January 2 – New York City U.S. District Court Judge Richard Owen rules that former BeatleJohn Lennon and his lawyers can have access to Department of Immigration files pertaining to his deportation case.
January 6 – Approximately 1.000 Led Zeppelin fans, waiting for tickets to go on sale for Led Zeppelin's February 4 concert, cause an estimated $30,000 in damage to the lobby of the Boston Garden. The fans reportedly broke chairs and doors and caused other damage to the building. Boston MayorKevin White cancels the upcoming show.
February 21 – John Lennon releases his Rock 'n' Roll LP, featuring his favorite rock songs from the 1950s. To promote the album he conducts a telephone interview with 20 rock radio stations simultaneously.
March 2 – Los Angeles Police make a routine traffic stop that turns out to be Paul McCartney and his wife Linda. Linda is arrested for having 170 to 225 grams (six to eight ounces) of marijuana in her pocketbook.
April 3 – Steve Miller is arrested and charged with setting fire to the clothes and personal effects of a friend, Benita DiOrio, and resisting arrest. DiOrio drops the charges the following day.
June 24 – "Gens du pays", the unofficial national anthem of Quebec, is performed for the first time by Gilles Vigneault in a concert on Montreal's Mount Royal.
June 30 – Cher and Gregg Allman are married in a Las Vegas hotel suite. That same day, The Jackson 5 leave Motown for CBS Records, but the brothers are forced to change their name to The Jacksons because Motown owns the Jackson 5 name. Jermaine Jackson stays with Motown when his brothers break their contracts and leave for CBS; he is replaced by youngest Jackson brother Randy as a result.
August 4 – Robert Plant and his wife Maureen are seriously injured in a car accident while vacationing on the Greek island of Rhodes. The immediate future of Led Zeppelin is cast into doubt, as Plant will not recover for quite some time.
The Bee Gees begin their mid-1970s international comeback when "Jive Talkin'" reaches #1 and goes platinum with sales over 1 million.
Renato Carosone's comeback concert after a 15-year retirement.
The first Rock Music Awards, produced by Don Kirshner, are held in Los Angeles, co-hosted by Elton John and Diana Ross. John wins "Outstanding Rock Personality of the Year". The Who's film Tommy wins "Rock Movie of the Year".
John Lennon and Yoko Ono become parents of Sean Ono Lennon at 2:00 AM. The birth heralds the beginning of John's temporary retirement from the music business as he vows to devote himself to family for the next five years.
December 18 – The official break-up of Faces is announced at a London press conference. Rod Stewart will continue his solo career while Ronnie Wood is widely expected to be announced as an official member of The Rolling Stones in the near future.
December 24 – The first issue of Punk magazine is released with a January 1976 cover date. A drawing of Lou Reed is on the cover.
Elvis Presley performs before the biggest audience of his career, at Pontiac, Michigan's Silverdome. During the show, Elvis rips his pants onstage and has to leave to change.
"TOP RECORDS OF 1975 (from Billboard December 27, 1975)
The information compiled for the top records survey is based on the weekly chart positioning and length of time records were on the respective charts from the issue dates of November 2, 1974 through November 1, 1975. These recaps, as well as the weekly charts, do not reflect actual sales figures. The ratings take into account the number of weeks the disk was on the chart, plus the weekly positions it held during its chart life. Each disk was given points accordingly for its respective chart, and in addition, the number one disk each week was assigned bonus points equal to the total number of positions on its respective charts."
Unfortunately, Billboard's late December print deadline prevented approximately 60 records from completing their full chart runs, and includes data of approximately 50 records from 1976, some of which have enough points to rank in the current years chart. In contrast with the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1975, the chart below does not truncate or split chart runs between years. It does not add two months from 1974, delete two months from 1975 and then call itself the "Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1975", which it is obviously not. Joel Whitburn's Records Research books, archived issues of Billboard for November–December 1974 and December 1975 – March 1976, and Hot 100 Year-End formulas were used to complete the year-end chart reprinted here.
The completed Billboard year-end list for 1975 is composed of records that entered the Billboard Hot 100 between November 1974 and December 1975. Records with chart runs that started in 1974 and ended in 1975, or started in 1975 and ended in 1976, made this chart if the majority of their chart weeks were in 1975. If not, they were ranked in the year-end charts for 1974 or 1976. If their weeks were equal, they were listed in the year they first entered. Appearing in multiple years is not permitted. Each week thirty points were awarded to the number one record, then nineteen points for number two, eighteen points for number three, and so on. The total points a record earned determined its year-end rank. The complete chart life of each record is represented, with number of points accrued. There are no ties, even when multiple records have the same number of points. The next ranking category is peak chart position, then weeks at peak chart position, weeks on Hot 100 chart, weeks in top forty, and finally weeks in top ten. All chart rankings represented below for the Top Soul Singles, Top Country Singles, Top Easy Listening Singles, and Top CashBox pop singles were all calculated in the same manner.
The chart can be sorted by Artist, Song title, Recording and Release dates, Cashbox year-end ranking (CB) or units sold (sales) by clicking on the column header. Additional details for each record can be accessed by clicking on the song title, and referring to the Infobox in the right column of the song page. Billboard also has chart summaries on its website. Sales information was derived from the RIAA's Gold and Platinum database, the BRIT Certified database and The Book of Golden Discs,[16] but numbers listed should be regarded as estimates. Grammy Hall of Fame and National Recording Registry information with sources can be found on Wikipedia.
US Billboard 1975 #1, US Hot100 #1 for 2 weeks, 22 total weeks, 212 points, Top Country Singles 1975 #1, Country Singles #1 for 3 weeks, 21 total weeks, 196 points, Top Easy Listening Singles 1975 #5, Easy Listening Singles #1 for 1 week, 15 total weeks, 168 points
US Billboard 1975 #4, US Hot100 #1 for 1 weeks, 18 total weeks, 188 points, Top Country Singles 1975 #5, Country Singles #1 for 1 weeks, 18 total weeks, 142 points, Top Easy Listening Singles 1975 #4, Easy Listening Singles #1 for 2 weeks, 13 total weeks, 172 points
US Billboard 1975 #11, US Hot100 #1 for 1 weeks, 20 total weeks, 160 points, Top Soul Singles 1975 #8, Hot Soul Singles #1 for 2 weeks, 16 total weeks, 144 points, Grammy Hall of Fame 2008, from album "That's the Way of the World"-Columbia 33280, Grammy Hall of Fame 2004
US Billboard 1975 #15, US Hot100 #1 for 1 weeks, 19 total weeks, 151 points, Top Soul Singles 1975 #6, Hot Soul Singles #1 for 1 weeks, 19 total weeks, 155 points
US Billboard 1975 #22, US Hot100 #1 for 1 week, 21 total weeks, 134 points, Top Country Singles 1975 #6, Country Singles #1 for 2 weeks, 17 total weeks, 124 points
US Billboard 1975 #23, US Hot100 #1 for 1 weeks, 19 total weeks, 134 points, Top Easy Listening Singles 1975 #10, Easy Listening Singles #1 for 1 weeks, 17 total weeks, 146 points
US Billboard 1975 #24, US Hot100 #3 for 2 weeks, 15 total weeks, 134 points, Top Easy Listening Singles 1975 #8, Easy Listening Singles #1 for 3 weeks, 13 total weeks, 161 points
US Billboard 1975 #30, US Hot100 #1 for 1 weeks, 17 total weeks, 130 points, Top Soul Singles 1975 #1, Hot Soul Singles #1 for 2 weeks, 18 total weeks, 192 points
US Billboard 1975 #31, US Hot100 #1 for 1 weeks, 15 total weeks, 129 points, Top Soul Singles 1975 #4, Hot Soul Singles #1 for 2 weeks, 18 total weeks, 174 points
US Billboard 1975 #178, US Hot100 #23 for 2 weeks, 11 total weeks, Top Rock 1975 #1, Grammy Hall of Fame 2003, National Recording Registry 2003, from album "Born to Run"-Columbia 33795, Grammy Hall of Fame 2003.
Chronological table of U.S. and UK and Japan number one hit singles
U.S. number one singles and artist (weeks at number one)
UK number one singles and artist (weeks at number one)
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