The Music of 1970: A weekly look at America's top singles in the year that The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel broke up

Radio listeners in 1970 would be treated to some of the greatest hits of the coming decade. They would marvel at the soaring vocals of Art Garfunkel on Simon & Garfunkel’s #1 smash recording of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’. They may have shed a tear upon hearing the melancholy last single and record-setting 20th #1 Hot 100 hit from The Beatles, ‘The Long And Winding Road’. Many would celebrate the joyful sound of the uber-talented Jackson 5 and their four #1 hits in 1970. The AM airwaves would be filled with the soft pop hits of the brother and sister act, Carpenters, big hits from Canadian stars like The Guess Who, Gordon Lightfoot and Anne Murray and the usual raft of hits from Motown acts that, in 1970, included Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Supremes, R. Dean Taylor, Rare Earth, Edwin Starr and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, in addition to The Jackson 5. Sadly, 1970 was the year that both The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel broke up and Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin both died tragically young. However, The Bee Gees, on the very cusp of a lasting breakup, reunite with their biggest hit yet in America, ‘Lonely Days’.The singles artists of the year had to be The Jackson 5 who scored 4 straight #1 hits but the single of the year, according to Billboard was ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ by Simon & Garfunkel. The rest of the Top 10 singles of 1970 were, in order, ‘(They Long To Be) Close To You’ by Carpenters, ‘American Woman’ by The Guess Who, ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head’ by B. J. Thomas, ‘War’ by Edwin Starr, ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ by Diana Ross, ‘I’ll Be There’ by The Jackson 5, ‘Get Ready’ by Rare Earth, ‘Let It Be’ by The Beatles and ‘Band Of Gold’ by Freda Payne.Besides The Beatles and The Jackson 5 who each scored more than one #1 song, a number of other artists also had more than one big hit. This eclectic mix of musical talents included Carpenters, The Guess Who, Rare Earth, Three Dog Night, Neil Diamond, The Supremes, The Temptations, Bobby Sherman, Stevie Wonder, Charles Wr