1978 in British music

Events

• 14 January – The Sex Pistols play their final show at Winterland, San Francisco.
• 24 January – Wings' "Mull of Kintyre" is number one for a ninth and final week, becoming the biggest-selling single in UK history at that point.
• 25 January – Electric Light Orchestra kick off their Out of the Blue world tour in Honolulu, Hawaii.
• 11 March – Kate Bush becomes the first British female solo artist to reach number one in the UK charts with a self-written song, "Wuthering Heights".
• 30 April – The Clash, Tom Robinson Band, Steel Pulse, X-Ray Spex, the Ruts, Misty in Roots and Generation X all play live in Victoria Park, Hackney, at the Anti-Nazi League/Rock Against Racism festival, following a march from Trafalgar Square.
• 25 May – The Who play their last show with Keith Moon before his death.
• 15 July – The Picnic at Blackbushe Aerodrome, Camberley, Surrey, a concert featuring Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Joan Armatrading, attracts some 200,000 people.
• 30 July – Thin Lizzy officially announce that Gary Moore has replaced Brian Robertson on guitar.
• 18 August – The Who release their eighth studio album Who Are You. It is the Who's last album with Keith Moon as the drummer; Moon dies twenty days after the release of the album.
• September – Second anti-racism event staged in Brockwell Park, South London, featuring Elvis Costello, Stiff Little Fingers and Aswad, with 150,000 people in attendance.
• 27 November – Def Leppard's permanent drummer Rick Allen joins the band at the age of 15.
• unknown dates
• *The Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever becomes the biggest-selling album of all time.
• *The first BBC Young Musician of the Year competition for classical players is won by trombonist Michael Hext.
• Operatic contralto Helen Watts is appointed a CBE.
• *Multitone Records is founded by Pranil Gohil, specialising in bhangra music.

Year-end charts

Best-selling singles

Best-selling albums

Classical music: new works

• Malcolm Arnold – Symphony No. 8
• Peter Maxwell Davies – Symphony no. 1
• Daniel Jones – String Quartet No 4
• Malcolm Williamson
• *Azure
• *''Fiesta''

Film and Incidental music

• Tony Banks – The Shout, starring Alan Bates, Susannah York and John Hurt.
• Roy Budd – The Wild Geese.
• Ron Goodwin – Force 10 from Navarone directed by Guy Hamilton, starring Robert Shaw and Edward Fox.
• Ed Welch – The Thirty Nine Steps, starring Robert Powell.

Births

• 1 January – Tarik O'Regan, composer
• 13 January – Shelley Nash, singer
• 15 January – Sandi Lee Hughes, singer
• 19 January – Wayne Williams, singer
• 13 February – Hamish Glencross, Scottish guitarist
• 14 February – Ryan Griffiths
• 22 February – Jenny Frost, singer
• 6 April – Myleene Klass, singer, radio and TV presenter
• 7 April – Duncan James, singer
• 9 April – Rachel Stevens, singer
• 16 April – Terry Daly, Irish singer
• 23 April – Tom Lowe, singer and keyboardist
• 25 April – Luke Bedford, composer
• 28 April – Lauren Laverne, singer, radio DJ and TV presenter
• 4 May – Matthew Rose, bass
• 22 May – Jordan, model and would-be singer
• 29 May
• *Adam Rickitt, singer and actor
• *Daniel Pearce, singer
• 6 June – Sophie Solomon, violinist
• 16 June – Elisa Cariera, American-born singer
• 4 July – Stephen McNally, English singer-songwriter
• 1 August – Jonathan Wilkes, singer and entertainer
• 21 August – John Paul "J-Rock" Horsley, American-born singer
• 3 September – Johnny Shentall, singer
• 15 September – David Sneddon, singer-songwriter
• 27 September – Jamie Benson, singer
• 7 October – Alesha Dixon, singer
• 9 October
• *Nicky Byrne, Irish singer
• *Beverley Fullen, drummer
• 26 October – Rachael Carr, singer
• 27 October – Sabrina Washington, singer
• 29 October – Sam Chapman, singer and keyboardist
• 1 November – Bobak Kianovsh, singer
• 7 November – Mark Read, singer
• 23 November – Randy Brown, Jamaican-born singer
• 27 November – Mike Skinner, rapper, musician and record producer
• 12 December – Paul Walker, Irish singer
• 18 December – Lindsay Armaou, Greek-born Irish-based singer
• date unknown – Oliver Weeks, composer, arranger and guitarist

Deaths

• 11 January – William John Edwards, Cerdd Dant singer
• 15 January – Jack Jackson, trumpeter, bandleader and radio disc jockey
• 24 February – Mrs Mills, pianist
• 9 March – L. Radley Flynn, singer and actor
• 12 March – Tolchard Evans, songwriter, composer, pianist and bandleader
• 3 April – Ray Noble, composer and bandleader
• 21 April – Sandy Denny, singer
• 14 August – Victor Silvester, dance band leader
• 7 September
• *Keith Moon, drummer of The Who
• *Charles Williams, composer
• 15 September – Robert Bruce Montgomery, writer and composer
• 13 December – Jack Doyle, Irish-born boxer and singer