List of Billboard Easy Listening number ones of 1978

In 1978, Billboard magazine published a chart ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the easy listening or middle of the road market.

[1] In the first issue of Billboard of the year, Billy Joel reached number one with "Just the Way You Are", replacing "How Deep Is Your Love" by the Bee Gees in the top spot.

[2] Joel had launched his solo career in 1971 and achieved a number of minor chart entries over the subsequent six years, but his breakthrough to stardom did not come until the release of the album The Stranger in 1977.

[7] In contrast to Joel's lengthy and successful career was that of another act to top the chart for the first time in 1978, the band Toby Beau.

Stewart had been a recording artist since the mid-1960s and would remain active for more than forty years,[12] but his U.S. chart success was confined to a four-year period at the end of the 1970s.

Two men with long hair and mustaches
England Dan & John Ford Coley spent six consecutive weeks at number one with " We'll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again ".
A balding man with a grey beard wearing a necktie
Billy Joel (pictured in 2009) achieved his first chart-topper with " Just the Way You Are ". He was a regular on the chart for 25 years.
A grey-haired man holding a guitar
Scottish singer Al Stewart (pictured in 2010) spent the final eight weeks of 1978 at number one with " Time Passages ", the longest run of the year.
A blond-haired man wearing a dark suit, singing into a microphone
Barry Manilow (pictured in 2008) was the only act with more than one chart-topper in 1978.