In the liner notes of “Ambient 1: Music for Airports” (1978), Eno wrote, “Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.”

In 1978, he started to use the term “ambient music”: the concept stretched back to describe “Discreet Music” and the work of earlier composers, like Satie, who coined the term “furniture music,” for compositions that would be more functional than expressive.

As a songwriter and producer, he worked with Olivia Newton-John from 1971 through 1989. He wrote her number-one hit singles: "Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975), "You're the One That I Want" (1978 duet with John Travolta), "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (1978), and "Magic" (1980). He also produced the majority of her recorded material during that time including her number-one albums, If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974), Have You Never Been Mellow (1975), and Olivia's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (1982). He was a co-producer of Grease (1978) – the soundtrack for the film Grease.