on its release, "stayin' alive" climbed the charts to hit the number one spot on the "billboard" hot 100 the week of 4 february 1978, remaining there for four weeks. in the process, it became one of the band's most recognisable tunes, in part because of its place at the beginning of "saturday night fever". in the us, it would become the second of six consecutive number-one singles, tying the record with the beatles for most consecutive number ones in the us at the time (a record broken by whitney houston who achieved seven consecutive number-ones).