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DISCO MANIA [1975]


In 1975, K-Tel issued their first album with the word disco in the title: Disco Mania.  By HERC's count, the label would go on to release five more disco-named albums between 1975-1979, all of which will be featured on this site in the future.  Don't let the title of this one throw you - while there are 16 disco tracks (two of them with the word disco in their title) on Disco Mania the other 25% of the album is rock:








HERC has added two more charts in the table below: The Cashbox Weekly Top 100 [CB] and the WLS Weekly Survey [WLS].   (HERC went back and recalculated the scores of all previously featured albums using the new data and while he didn't post new tables for each album (yet), the scores have been updated in the Top 10 rankings on the left.)  After all the math, Disco Mania emerged as #3 on The K-Tel Scale Top 10.

Disco Mania [1975]
K-tel Scale:
27.80
Top 40 chart peaks
PopR&BDISCOACCBWLS
The HustleVan McCoy & the Soul City Symphony113214
Walkin' In RhythmBlackbyrds6457
Rockin' ChairGwen McCrae911010
Don't Call Us, We'll Call YouSugarloaf feat. Jerry Corbetta9125
LadyStyx662
I Wanna Dance Wit' Choo (Doo Dat Dance)Disco Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes2333734
Disco BabyThe Stylistics
Disco QueenHot Chocolate284021
Hey YouBachman-Turner Overdrive21169
Never Can Say GoodbyeGloria Gaynor93411188
Doctor's OrdersCarol Douglas119107
Shame Shame ShameShirley & Company12118
Kung Fu FightingCarl Douglas1111
Spirit Of The BoogieKool & the Gang35127
Will It Go Round In CirclesBilly Preston11011
Rock Your BabyGeorge McCrae111911
Swing Your DaddyJim Gilstrap10
Rockin' SoulHues Corporation186928
Rock And Roll All NiteKiss12176
ExpressB.T. Express411916





For the Canadian release of the album, the title was altered to Disco Rock.  Half of Disco Mania's songs were held over, joined by ten other songs, only one of which seemed to suffer "the Canadian Curse"*.  Charity Brown's cover of "Take Me In Your Arms" peaked at #5 on the RPM Top Singles charts yet failed to crossover down in the States. One reason: The Doobie Brothers had their own cover of the Motown song on the charts at the time.  They peaked at #11 in the States and in the Top 30 in Canada.  Yet despite the big goose egg that song brought to the album's performance on The K-Tel Scale, it still ended up with a score above 30; good enough to land atop the leaderboard.

Disco Rock [1975]
K-tel Scale:
30.40
Top 40 chart peaks
PopR&BDISCOACCBWLS
Jive Talkin'Bee Gees1912
Rockin' ChairGwen McCrae911010
Shining StarEarth, WInd & Fire1119
Lovin' YouMinnie Riperton13412
Radar LoveGolden Earring13104
Lady MarmaladeLaBELLE11712
Hey YouBachman-Turner Overdrive21169
Take Me In Your ArmsCharity Brown
Will It Go Round In CirclesBilly Preston11011
Get Down Get Down (Get On The Floor)Joe Simon819
The HustleVan McCoy & the Soul City Symphony113214
Walkin' In RhythmBlackbyrds6457
ExpressB.T. Express411916
Up In A Puff Of SmokePolly Brown1629169
DynomiteTony Camillo's Bazuka1029128
I'll Do For You Anything You Want Me TooBarry White40432
BrazilThe Ritchie Family11131510
Bad LuckHarold Melvin and the Blue Notes1541
Disco QueenHot Chocolate284021
Don't Call Us, We'll Call YouSugarloaf feat. Jerry Corbetta9125

* - there is no such thing as a "Canadian Curse"; it is merely HERC's poorly chosen phrase to describe the phenomenon of a hit song in Canada failing to reach American charts.



In 1997, a ten song Disco Mania CD was issued by K-Tel featuring just one track carried over from the vinyl version:


Eight of the remaining songs actually came out after the original Disco Mania album; the oldest songs are from 1975 while the latest one is from 1980.  Seven of the disc's ten songs were Pop and Cashbox #1s while five songs also achieved the top spot on the R&B and Disco charts. Loaded with so many Number One tunes pushed this disc's K-Tel Scale score to an unsanctioned all-time high of 39.10.

Disco Mania [1997]
K-tel Scale:
39.10
Top 40 chart peaks
PopR&BDISCOACCBWLS
A Fifth Of BeethovenWalter Murphy & his Big Apple Band1101314
(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your BootyKC & the Sunshine Band11913
Boogie Oogie OogieA Taste Of Honey11111
The HustleVan McCoy & the Soul City Symphony113214
In The NavyVillage People33014310
Last DanceDonna Summer35144
Never Knew Love Like This BeforeStephanie Mills61255811
Fly, Robin, FlySilver Convention111618
FunkytownLipps, Inc.12113
Ring My BellAnita Ward11111 

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