The United States turned 200 years old in 1976 (happy birthday to us!), and as the bicentennial celebrations ramped up that spring and summer, the music scene was in the middle of a seismic shift.

The music world underwent radical change in 1976 — some for better and some for worse, as you’ll see in our following list of all 26 No. 1 songs of 1976 ranked worst to best. The disco explosion was ...