Far Out Magazine has published a timeline tracing how disco rose from a niche sound in the early 1970s to a dominant global genre and cultural movement by the end of the decade. The piece charts disco's evolution through the artists and records that shaped it, showing how the genre grew out of New York's club scene before crossing over into the mainstream and influencing other movements, including the emerging new wave scene centred on CBGB's.

Key milestones include George McCrae's 1974 hit "Rock Your Baby", the UK's first disco number one, and a breakthrough year in 1975 with releases such as Van McCoy's "The Hustle" and Donna Summer's "Love To Love You Baby". Donna Summer and producer Giorgio Moroder proved especially influential, notably with 1977's "I Feel Love", which reportedly led Brian Eno to tell David Bowie he had heard "the sound of the future". The same year, "Saturday Night Fever" turned disco into a cultural phenomenon, while by 1978 and 1979 acts including Chic, Gloria Gaynor, the Bee Gees and Blondie – whose "Heart of Glass" fused disco with new wave – cemented its dominance of the charts.