⇦ 1975

1977 ⇨

The Best Music of 1976

Here is a selection of the best albums and songs from 1976. Hall of Famers are highlighted in orange.

For a list of the top artists who made their debut recording in 1976, check out this list.

Albums (?)		Wikipedia
ABBA	Arrival	☆
AC/DC	Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap	☆
Aerosmith	Rocks	☆
Andraé Crouch & The Disciples	This is Another Day	☆
Aretha Franklin	Music From the Warner Bros. Picture "Sparkle"	☆
Bad Company	Run with the Pack	☆
Barry Manilow	This One's for You	☆
Barry White	Let the Music Play	☆
Bill Conti	Rocky: Original Motion Picture Score	☆
Billy Joel	Turnstiles	☆
Blondie	Blondie	☆
Blue Öyster Cult	Agents of Fortune	☆
Bob Dylan	Desire	☆
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band	Live Bullet	☆
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band	Night Moves	☆
Boston	Boston	☆
Boz Scaggs	Silk Degrees	☆
Burton Cummings	Burton Cummings	☆
Camel	Moonmadness	☆
Carly Simon	Another Passenger	☆
Chicago	Chicago X	☆
David Bowie	Station To Station	☆
Diana Ross	Diana Ross	☆
Donna Summer	Four Seasons of Love	☆
Electric Light Orchestra	A New World Record	☆
Elvis Presley	The Sun Sessions	☆
Fela Kuti & Africa 70	Zombie	☆
George Benson	Breezin'	☆
George Harrison	Thirty Three & 1/3	☆
Gordon Lightfoot	Summertime Dream	☆
Graham Parker and The Rumour	Heat Treatment	☆
Graham Parker and The Rumour	Howlin' Wind	☆
Hiromasa Suzuki	High-Flying	☆
Jackson Browne	The Pretender	☆
Jaco Pastorius	Jaco Pastorious	☆
Jean Michel Jarre	Oxygene	☆
Jeff Beck	Wired	☆
Jimmy Cliff	In Concert: The Best of Jimmy Cliff	☆
Joan Armatrading	Joan Armatrading	☆
Joe Cocker	Stingray	☆
Johnny Winter	Captured Live!	☆
Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers	Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers	☆
Joni Mitchell	Hejira	☆
Judas Priest	Sad Wings of Destiny	☆
Kansas	Leftoverture	☆
Kazumi Watanabe	The Spice of Life	☆
KISS	Destroyer	☆
KISS	Rock And Roll Over	☆
Klaus Schulze	Moondawn	☆
Kool & The Gang	Open Sesame	☆
Led Zeppelin	The Song Remains The Same	☆
Led Zeppelin	Presence	☆
Lynyrd Skynyrd	One More From the Road	☆
Lynyrd Skynyrd	Gimme Back My Bullets	☆
Manfred Mann's Earth Band	The Roaring Silence	☆
Melanie	Photograph	☆
Michael Omartian	Adam Again	☆
Natalie Cole	Natalie	☆
Norman Whitfield	Car Wash (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	☆
Parliament	The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein	☆
Peter Frampton	Frampton Comes Alive!	☆
Peter Tosh	Legalize It	☆
Poco	Rose of Cimarron	☆
Queen	A Day at the Races	☆
Raffi	Singable Songs for the Very Young	☆
Rainbow	Rising	☆
Ramones	Ramones	☆
Randy Stonehill	Welcome to Paradise	☆
Return To Forever	Romantic Warrior	☆
Robert Palmer	Some People Can Do What They Like	☆
Rod Stewart	A Night on the Town	☆
Rush	2112	☆
Ryo Kawasaki	Juice	☆
Shadowfax	Watercourse Way	☆
Stanley Clarke	School Days	☆
Steely Dan	The Royal Scam	☆
Steve Miller Band	Fly Like An Eagle	☆
Stevie Wonder	Songs in the Key of Life	☆
Sun Ra	Cosmos	☆
Sweet	Give Us a Wink	☆
Tangerine Dream	Stratosfear	☆
The Alan Parsons Project	Tales of Mystery and Imagination - Edgar Allan Poe	☆
The Brothers Johnson	Look Out for #1	☆
The Eagles	Hotel California	☆
The Isley Brothers	Harvest for the World	☆
The Modern Lovers	The Modern Lovers	☆
The Rolling Stones	Black and Blue	☆
The Runaways	The Runaways	☆
Thelma Houston	Any Way You Like It	☆
Thin Lizzy	Jailbreak	☆
Thin Lizzy	Johnny the Fox	☆
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers	Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	☆
Warren Zevon	Warren Zevon	☆
Weather Report	Black Market	☆
Willie Nelson	The Troublemaker	☆
Wings	Wings at the Speed of Sound	☆
Wings	Wings over America	☆
Wishbone Ash	New England	☆

---

Songs (?)		Wikipedia
10cc	Things We Do For Love	☆
ABBA	Dancing Queen	☆
ABBA	Fernando	☆
ABBA	Knowing Me, Knowing You	☆
AC/DC	Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap	☆
AC/DC	Big Balls	☆
AC/DC	High Voltage	☆
Aerosmith	Back In the Saddle	☆
Al Stewart	Year Of The Cat	☆
Ambrosia	Cowboy Star	☆
America	Today's the Day	☆
Andrea True Connection	More, More, More	☆
Andrew Gold	Lonely Boy	☆
Atlanta Rhythm Section	So In To You	☆
Bad Company	Run with the Pack	☆
Barbra Streisand	Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star is Born)	☆
Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin Jr.	Nadia's Theme (The Young and the Restless)	☆
Barry Manilow	Looks Like We Made It	☆
Barry Manilow	Weekend in New England	☆
Bill Conti	Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky)	☆
Billy Joel	New York State of Mind	☆
Billy Joel	Say Goodbye to Hollywood	☆
Billy Joel	Prelude/Angry Young Man	☆
Blondie	Rip Her to Shreds	☆
Blondie	X Offender	☆
Blondie	In the Flesh	☆
Blue Öyster Cult	(Don't Fear) The Reaper	☆
Bob Dylan	Hurricane	☆
Bob Seger	Rock and Roll Never Forgets	☆
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band	Mainstreet	☆
Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band	Night Moves	☆
Boston	More Than A Feeling	☆
Boston	Peace Of Mind	☆
Boston	Foreplay/A Long Time	☆
Boston	Rock & Roll Band	☆
Boston	Smokin'	☆
Boz Scaggs	Lido Shuffle	☆
Boz Scaggs	Lowdown	☆
Brick	Dazz	☆
Bunny Wailer	Dreamland	☆
Chicago	If You Leave Me Now	☆
Cliff Richard	Devil Woman	☆
Climax Blues Band	Couldn't Get it Right	☆
David Soul	Don't Give Up on Us	☆
Diana Ross	Love Hangover	☆
Eagles	Victim of Love	☆
Electric Light Orchestra	Livin' Thing	☆
Electric Light Orchestra	Telephone Line	☆
Electric Light Orchestra	Do Ya	☆
Elton John & Kiki Dee	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	☆
England Dan and John Ford Coley	I'd Really Love to See You Tonight	☆
Fela Kuti and Afrika 70	Zombie	☆
Firefall	You Are the Woman	☆
Flamin' Groovies	Shake Some Action	☆
Fleetwood Mac	Go Your Own Way	☆
Fleetwood Mac	Silver Springs	☆
George Benson	Breezin'	☆
George Jones and Tammy Wynette	Golden Ring	☆
Gordon Lightfoot	The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald	☆
Hall & Oates	Rich Girl	☆
Heatwave	Always and Forever	☆
J.J. Cale	Cocaine	☆
J.J. Cale	Travelin' Light	☆
Jackson Browne	The Pretender	☆
Jackson Browne	Here Comes Those Tears Again	☆
James Brown	Get Up Offa That Thing	☆
James Taylor	Shower the People	☆
Jean-Michel Jarre	Oxygene, Pt. IV	☆
Joan Armatrading	Down To Zero	☆
John Sebastian	Welcome Back	☆
Johnnie Taylor	Disco Lady	☆
Johnny Paycheck	11 Months and 29 Days	☆
Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers	New England	☆
Joni Mitchell	Amelia	☆
Joni Mitchell	Coyote	☆
Judas Priest	Victim of Changes	☆
Kansas	Carry On Wayward Son	☆
KC & The Sunshine Band	I'm Your Boogie Man	☆
KC and the Sunshine Band	(Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty	☆
KC and the Sunshine Band	Keep It Comin' Love	☆
Kiss	Beth	☆
Kiss	Detroit Rock City	☆
Kiss	Shout It Out Loud	☆
Kiss	Hard Luck Woman	☆
Kiss	Calling Dr. Love	☆
Led Zeppelin	Achilles' Last Stand	☆
Leo Sayer	You Make Me Feel Like Dancing	☆
Leo Sayer	When I Need You	☆
Lou Rawls	You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine	☆
Manfred Mann's Earth Band	Blinded By the Light	☆
Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr.	You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)	☆
Marvin Gaye	I Want You	☆
Neil Diamond	Beautiful Noise	☆
Peter Tosh	Legalize It	☆
Peter Tosh	No Sympathy	☆
Pratt and McClain	Happy Days (Theme From Happy Days)	☆
Queen	Somebody To Love	☆
Queen	Tie Your Mother Down	☆
Rainbow	Stargazer	☆
Rainbow	Tarot Woman	☆
Ramones	Blitzkrieg Bop	☆
Ramones	I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend	☆
Ramones	Beat On The Brat	☆
Ramones	Judy Is a Punk	☆
Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots	Disco Duck	☆
Rod Stewart	Tonight's the Night	☆
Rod Stewart	The Killing of Georgie (Part 1 and 2)	☆
Rose Royce	Car Wash	☆
Rush	2112	☆
Sex Pistols	Anarchy In The U.K.	☆
Starbuck	Moonlight Feels Right	☆
Starland Vocal Band	Afternoon Delight	☆
Stephen Bishop	On and On	☆
Stephen Bishop	Save It for a Rainy Day	☆
Steve Miller Band	Fly Like An Eagle	☆
Steve Miller Band	Rock'n Me	☆
Steve Miller Band	Take The Money And Run	☆
Steve Miller Band	Serenade	☆
Stevie Wonder	Sir Duke	☆
Stevie Wonder	Isn't She Lovely	☆
Stevie Wonder	I Wish	☆
Stevie Wonder	As	☆
Stevie Wonder	Pastime Paradise	☆
Tavares	Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel	☆
The Alan Parsons Project	The Raven	☆
The Bee Gees	You Should Be Dancing	☆
The Bellamy Brothers	Let Your Love Flow	☆
The Brothers Johnson	I'll Be Good to You	☆
The Damned	New Rose	☆
The Doobie Brothers	Takin' It To the Streets	☆
The Doobie Brothers	It Keeps You Runnin'	☆
The Eagles	Hotel California	☆
The Eagles	Life In The Fast Lane	☆
The Eagles	New Kid In Town	☆
The Jacksons	Enjoy Yourself	☆
The Manhattans	Kiss and Say Goodbye	☆
The Modern Lovers	Roadrunner	☆
The Modern Lovers	Pablo Picasso	☆
The Runaways	Cherry Bomb	☆
The Spinners	The Rubberband Man	☆
The Sylvers	Hot Line	☆
The Trammps	Disco Inferno	☆
Thelma Houston	Don't Leave Me This Way	☆
Thin Lizzy	The Boys Are Back In Town	☆
Thin Lizzy	Jailbreak	☆
Thin Lizzy	Cowboy Song	☆
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	American Girl	☆
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	Breakdown	☆
Tom Waits	The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening with Pete King)	☆
Tom Waits	Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)	☆
Vicki Sue Robinson	Turn the Beat Around	☆
Walter Murphy & the Big Apple Band	A Fifth of Beethoven	☆
War	Summer	☆
Warren Zevon	Frank and Jesse James	☆
Warren Zevon	Poor Poor Pitiful Me	☆
Wild Cherry	Play That Funky Music	☆
Wings	Silly Love Songs	☆
Wings	Let 'Em In	☆
Wishbone Ash	Lorelei	☆

⇦ 1975

1977 ⇨