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Welcome back to Hit Parade, a podcast of Pop Chart History from Slate magazine about the hits from

coast to coast. I'm Chris Malanfi, chart analyst, pop critic, and writer of Slate's Why Is This

Song Number One series? On our last episode, we walked through the first two decades of Barbara Streisand's career, how she emerged

as a Broadway star, movie star, and yes, pop star, virtually simultaneously, and how she struggled

to adapt to contemporary music before finally finding an approach in the mid-70s

that consistently generated hits. We are now at the end of the 70s. Disco is on the wane,

but Barbara is about to score her biggest pop album ever by teaming with a leading disco singer and songwriter.

By 1980, the leading acts of disco were all finding ways to pivot their careers amidst the disco backlash.

Strisean's friend, Donna Summer, not long after their hit duet,

pivoted toward a fusion of dance pop and synthesized rock on her 1980 album, The Wanderer.

I know I'm ready now. It's just a little time because I'm a wanderer.

I'm a lot of her.

Sheik, the hit-making disco group, led by Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards,

that had revolutionized dance music and even helped launch hip-hop in the closing months of 1979.

Good time,

think of the good time, leave your case.

Increasingly turned their attention toward production and songwriting for other acts.

Sheik's greatest 1980 triumph was producing and writing the album, Diana,

the transformative post-disco blockbuster by Motown legend Diana Ross.

Upside down, the Bee Gees.

They scored the last of their string of Hot 100 number ones in the summer of 79. which was around the time.

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