#1 at KRIZ/Phoenix: “Sweet Hitch-Hiker” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, the 19th in their incredible string of 20 Top 40 radio hits before breaking up. It all began just three years earlier with “Suzi Q.” The band saturated the airwaves because most of the time both sides of their singles became hits.
Falling to #2 is “Liar” by Three Dog Night — the follow-up to “Joy To The World,” which was the biggest hit of the year at KRIZ and most other Top 40 stations. Moving up from #6 to #3 is Cat Stevens’ second U.S. hit, “Moonshadow.” The Doobie Brothers stay at #4 with their first hit, “Nobody.”
Holding at #5 is Chicago’s two-sided single: “Colour My World” from their current Chicago V album, backed with “Beginnings,” originally from their 1969 debut album, Chicago Transit Authority (the group’s original name before the actual CTA threatened a lawsuit).
Climbing to #12 is the Doors’ final hit, “Riders On The Storm.” It was released just before lead singer Jim Morrison died a month earlier.
On its way to #1 is Paul & Linda McCartney’s double-sided hit: the “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” medley backed with “Too Many People,” a song John Lennon considered a barb aimed squarely at him. The record leaps from #38 to #18.
Another ex-Beatle, George Harrison, jumps from #30 to #24 with “Bangla Desh,” the studio single released in advance of his Concert for Bangla Desh in Madison Square Garden, often cited as the first major rock benefit concert. Along with the subsequent album and film, the project raised money — and awareness — for refugees from the war of independence in the country known at the time as East Pakistan. (The “friend” mentioned in the song is sitar legend Ravi Shankar, who asked Harrison for help.)
Moving up to #10 is Olivia Newton-John’s “If Not For You,” a song written by Bob Dylan and patterned after George Harrison’s 1970 version from his All Things Must Pass album. It was her first American hit.
Probably the most unusual (but very cool) song on the chart is “Double Barrel” (#18) by Jamaicans Dave & Ansil Collins (“I am the magnificent, W-O-O-O”) — one of the earliest reggae songs to become a U.S. pop hit.