Out of that lot, I went with “The Hustle.” Though “Mandy” is probably a close second. BJ Thomas maybe comes in third.
Odd that a lot of the songs I remember from '75 (an eventful year in my life) aren’t on this list. Presumably, they were either released earlier or just never made it to Number One. 
Yeah, an absolutely terrible year. I went with Bowie.
Only three real contenders here: Labelle, AWB, and the only Doobie Brothers song I like. I went with “Lady Marmalade.”
As a side note, though this was the Average White Band’s only #1 under their own name, it was not their only appearance at the top of the charts; one-third of the group (Onnie McIntyre and Robbie McIntosh) had been part of Chuck Berry’s backing group on My Ding-A-Ling.
I like the funk of AWB’s number, but to me it always sounded like a tune where somehow the vocals didn’t record, and the producer said “Hey, this sounds better as an instrumental.”
Oh, just you wait until we get to the early 2000s. You’ll be pining for such a wealth of quality jams to choose from. 
Yesssss…I am not the only outlier that went with The Hustle.
Judging by the #1 singles, it sure did.
But then I remember that Born to run came out that year. Only made it to #3, though.
There are several songs that I like on this list, but none that I love. “Philadelphia Freedom” wins, according to the world-famous Ponch8 Music Rating System, the definitive source of music opinion. Other contenders were “You’re No Good,” “Lady Marmelade,” Jive Talkin’," “Island Girl,” and “That’s the Way I Like It.”
“My Eyes Adored You” finished dead-ass last (at least among songs I’ve heard of).
“Rhinestone Cowboy”, followed closely by “Fame”, “Jive Talkin’”, “Lady Marmalade”, and, yes, “Mandy”.
Another one without even the ghost of a contest: “Fame” kicks ass. Everything else on the list is weak or putrid. But even if there were better competitors, “Fame” would still win hands down; “Fame” is one of Bowie’s best-ever songs—which is saying a lot—and as a bonus it has John Lennon! Ne plus ultra.
I’m not going to do a song-by-song analysis; I just ate and want to keep lunch down. Suffice it to say that this year helps us understand one of the reasons upbeat styles like disco were able to become popular - an incredible number of pop songs from this era sound like dirges, even songs about happy subjects.
Exhibit A - “Lovin’ You”. Cheerful lyrics. The voice and music? Now I know what Conan/Arnold meant by “the lamentations of their women”. The whole country was sort of depressed around this time, and the music reflects it. Quaaludes were popular at this time, and studios must have had bowlfuls of them sitting around.
Other songs on this list with that downbeat sound: “Mandy”, “Laughter In the Rain”, “Best of My Love”, “Have You Never Been Mellow” (See? Quaaludes!), “Black Water”, “My Eyes Adored You”, “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” (at least with this song, it makes sense), “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” (ditto), “Sister Golden Hair”, “Listen To What the Man Said”, “One Of These Nights”, “Fallin’ in Love”, and “Rhinestone Cowboy”. Maybe this is why kids of this era later became the first goth music listeners.
Enough of that tangent - back to my opinions.
The year has two more of my most hated songs, the aforementioned “Lovin’ You”, and, with a song that many people on this list are picking as their favorite, “Black Water”. In each case, I find the song to have an unlistenable instrument featured. With “Lovin’ You” it’s Minnie’s voice; with “Black Water” it’s that (shudder) string arrangement. Both are like nails on a blackboard to me.
Virtually every other song on the list falls into the category of “meh”, so I’ll skip to the songs that, by dint of sucking less than the others, are contenders for me:
4th: The Average White Band - “Pick Up the Pieces”. There are very few years in which this completely OK song would make the top four, but for this year…
3rd: David Bowie - “Fame”. Honestly, this is one of my less favorite Bowie songs. But a bottom-of-the-barrel Bowie song is still third-best in a year where the list rocks less than bedtime in a nursing home.
2nd: Linda Ronstadt - “You’re No Good”. Again, a song with even a little bit of rock in it is better than almost all of the rest of these snoozers.
1st: The Ohio Players - “Fire”. This is the only song that would be likely to make even the top five in most years. Here, it’s the champion; a funky song that would be almost the only one you wouldn’t expect to hear in your dentist’s office.
OK, my judgment was maybe too hasty. I like “Lady Marmalade,” and even Elton couldn’t ruin “Lucy in the Sky” too badly (plus it included Dr. Winston O’Boogie!). Regardless, I re-emphasize my vote for “Fame,” where Dr. Winston o-boogied even better.
Much as I liked You’re No Good, I made a little rule for myself that I wouldn’t vote for remakes. That left Fame and Lady Marmalade.
Gitchee, gitchee, ya, ya, yah!
Well, “Black Water” is based on Delta blues and Cajun instrumentation, and the title is based on a Mark Twain reference to the Mississippi. I can see where someone who doesn’t like that sort of music wouldn’t like the song, but I think the group did a good job of trying to capture the local sound without actually being from that area.
I might agree with you although I’ve never in my life heard that song before. So, I just listened to it, well about 40 seconds, and now I know why I’ve never heard it before.
ETA: And look, I just saw the survey results and “Fame” by David Bowie is a terrible, terrible, terrible song. I like David Bowie, but “Fame” is probably the worst song he’s ever recorded. It’s like the Stones doing “Emotional Rescue.” for God’s sake.
Taste is a personal thing. I was struggling to think what “Fame” actually sounds like so I looked it up on YouTube. That explains it. It is one of those songs that causes me to instinctively reach for the radio controls to get rid of it whenever the intro starts to play. I don’t think I have ever made it through the whole thing and could only take less than a minute of it this time as well. The only songs that will make me change the station faster than that are all by Rush.
I voted for Sister Golden Hair because I genuinely like it and listen to it regularly. I also like Black Water, Rhinestone Cowboy and even Mandy in that special 70’s kind of way.
In terms of decent music, albums that year offered a lot more. In addition to Born to Run, there was Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, Zeppelin’s Physical Graffti, and Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here.
Getting back to 1975’s mostly sorry crop of #1 singles, the only clear choices for me were either Earth, Wind, & Fire’s “Shining Star” or Bowie’s “Fame”. I opted for EW&F even though most people today associate the song with Elaine Benes’ epileptic fit dance on “Seinfeld”.
Henry Deutschendorf gets no respect ? 
To be sure, nothing on that list approaches greatness, but “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” is a nice up-tempo thing that anyone can tap their toe to. And “Calypso” with it’s folkie overtone and ecological theme is really quite good, I’ve always liked it, and the single vote attached to it (at this time) is mine.
SS
Not a good year. I picked Philadelphia Freedom. Elton John is one of the best when he’s uptempo.