1973 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council election

The first elections to the newly created Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council were held on 10 May 1973, with the entirety of the 60 seat council - three seats for each of the 20 wards - up for vote. The Local Government Act 1972 stipulated that the elected members were to shadow and eventually take over from the predecessor corporation on 1 April 1974. The order in which the councillors were elected dictated their term serving, with third-place candidates serving two years and up for re-election in 1975, second-placed three years expiring in 1976 and 1st-placed five years until 1978.

The election resulted in Labour gaining control of the council.

Election result
This resulted in the following composition of the council: