No. 1s On This Date: Olivia Newton-John Rules!

The week of July 6, 1978, in the U.K., John Travolta and Olivia Newton John were in the midst of a nine-week run at No. 1 with "You're The One That I Want." On my own Top 100 that year, the song finished for the year at a rather dismal No. 16—though "Grease" was No. 2 and Olivia's "Hopelessly Devoted To You" was No. 6. Also charting at year-end were "Summer Nights," "We Go Together," "Sandy," "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" and "Born To Hand Jive." (No. 1 for 1978 was "Shadow Dancing" by Andy Gibb.)

Two years later, during this week in 1980, Olivia was again at the top of the singles chart in the U.K. alongside the Electric Light Orchestra with "Xanadu," which spent two weeks at the summit. The soundtrack cleaned up on my year-end chart: "Magic" by Olivia was No. 1, "Xanadu" No. 2, ELO's "I'm Alive" No. 5 and "Suspended In Time" from Livi No. 9. Also in the year-end chart: "Suddenly" from ONJ and Cliff Richard, ELO's "Don't Walk Away" and "Whenever You're Away from Me" from Liv and Gene Kelly.