List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1976

The Billboard Hot 100 is a chart published since August 1958 by Billboard magazine which ranks the best-performing singles in the United States.^[1] In 1976, it was compiled based on a combination of sales and airplay data sourced from surveys of retail outlets and playlists submitted by radio stations respectively.^[1] During the year, 26 different singles spent time at number one.^[2]

In the issue of Billboard dated January 3, the Bay City Rollers gained their first Hot 100 number one with "Saturday Night".^[3] The Scottish band had achieved a string of top 10 singles in the UK between 1971 and 1975, including two number ones, accompanied by a fan frenzy dubbed "Rollermania",^[4] but they had not achieved any success in the United States until "Saturday Night" entered the Hot 100 in October 1975.^[3] After one week atop the chart, the single was displaced by another debut number one, "Convoy" by C. W. McCall.^[5] In February, Paul Simon, who had topped the chart three times as one half of Simon & Garfunkel, gained his first solo number one with "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".^[6]. John Sebastian, who had achieved one number one as the lead singer of the Lovin' Spoonful, similarly gained his first solo chart-topper with "Welcome Back", the theme song from the television comedy Welcome Back, Kotter.^[7] Rhythm Heritage, Johnnie Taylor, the Bellamy Brothers, and the Sylvers all achieved their first and only Hot 100 number ones in the first half of the year.^[8] Taylor had first charted in 1963 but taken more than a decade to reach the top spot.^[9]

Several of 1976's number ones were from the disco genre, which was booming in popularity.^[10] Two Motown acts, the Miracles and Diana Ross, adopted the disco style on "Love Machine (Part 1)" and "Love Hangover" respectively.^[11][12] The Bee Gees reached number one with the disco song "You Should Be Dancing"; the trio had begun to experiment with the genre in 1975 and became strongly associated with it in the second half of the 1970s.^[13] Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band topped the chart with "A Fifth of Beethoven", a disco reworking of themes from Ludwig van Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5", and the radio personality Rick Dees reached number one with the novelty song "Disco Duck", credited to Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots; neither Murphy or Dees achieved any other top 40 entries.^[14] Starland Vocal Band, the Manhattans, Wild Cherry, and Chicago all reached number one for the first time in the second half of the year, as did Kiki Dee, who gained her only U.S. number one when she duetted with Elton John on "Don't Go Breaking My Heart".^[15] Like Taylor earlier in the year, it had taken the Manhattans more than ten years from their chart debut to reach the top of the chart.^[16] The final number one of 1976 was also the year's longest-running chart-topper. "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" by Rod Stewart reached the top spot in the issue of Billboard dated November 13 and remained there for the rest of the year for a year-end total of seven weeks at number one. This also made Stewart the act with the most weeks atop the listing during 1976. Ross was the only act to have more than one song reach number one during the year, topping the chart with both "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" and "Love Hangover", but she only spent a total of three weeks in the peak position.