In 1976, Billboard magazine published a chart ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the easy listening or middle of the road market.
Through the issue of Billboard dated February 14, the header of the chart stated that it listed "best-selling middle-of-the-road singles compiled from national retail sales and radio station airplay".
The husband-and-wife duo Captain & Tennille were at the peak of their success in 1976, reaching the top 10 of Billboard's pop chart, the Hot 100, with three singles, extending their run of consecutive Easy Listening number ones to five, and hosting their own variety show on the ABC television network.
[7] "Silly Love Songs" by Wings and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John and Kiki Dee topped both charts and were named the top two songs in Billboard's year-end chart of pop singles, although the magazine noted that the soft sounds which had been popular on pop music radio in recent years were beginning to be displaced by the "funkier" sounds of disco and soul.
[6][8] Frankie Avalon was one artist who embraced the increasingly-popular disco style but still received sufficient plays on relevant radio stations to top the Easy Listening chart, as he reached number one with a disco-influenced re-recording of his own 1959 hit "Venus".