.C.A., Wikipedia, for the October 9, 1978 release and the number two peak.
- September, Wikipedia, for the November 1978 release and the number eight peak.
- List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1979, Wikipedia, for the dates of "Le Freak" and "I Will Survive."