1973
The year in music, movies, TV, fads & memories
In 1973, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” by Tony Orlando & Dawn topped the Billboard year-end Hot 100 and The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road by Elton John were on every turntable. The Exorcist, American Graffiti and Enter the Dragon were in theaters, and The Young and the Restless, Kojak and Schoolhouse Rock! were on TV.
The headlines: Roe v. Wade decision. New that year: First cellphone call (Motorola). Fads of the year: Streaking begins and CB radio rising. Gas was 39¢ a gallon, a stamp was 8¢ and a movie ticket ran ~$1.77. On the shelf: a MoonPie, a can of Tab and a Spirograph, with Super Friends on Saturday morning.
🎂 What music raised you?
Drop your birthday and we'll rewind to your golden era — the years the songs imprinted for life.
🔙 Backtrack — 1973
The world around the music — what was on screen, and what was on the shelf.
🎬 Set the scene
In 1973, a perfect afternoon didn't need much: Schoolhouse Rock!, a Laffy Taffy, a can of Hawaiian Punch, and nowhere important to be.
📼 Saturday cartoons
- Scooby-Doo👕 tee →
- Super Friends👕 tee →
- Schoolhouse Rock!
- Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
- The Pink Panther Show
- Hong Kong Phooey
- The Jetsons
- The Flintstones
📰 Headlines
- Roe v. Wade decision
- Watergate hearings begin
- OPEC oil embargo
- US exits Vietnam (Paris Accords)
- Spiro Agnew resigns
💡 Tech & Firsts
- First cellphone call (Motorola)
- Ethernet invented (Xerox PARC)
- TCP/IP concept published
- Sears Tower completed
- UPC barcode introduced
🏆 Sports
- A's win the World Series
- Dolphins win Super Bowl VII
- Knicks win the NBA title
- Secretariat wins the Triple Crown
- Battle of the Sexes (King def. Riggs)
🤪 Crazes & fads
- Streaking begins
- CB radio rising
- Disco dawn
- Pet turtles
- Mood rings coming
👖 Clothes
- Leisure suits
- Bell-bottom jeans
- Platform shoes peak
- Wide ties
- Polyester everything
💵 What it cost
- Gas: 39¢/gal
- Stamp: 8¢
- New car avg: ~$3,900
- Median home: ~$32,500
- Movie ticket: ~$1.77
🧸 Toy chest
🍬 On the shelf
Billboard Year-End Hot 100
📊 Full chart →- 1
Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak TreeTony Orlando & Dawn - 2
Bad, Bad Leroy BrownJim Croce - 3
Killing Me Softly with His SongRoberta Flack - 4
Let's Get It OnMarvin Gaye - 5
My LovePaul McCartney & Wings - 6
Why MeKris Kristofferson - 7
Crocodile RockElton John - 8
Will It Go Round in CirclesBilly Preston - 9
You're So VainCarly Simon - 10
Touch Me In the MorningDiana Ross - 11
The Night the Lights Went Out In GeorgiaVicki Lawrence - 12
Playground in My MindClint Holmes - 13
Brother LouieStories - 14
Delta DawnHelen Reddy - 15
Me and Mrs. JonesBilly Paul - 16
FrankensteinThe Edgar Winter Group - 17
Drift AwayDobie Gray - 18
Little WillySweet - 19
You Are the Sunshine of My LifeStevie Wonder - 20
Half-BreedCher - 21
That LadyThe Isley Brothers - 22
Pillow TalkSylvia - 23
We're An American BandGrand Funk Railroad - 24
Right Place Wrong TimeDr. John - 25
WildflowerSkylark
More from 1973
🎤 Big in 1973
🎚️ 1973 genres
🎛️ Behind the boards & the pen — 1973
The hands behind 1973 — the producers and songwriters who actually shaped that year's records. Al Kooper was on 3 of them.
🎬 Movies of 1973
All soundtracks →The soundtracks that scored 1973 — every song and where it played.
🎚️ Related vibes
All themes →Themed rooms that lean on the sound of 1973.
🌀 Things 1973 remembers wrong
All Glitch Files →Mandela-effect cases that were on the shelf, the screen or the radio in 1973. Which do you remember?
What does 1973 remind you of?
The drive, the dance, the heartbreak, the summer. Add a memory of 1973.
Community Memories
How well do you remember 1973?
7 quick questions — the songs, the artists, the year. No cheating. 😏
📼 Take this 8-track with you
Build this in your own Spotify in two taps — free, no account needed here. (For Apple Music or YouTube, open songs one-by-one below.)
Then open the free helper
🎵 1973 albums on vinyl
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📻 70s gear
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