This week in 1978 the soundtrack album to the movie “Saturday Night Fever,” starring John Travolta, hit number 1 in the US. It is one of the best-selling albums in history, and remains in the top 10 biggest-selling soundtracks of all time. The album stayed at number 1 of the US album chart for 24 straight weeks from January to July 1978 while in the UK it spent 18 at the top.
Producer Robert Stigwood approached the Bee Gees to write songs for the movie after its filming had already taken place. At the time the Bee Gees were working on producing their next album but, not wanting to let the opportunity pass them by, wrote a few songs during a weekend and tweaked some songs they had already started working on, including “Stayin’ Alive.“