4 Top 40 Hits From 1979 That Stay on Repeat in My Car

If you’re anything like me, my car has two main functions: 1.) get me from Point A to Point B, and 2.) serve as my own personal nightclub where I can listen to all of my favorite songs on repeat, as loud as my road-weary speakers will go, without fear of burning other people out on my never-ending playlist of songs from the 1970s. As far as the Top 40 chart of Rhonda the Honda is concerned, these hits from 1979 are just as good today as they were when they came out decades ago.

“I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor

I have yet to find a song more empowering than “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor, and I’m not sure I even want to go looking for it. This classic hit, which was riding high in the Top 40 in 1979, the year after its October 1978 release, is the perfect blend of impactful lyricism and just plain fun disco music. What other song grants you the opportunity to bop to strings and horns while also telling a pervasive ex to, for lack of a better term, p**s off? Fortunately, I haven’t found myself in this situation for a long while. But every time I hear this song, I sing it with my whole chest as if I’m actively going through a bad breakup.

“Heart Of Glass” by Blondie

Speaking of songs about people who have done you wrong, Blondie’s “Heart Of Glass” is another worthy contender. This song first appeared on Blondie’s third studio album, Parallel Lines. The band released it as a single in January 1979, after which it became a new wave standard. The sizzling drum beat, powerful bass line, and Blondie’s near-indifferent vocal delivery make this song an all-around banger. It’s the perfect track for singing along in the car—and for drumming along on the steering wheel (safely, of course). No matter how many times I listen to this iconic song, the transition into that grooving chorus and those tasty jumped beats never get old.

“Hold The Line” by Toto

As a former choir kid, I must confess that some Toto songs strike the fire of God within me. Like, no, thank you, I don’t want to listen to “Africa” after having to sing five million different a cappella versions of this track from the sixth grade well into my final years of undergrad. However, that’s not to say Toto has no place in my car’s personal Top 40 radio chart—their 1978 release “Hold The Line”, which stayed in the Top 10 well into 1979, is a notable exception to my Toto tentativeness. From the shuffling groove in the verses to the impactful hits in the chorus, this song is ideal for long car trips where you need something to sing along to so that you don’t go crazy on hour number six.

“Don’t Bring Me Down” by Electric Light Orchestra

Finally, I’ll wrap up this list of my “heavy rotation” songs from 1979 with Electric Light Orchestra’s “Don’t Bring Me Down”. An ELO classic and far and away one of their best-known songs, I’ve been listening to this song for as long as I can remember my mother playing classic rock radio since I was a child. Even after hundreds upon hundreds of listens, I’ve never gotten tired of this enduring track. The part where the guitars drop out, and Jeff Lynne sings, “You’re looking good, just like a snake in the grass”? Perfect, every time. The opportunity to sing those insanely high notes in the chorus in the privacy of my own car? Yes, please and thank you.

Photo by Pete Still/Redferns