1975 in music

• 1975 in British music
• 1975 in Norwegian music

• 1975 in country music
• 1975 in heavy metal music
• 1975 in jazz

• John Rutter becomes Director of Music at Clare College, Cambridge.
• Billy Davis, Jr. and Marilyn McCoo leave the 5th Dimension and start solo careers.
• The Goodies have five top twenty singles (in the UK) becoming, according to Bill Oddie, "the first, the only and the most successful comedy rockers".
• Ramones sign to Sire Records.
• First release of "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda", by John Currie, on Australian label M7.

• See Musical groups established in 1975

Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart with "Faces" in 1975, the year the band disbanded.

• See Musical groups disestablished in 1975

The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the charts of 1975.

#	Artist	Title	Year	Country	Chart entries
1	Billy Swan	"I Can Help"	1974		USA – 1, Netherlands – 1, Austria – 1, Switzerland – 1, Norway – 1, Belgium – 1, New Zealand – 1, Germany – 1, Sweden – 1, Australia – 1, France – 1, Denmark – 1, Canada – 2, South Africa – 3, Ireland – 11
2	10cc	"I'm Not in Love"	1975		UK – 1, Ireland – 1, Canada – 1, Brazil – 1, USA – 2, France – 2, Australia – 3, New Zealand – 4, Belgium – 5, Netherlands – 5, Norway – 6, Germany – 8, Switzerland – 8, South Africa – 17, Italy – 24
3	Alain Barriere	"Tu t'en vas"	1975		Germany – 1, Australia – 1, South Africa – 1, UK – 2, Canada – 2, Belgium – 2, Netherlands – 2, Norway – 2, Ireland – 2, Austria – 3, New Zealand – 3, Switzerland – 3, USA – 5, Sweden – 10
4	Morris Albert	"Feelings"	1974		USA – 1, Canada – 1, Ireland – 1, Belgium – 1, New Zealand – 2, South Africa – 2, Netherlands – 3, UK – 4, Australia – 5, Sweden – 17, Germany – 31
5	Salsoul Orchestra	"Tangerine"	1975		Netherlands – 1, Sweden – 1, Austria – 1, Switzerland – 1, Norway – 1, Germany – 1, Belgium – 1, South Africa – 1, Canada – 5, UK – 10, Italy – 11, USA – 26

Note: best sellers of the year are bold.

• "And All That Jazz" w. Fred Ebb m. John Kander. Introduced by Chita Rivera in the musical Chicago
• "Anytime (I'll Be There)"     w.m. Paul Anka
• "At Seventeen" w.m. Janis Ian
• "Calypso"     w.m. John Denver
• "I'm Not in Love"     w.m. Graham Gouldman & Eric Stewart
• "I'm Sorry"     w.m. John Denver
• "Love Will Keep Us Together"     w.m. Neil Sedaka & Howard Greenfield
• "Mamma Mia"     w.m. Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson & Björn Ulvaeus
• "Movin' On Up" w.m. Jeff Barry and Ja'net Dubois, theme from the TV series The Jeffersons
• "New York State of Mind" w.m. Billy Joel
• "One"     w. Edward Kleban m. Marvin Hamlisch
• "Rockin' All Over the World" w.m. John C. Fogerty
• "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights"     w.m. Freddy Fender & Wayne Duncan
• "The Way I Want To Touch You"     w.m. Toni Tennille
• "What I Did For Love"     w. Edward Kleban m. Marvin Hamlisch
• "You"     w.m. Tom Snow

• Samuel Adler – Symphony No. 5, We are the Echoes
• Osvaldas Balakauskas – Sonata of the Mountains
• Claude Bolling and Jean-Pierre Rampal – Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano
• Mario Davidovsky – Scenes from Shir ha-Shirim for soprano, two tenors, bass soli and chamber ensemble
• Klaus Huber – Blätterlos for piano
• Wojciech Kilar – Bogurodzica for mixed choir and orchestra
• Theo Loevendie – Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Orchestra, Incantations
• Witold Lutosławski – Les Espaces du sommeil
• Krzysztof Meyer
  • Sonata for piano, No. 5
  • Sonata for solo violin
• Frederic Rzewski – The People United Will Never Be Defeated!
• Karlheinz Stockhausen
  • Harlekin, for clarinet, Nr. 42
  • Der kleine Harlekin, for clarinet, Nr. 42½
  • Musik im Bauch, for six percussionists and music boxes, Nr. 41
  • Tierkreis, for a melody and/or chording instrument, Nr. 41½
• Alexander Vustin – The Word
• Dmitri Shostakovich – Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147 (his final work)

• Viktor Ullmann – Der Kaiser von Atlantis (16 December, Bellevue Centre, Amsterdam)
• John Rutter – Bang! (14 March, Fairfield Halls, Croydon)
• Aulis Sallinen – The Horseman (17 June, Savonlinna Opera Festival)

• Chicago – Broadway production opened at the 46th Street Theatre and ran for 936 performances
• A Chorus Line (Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban) – Broadway production opened at the Shubert Theatre and ran for 6137 performances, the longest run of any Broadway musical at the time
• A Little Night Music (Stephen Sondheim) – London production
• Dance With Me – Broadway production opened at the Mayfair Theatre and ran for 396 performances
• The Wiz – Broadway production opened at the Majestic Theatre and ran for 1672 performances
• Pacific Overtures – Broadway production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre and ran for 192 performances

• At Long Last Love
• Funny Lady
• Lisztomania
• The Magic Flute
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Tommy

• January 8 – Richard Tucker, operatic tenor, 61 (heart attack)
• January 11 – Max Lorenz, Wagnerian tenor, 73
• January 16 – Paul Beaver, electronic jazz keyboardist, 49
• January 26 – Toti Dal Monte, operatic soprano, 81
• January 30 – Boris Blacher, composer, 72
• February 3 – Umm Kulthum, singer, songwriter and actress
• February 4 – Louis Jordan, jazz musician, 66
• February 10 – Dave Alexander, bassist (The Stooges), 27 (pulmonary edema)
• February 13 – Eric Thiman, English composer, 74
• February 16–- Norman Treigle, operatic bass-baritone, 47
• February 19 – Luigi Dallapiccola, composer, 71
• February 22 – Lionel Tertis, viola player, 98
• March 3 – Sandy MacPherson, theatre organist, 78
• March 4 – Cornel Chiriac, Romanian record producer, broadcaster and jazz musician, 33 (murdered)
• March 14 – Will Mastin, American vaudevillian, 100
• March 15 – Sandy Brown, jazz musician, 46 (heart attack)
• March 16 – T-Bone Walker, African-American musician, 64
• March 27 – Sir Arthur Bliss, Master of the Queen's Musick, 83
• April 12 – Josephine Baker, African-American dancer, 68
• April 14 – Michael Flanders, lyricist, actor, humorist and singer (Flanders and Swann), 53 (intracranial berry aneurysm)
• April 21 – Sir Jack Westrup, musicologist, 70
• April 23 – Pete Ham, singer and songwriter (Badfinger), 27 (suicide)
• May 2 – Conchita Badía, operatic soprano, 77
• May 13 – Bob Wills, American Western swing bandleader, 70
• May 18 – Leroy Anderson, American composer and conductor, 66
• June 4 – Frida Leider, operatic soprano, 87
• June 7 – Robert Schmertz, American folk musician and architect, 77
• June 16 – Don Robey, songwriter and producer, 72
• June 21 – David Tamkin, composer, 68
• June 29 – Tim Buckley, singer-songwriter, 28 (drug overdose)
• July 5 – Gilda Dalla Rizza, operatic soprano, 82
• July 10 – Ernst Fischer, composer, 75
• July 14 – Zutty Singleton, American jazz drummer, 77
• July 19 – Lefty Frizzell, Country Music Hall of Fame singer, 47 (stroke)
• August 8 – Julian Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist, 46
• August 9 – Dmitri Shostakovich, composer, 68 (heart attack)
• August 10 – Neva Carr Glyn, operatic contralto, 67
• September – Flora Perini, operatic soprano, 87
• September 5
  • Georg Ots, Estonian opera singer, 55
  • Bill Sprouse Jr., Christian singer and songwriter, 26 (heart attack)
• September 6 – Shelton Brooks, Canadian-born African American song composer, 89
• September 20 – Vincent Lopez, American bandleader, 79
• October 1 – Al Jackson, Jr., R&B drummer, 39 (shot)
• October 19 – Cátulo Castillo, tango composer, 69
• October 28 – Oliver Nelson, jazz saxophonist, 43
• October 30 – John Scott Trotter, U.S. arranger and conductor
• December 8 – Gary Thain, rock bassist, 27 (heroin overdose)
• December 14 – Mongezi Feza, jazz trumpeter and flautist, 30 (pneumonia)
• December 17
  • Noble Sissle, U.S. bandleader and singer, 86
  • Hound Dog Taylor, blues musician, 60
• December 24
  • Peter Gibbs, violinist
  • Bernard Herrmann, composer, 64
  • Tilly Losch, dancer and actress, 72
• December 25 – Julio Cueva, trumpeter, bandleader and composer, 78