Hmmm. At this point I can’t decide if the large bias toward the rockier tracks is is more to do with my present-day tastes than 17-year-old me.
But my criteria when ordering the top 13 involves putting myself back in my sixth form shoes and visualising which records I actually bought (or taped from the top 20 run-down on Sunday – come on, we all did it!) and listened to while doing my homework.
Or the ones I danced around the kitchen to while making the evening meal for the family. And of course the ones I danced to in discos.

1) Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Blinded By The Light – 09-1976
2) John Miles – Music – 04-1976
3) Chicago – If You Leave Me Now – 10-1976
4) Abba – Dancing Queen – 09-1976
5) Thin Lizzy – The Boys Are Back In Town – 07-1976
6) Dolly Parton – Jolene – 06-1976
7) Fleetwood Mac – Rhiannon – 02-1976
8) The Four Seasons – December ’63 (Oh What A Night) – 02-1976
9) Elton John & Kiki Dee – Don’t Go Breaking My Heart – 07-1976
10) Gladys Knight & The Pips – Midnight Train To Georgia – 06-1976
11) Queen – Somebody To Love – 11-1976
12) The Bee Gees – You Should Be Dancing – 08-1976
13) 10cc – I’m Mandy Fly Me – 04-1976

And the ones I couldn’t bear to leave out:
The Shangri-Las – Leader Of The Pack – 07-1976
Leo Sayer – You Make Me Feel Like Dancing – 11-1976
Steve Harley – Here Comes The Sun – 08-1976
The Isley Brothers – Harvest For The World – 08-1976
The Climax Blues Band – Couldn’t Get It Right – 11-1976
Bonnie Tyler – Lost In France – 11-1976
Neil Diamond – Beautiful Noise – 11-1976
Candi Staton – Young Hearts Run Free – 06-1976
Sailor – Glass Of Champagne – 01-1976
The Real Thing – You To Me Are Everything – 06-1976
Robin Sarstedt – My Resistance Is Low – 05-1976
Wild Cherry – Play That Funky Music – 11-1976
David Dundas – Jeans On – 08-1976
Tina Charles – I Love To Love (But My Baby Loves To Dance) – 02-1976
Andrea True Connection – More, More, More – 05-1976
Yvonne Fair – It Should Have Been Me – 02-1976
The Kursaal Flyers – Little Does She Know – 12-1976
Manuel & His Music Of The Mountains – Rodrigo’s Guitar Concerto De Aranjuez – 02-1976
Paul Nicholas – Dancing With The Captain – 11-1976
Sherbet – Howzat – 10-1976

Some real big hitters this year, with Queen and 10CC, but the Glam Rockers are defo giving way and the epic Jive Talkin’ foreshadows the Bee Gees chart takeover a couple of years down the line.

1) Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody – 11-1975
2) Helen Reddy – Angie Baby – 02-1975
3) 10CC – I’m Not In Love – 06-1975
4) Minnie Riperton – Loving You – 04-1975
5) Slade – How Does it Feel – 02-1975
6) Billy Swan – I Can Help – 01-1975
7) The Average White Band – Pick Up The Pieces – 03-1975
8) The Bee Gees – Jive Talkin’ – 06-1975
9) Gloria Gaynor – Never Can Say Goodbye – 01-1975
10) Supertramp – Dreamer – 03-1975
11) Leo Sayer – Moonlighting – 09-1975
12) The Chi-Lites – Have You Seen Her/Oh Girl – 07-1975
13) Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel – Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me) – 02-1975

And, as ever, the ones bubbling under – still the odd novelty song creeping up on my blind side.
David Bowie – Space Oddity – 10-1975
The Eagles –Lyin’ Eyes – 06-1975
Pilot – January – 02-1975
Greg Lake – I Believe In Father Christmas – 12-1975
Slade – In For A Penny – 12 -1975
The Four Seasons – Who Loves You? – 10-1975
Hot Chocolate – You Sexy Thing – 11-1975
Andy Fairweather-Low – Wide Eyed And Legless – 12-1975
Roxy Music – Love Is The Drug – 11-1975
David Essex – Hold Me Close – 09-1975
Stevie Wonder – Boogie On Reggae Woman – 02-1975
John Lennon – Imagine – 11-1975
Linda Lewis – It’s In His Kiss – 08-1975
The Stylistics – Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love) – 08-1975
Shirley & Company – Shame, Shame, Shame – 02-1975
Peter Wingfield – Eighteen With A Bullet – 07-1975
Moments & Whatnauts – Girls – 03-1975
The Bay City Rollers – Bye Bye Baby – 03-1975
Peter Shelley – Love Me Love My Dog – 04-1975
Typically Tropical – Barbados – 07-1975

Finally, at fourteen, I was allowed to go to the Friday night disco in my friend’s village hall and it felt so-oo glamorous and exciting. Proper grown up with all the older kids, including my first proper boyfriend.
Glam Rock was still around, but for me this was when the soul stuff I loved started turning into disco with Disco Tex, KC and the Sunshine Band and George McCrae’s unforgettable Rock Your Baby.
Somewhere in between we had the likes of Cockney Rebel, The Rubettes and Mud. C’mon, own up to putting those thumbs in your belt hooks to do the classic box-step to Tiger Feet.

1) Bachman-Turner Overdrive – You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet -12-1974
2) The Hollies – The Air That I Breathe – 03-1974
3) George McCrae – Rock Your Baby – 07-1974
4) R. Dean Taylor – There’s A Ghost In My House – 06-1974
5) Slade – Everyday – 04-1974
6) Paul McCartney & Wings – Band On The Run – 07-1974
7) David Bowie – Rebel Rebel – 02-1974
8) Queen – Seven Seas Of Rhye – 04-1974
9) Golden Earring – Radar Love – 01-1974
10) Ringo Starr – You’re Sixteen – 03-1974
11) The Stylistics – You Make Me Feel Brand New – 08-1974
12) The Chi-Lites – Homely Girl – 04-1974
13) Terry Jacks – Seasons In The Sun – 03-1974

So much good music, I could have added at least half a dozen more.
Doobie Brothers – Listen to the Music – 03-74
Kiki Dee – I Got the Music in Me – 09-74
Paul McCartney & Wings – Jet – 03-1974
Mud – Tiger Feet – 01-1974
The Hues Corporation – Rock The Boat – 05-1974
Cozy Powell – Dance With The Devil – 01-1974
Johnny Bristol – Hang On In There Baby – 09-1974
Eric Clapton – I Shot The Sheriff – 08-1974
Cockney Rebel – Judy Teen – 06-1974
Lynsey De Paul – No Honestly – 11-1974
Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes – Get Dancing – 12-1974
The Drifters – Kissin’ In The Back Row Of The Movies – 07-1974
Bryan Ferry – The In Crowd – 06-1974
Hot Chocolate – Emma – 03-1974
KC & The Sunshine Band – Queen Of Clubs – 09-1974
Andy Kim – Rock Me Gently – 09-1974
Robert Knight – Love On A Mountain Top – 01-1974
Mud – The Cat Crept In – 04-1974
Alan Price – Jarrow Song – 06-1974
Suzi Quatro – Devil Gate Drive – 02-1974
Charlie Rich – The Most Beautiful Girl – 04-1974
The Rubettes – Juke Box Jive – 11-1974
Santana – Samba Pa Ti – 09-1974
Leo Sayer – One Man Band – 06-1974
Elton John – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds – 12-1974
Gary Shearston – I Get A Kick Out Of You – 10-1974
The Sparks – This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us – 05-1974
Jim Stafford – Spiders & Snakes – 05-1974
The Sweet – Teenage Rampage – 01-1974
The Three Degrees – When Will I See You Again – 07-1974
Stevie Wonder – He’s Misstra Know It All – 05-1974