The AT40 Blog/June 30, 1979 ... When the women took over the Boys Club

Like in most other businesses, the men were the ones in charge when it came to the music industry.

Now, there were some top female acts throughout the first 24 years of the rock era, everyone from Doris Day to Patti Page to Lesley Gore to Mary Wells to Carole King to Helen Reddy to Carly Simon to Roberta Flack to Olivia Newton-John to Diana Ross to Linda Ronstadt to Donna Summer.

They were all great. The problem was they were the stars and there were not many other female acts who could complement their talents. And then in the 1970s, more and more female stars came into their own. And with disco, even more female acts started to hit the charts.

It led to what would be "the perfect storm" on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of June 30, 1979. Let's start by reviewing the Top 5 songs from June 23 first: Donna Summer was holding at No. 1 with "Hot Stuff," her second No. 1 hit in seven months. Meanwhile, she was also at No. 5, up six places from No. 11 with her fast-streaking follow-up "Bad Girls." Sister Sledge was holding at No. 2 with the women's anthem, "We Are Family." At No. 3 was the first hit for Tennessee-based school teacher-turned-singer Anita Ward with "Ring My Bell."

Then at No. 4 was the first hit for newcomer Randy Vanwarmer with the tear-jerker "Just When I Needed You Most." Randy was a guy. And among the women, he was an uncomfortable sore thumb sticking out. While the other four songs by the ladies looked like they were going to stay firm within the Top 5, only Vanwarmer's song looked prime to drop down on the chart.

So what was right behind in the Top 5 that week? At No. 6 was the first hit from the No. 1 album in America, "The Logical Song" by Supertramp from their monster success "Breakfast In America." A bunch of dudes from England. They were in a holding pattern at No. 6. But right behind them at No. 7 was the first hit for a newcomer named Rickie Lee Jones called "Chuck E's In Love."

She wasn't a dude. She was a threat to make the Top 5, though she was, too, holding in her position at the seventh slot. The Emotions of "Best Of My Love" fame from 1977 were at No. 9, but it was a duet called "Boogie Wonderland" with their friends from Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire.

And that brings up to the weekend of July 30, 1979. As expected, Vanwarmer began his Vancoolingdown on the chart as "Just When I Needed You Most" dropped from No. 4 to No. 9. His plummet out of the Top 5 made way for history that weekend:

No. 1 Ring My Bell--Anita Ward: The Tennessee teacher-turned-singer strode two places up to No. 1 with the song that was written by Frederick Knight of "I've Been Lonely For So Long" fame and was first given to 12-year-old Stacy Lattisaw ... whose management turned the song down! Yup, her loss, Anita Ward's gain.

No. 2 Hot Stuff--Donna Summer: After being known as the "The Queen Of Disco," the woman born La Donna Gaines in Boston, Mass., on December 31, 1948, wanted to go more of a rock edge with her first single from her new album, "Bad Girls." Giorgio Moroder, her producer, brought in Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter to play the famous guitar solo in the middle of this classic now known for its usage in the 1997 movie The Full Monty than it was a disco-era classic.

No. 3 Bad Girls--Donna Summer: As part of a "medley" on the album "Bad Girls," "Hot Stuff" goes straight into the title cut, which told of life on the streets for a lady of the night. For a woman with strong religious believes, the dialogue may not have been comfortable for Summer, but she handled them more than well and would perform this song on tour for years until her passing in 2012. "Bad Girls" would go on to spend five weeks at No. 1.

No. 4 We Are Family--Sister Sledge: Written and produced by Chic's dynamic duo of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, "We Are Family," the theme song of sisterhood for the Sledges, would be the biggest hit for the quartet. They had peaked at No. 2 for two weeks and looked like they may crack the top, but Donna Summer was too strong and the song would slip down a pair of notches on this week.

No. 5 Chuck E's In Love--Rickie Lee Jones: While Supertramp was holding for one last week at No. 6 with "The Logical Song," it was Jones making the leap over Supertramp to No. 5 with "Chuck E's In Love," a song she wrote about friend and fellow songwriter Chuck E. Weiss, who hung out regularly with Jones and her boyfriend at the time, singer-songwriter Tom Waits. One day, Weiss stopped hanging around and then explained to Waits on the phone that he had left to go home to Denver because he fell in love. Ah, inspiration!

With that, for the first time ever, the women ruled the Top 5 slots on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a point that did not escape the American Top 40 research people and would let host Casey Kasem know to repeat a number of times the rest of the show. It was as impressive a Top 5 for one week since the Beatles owned all Top 5 spots on the chart 15 years and almost three months earlier.

And there was one another history-making moment mentioned by CK himself: By holding the No. 2 and 3 spots on the chart, Donna Summer became the first female artist to score two of the top three songs in the country in the same week. And the company she joined in that feat were pretty special to say the least -- Elvis Presley (1956), the aforementioned Beatles (1964) and the Bee Gees, who had done the trick just one year earlier.

This magical moment for the ladies on the chart would last one week. The next week, Sister Sledge slipped out of the Top 5 and Kenny Rogers invaded the all-girls club with his ballad "She Believes In Me," which moved up from No. 7 to No. 5.

By 1981, the women had pulled off another amazing chart success – for the first time in the rock era, the women spent more weeks at No. 1 (26 1/2) than the guys did (25 1/2) by the slightest of margins, led by Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" and Newton-John's "Physical."

But none of that would have been possible if not for the success of the ladies of the '70s. More importantly, it was their domination of the Top 5 that proved to be a watershed moment for the women.

Yes, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Beyonce and Lady Gaga, you're welcome.