This week in 1977
1 Mull of Kintyre/Girls’ School Wings 2 We Are The Champions Queen 3 Rockin’ All Over The World Status Quo 4 Name Of The Game Abba 5 How Deep Is Your Love The Bee Gees 6 Dancin ’Party Showaddywaddy 7 Daddy Cool Darts 8 I Will Ruby Winters 9 Floral Dance Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band 10 Live In Trouble The Barron Knights
Paul McCartney and Wings’ only number one was a double-A side featuring tracks very different in style – the ballad Mull of Kintyre, co-written by McCartney and Wings member Denny Laine as a tribute to the beauty of the Scottish headland where McCartney lived, and the uptempo rocker ‘Girls’ School’. The only Wings’ release of 1977, the song Mull of Kintyre – featuring bagpipes played by the Campbeltown Pipe Band – struck a chord with the buying public on this side of the Atlantic as Christmas approached. The single spent nine weeks on top of the UK charts and was the Christmas number one. It went on to become the first single to sell over two million copies in the UK and remains the biggest selling non-charity single of all time in that market. The previous best-seller was The Beatles’ She Loves You, released 14 years earlier and written by McCartney and John Lennon. Mull of Kintyre was not a hit in the US where Girls’ School, the preferred track, received more airplay. The single peaked in the Billboard Hot 100 at number 33.