The musical landscape of 1972
The charts reflected a broad musical marketplace: intimate singer-songwriter records, soul, hard rock, country-pop and polished mainstream pop all competed for attention.
The Top 20 is spread across 20 different credited artists, giving the year an unusually broad cast of performers.
What to listen for
Pay attention to the range of vocal styles and to the growing contrast between personal songwriting and large-scale studio production.
This list contains 20 different credited artists. The number gives a quick indication of whether the year was concentrated among repeat hitmakers or spread across a wider field.
Billboard Year-End Top 20 songs of 1972
| Rank | Song | Artist | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face | Roberta Flack | Spotify ↗ |
| 2 | Alone Again Naturally | Gilbert OSullivan | Spotify ↗ |
| 3 | American Pie | Don McLean | Spotify ↗ |
| 4 | Without You | Harry Nilsson | Spotify ↗ |
| 5 | Lean on Me | Bill Withers | Spotify ↗ |
| 6 | I Gotcha | Joe Tex | Spotify ↗ |
| 7 | Brandy | Looking Glass | Spotify ↗ |
| 8 | Lets Stay Together | Al Green | Spotify ↗ |
| 9 | A Horse with No Name | America | Spotify ↗ |
| 10 | Baby Dont Get Hooked on Me | Mac Davis | Spotify ↗ |
| 11 | Song Sung Blue | Neil Diamond | Spotify ↗ |
| 12 | Me and Mrs Jones | Billy Paul | Spotify ↗ |
| 13 | I Can See Clearly Now | Johnny Nash | Spotify ↗ |
| 14 | Nights in White Satin | The Moody Blues | Spotify ↗ |
| 15 | Heart of Gold | Neil Young | Spotify ↗ |
| 16 | Betcha by Golly Wow | The Stylistics | Spotify ↗ |
| 17 | Black and White | Three Dog Night | Spotify ↗ |
| 18 | Oh Girl | The Chi-Lites | Spotify ↗ |
| 19 | Precious and Few | Climax | Spotify ↗ |
| 20 | If You Dont Know Me by Now | Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes | Spotify ↗ |
Build a 1972 playlist
Start with “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack, then alternate familiar high-ranking records with contrasting selections from the lower half of the list.
How this page should be used
Year-End charts summarize performance across an extended chart year. They are not simply a list of songs that reached number one, and historical methodology has changed. Treat this page as a guided listening resource and compact chart-history reference rather than a mathematical comparison with other eras.