The Carpenters' hit version of '(They Long to Be) Close to You' was released in the summer of 1970, followed by Bread's 'Make It with You', both early examples of a softer sound that was coming to dominate the charts. The adult contemporary format began evolving into the sound that later defined it, with rock-oriented acts as Chicago, the Eagles and Elton John becoming associated with the format. The Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts became more similar again toward the end of the 1960s and into the early and mid-1970s, when the texture of much of the music played on Top 40 radio once more began to soften.

Major artists of that time included Barbra Streisand, Carole King, Cat Stevens, James Taylor and Bread. Also, some of these stations even played softer songs by Elvis Presley, Linda Ronstadt, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, and other rock-based artists. By the early 1970s, softer songs by the Carpenters, Anne Murray, John Denver, Barry Manilow, and even Barbra Streisand began to be played more often on 'Top 40' radio and others were added to the mix on many adult contemporary stations. From the end of the 1960s, it became common to divide mainstream rock music into soft and hard rock, with both emerging as major radio formats in the US. Hard rock had been established as a mainstream genre by 1968.

1970s soft rock