List of Billboard Mainstream Top 40 number-one songs of the 1990s

The Mainstream Top 40 airplay-based chart debuted in Billboard magazine in its issue dated October 3, 1992, with rankings determined by monitored airplay from data compiled by Broadcast Data Systems, a then-new technology which can detect when and how often songs are being played on radio stations. The 40-position chart was published in the print edition of Billboard through May 1995, after which it only appeared in Billboard's sister publication, Airplay Monitor, and the Billboard.com website, returning to the print edition in 2003. During the 1990s, the chart was called Top 40/Mainstream alongside a second Top 40 Airplay chart, Top 40/Rhythm-Crossover. The first number-one song on both of these charts was "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men.[1]

Mainstream Top 40 is compiled from airplay on radio stations which play a wide variety of music, not just "pure pop", which Billboard defines as "melodic, often synth-driven, uptempo fare".[2] During the 1990s, mainstream top 40 went from R&B dominating the airwaves (and thus the charts) in the early 1990s to rock and alternative music becoming the choice of program directors in the latter part of the decade.[2] The mid-1990s also witnessed a drastic difference between what reached the top of the Mainstream Top 40 chart and the Hot 100, when songs started being promoted to radio and receiving significant airplay without the release of a commercially available single, a requirement for a song to reach the Hot 100. Thus, number-one songs on the Mainstream Top 40 such as "I'll Be There for You", "Fly", "Don't Speak", "Lovefool", "Torn", "Uninvited", and "Iris" failed to reach or have a similar impact on the Hot 100.[3] Hot 100 rules changed allowing airplay-only songs to chart in late 1998.[3]

Number-one pop songs of the 1990s
Contents
Issue date Song Artist(s) Weeks at
number one		 Ref.
1992
October 3 "End of the Road" Boyz II Men 1 [4]
October 10 "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" Patty Smyth and Don Henley 3 [5]
October 31 "How Do You Talk to an Angel" The Heights 6 [6]
December 12 "I Will Always Love You" Whitney Houston 9 [7]
1993
February 13 "Ordinary World" Duran Duran 2 [8]
February 27 "A Whole New World" Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle 1 [9]
March 6 "Ordinary World" Duran Duran 5 [8]
April 10 "Two Princes" Spin Doctors 7 [10]
May 29 "That's the Way Love Goes" Janet Jackson 9 [11]
July 31 "Can't Help Falling in Love" UB40 5 [12]
September 4 "Dreamlover" Mariah Carey 8 [13]
October 30 "All That She Wants" Ace of Base 9 [14]
1994
January 1 "Hero" Mariah Carey 5 [15]
February 5 "All for Love" Bryan Adams / Rod Stewart / Sting 1 [16]
February 12 "The Sign" Ace of Base 14 [17]
May 21 "Baby, I Love Your Way" Big Mountain 1 [18]
May 28 "I Swear" All-4-One 6 [19]
July 9 "Don't Turn Around" Ace of Base 6 [20]
August 20 "Stay (I Missed You)" Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories 3 [21]
September 10 "I'll Make Love to You" Boyz II Men 4 [22]
October 8 "All I Wanna Do" Sheryl Crow 7 [23]
November 26 "Another Night" Real McCoy 4 [24]
December 24 "On Bended Knee" Boyz II Men 1 [25]
December 31 "Another Night" Real McCoy 1 [24]
1995
January 7 "On Bended Knee" Boyz II Men 1 [25]
January 14 "Another Night" Real McCoy 1 [24]
January 21 "On Bended Knee" Boyz II Men 5 [25]
February 25 "Take a Bow" Madonna 5 [26]
April 1 "I Know" Dionne Farris 10 [27]
June 10 "Total Eclipse of the Heart" Nicki French 1 [28]
June 17 "I'll Be There for You" The Rembrandts 8 [29]
August 12 "Kiss from a Rose" Seal 9 [30]
October 14 "Only Wanna Be with You" Hootie & the Blowfish 2 [31]
October 28 "Fantasy" Mariah Carey 6 [32]
December 9 "One Sweet Day" Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men 11 [33]
1996
February 24 "Missing" Everything but the Girl 5 [34]
March 30 "Ironic" Alanis Morissette 7 [35]
May 18 "Because You Loved Me" Celine Dion 5 [36]
June 22 "Killing Me Softly" Fugees 3 [37]
July 13 "You Learn" Alanis Morissette 7 [38]
August 31 "I Love You Always Forever" Donna Lewis 11 [39]
November 16 "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" Celine Dion 1 [40]
November 23 "Head Over Feet" Alanis Morissette 3 [41]
December 14 "Don't Speak" No Doubt 10 [42]
1997
February 22 "Lovefool" The Cardigans 7 [43]
April 12 "You Were Meant for Me" Jewel 4 [44]
May 10 "I Want You" Savage Garden 2 [45]
May 24 "MMMBop" Hanson 8 [46]
July 19 "Bitch" Meredith Brooks 4 [47]
August 16 "How Bizarre" OMC 1 [48]
August 23 "Semi-Charmed Life" Third Eye Blind 6 [49]
October 4 "Foolish Games" Jewel 3 [50]
October 25 "Fly" Sugar Ray 5 [51]
November 29 "Tubthumping" Chumbawamba 9 [52]
1998
January 31 "Truly Madly Deeply" Savage Garden 1 [53]
February 7 "My Heart Will Go On" Celine Dion 10 [54]
April 18 "Truly Madly Deeply" Savage Garden 1 [53]
April 25 "Torn" Natalie Imbruglia 11 [55]
July 11 "Uninvited" Alanis Morissette 2 [56]
July 25 "Iris" Goo Goo Dolls 4 [57]
August 22 "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" Aerosmith 8 [58]
October 17 "One Week" Barenaked Ladies 7 [59]
December 5 "Lullaby" Shawn Mullins 8 [60]
1999
January 30 "Save Tonight" Eagle-Eye Cherry 1 [61]
February 6 "Slide" Goo Goo Dolls 2 [62]
February 20 "...Baby One More Time" Britney Spears 5 [63]
March 27 "Every Morning" Sugar Ray 7 [64]
May 15 "Kiss Me" Sixpence None The Richer 1 [65]
May 22 "No Scrubs" TLC 1 [66]
May 29 "Livin' la Vida Loca" Ricky Martin 7 [67]
July 17 "I Want It That Way" Backstreet Boys 2 [68]
July 31 "All Star" Smash Mouth 6 [69]
September 11 "Genie in a Bottle" Christina Aguilera 4 [70]
October 9 "Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of...)" Lou Bega 5 [71]
November 13 "Smooth" Santana featuring Rob Thomas 8 [72]

See also

References
  1. "Chart Histories—Top 40 Airplay". Billboard 100th Anniversary Issue 1894–1994. November 1, 1994. p. 264.
  2. Trust, Gary (October 2, 2012). "How Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Rihanna Came to Dominate Top 40 Radio". Billboard. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  3. Mayfield, Geoff; Sandiford-Waller, Theda (December 5, 1998). "A New Hot 100 Reflects Changes in the Music Business". Billboard. 110 (49): 129. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  4. "End of the World" October 3, 1992:
  5. "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" October 10–24, 1992:
  6. "How Do You Talk to an Angel" October 31 – December 5, 1992:
  7. "I Will Always Love You" December 12, 1992 – February 6, 1993:
  8. "Ordinary World" February 13–20, March 6 – April 3, 1993:
  9. "A Whole New World" February 27, 1993:
  10. "Two Princes" April 10 – May 22, 1993:
  11. "That's The Way Love Goes" May 29 – July 24, 1993:
  12. "Can't Help Falling in Love" July 31 – August 28, 1993:
  13. "Dreamlover" September 4 – October 23, 1993:
  14. "All That She Wants" October 30 – December 25, 1993:
  15. "Hero" January 1–29, 1994:
  16. "All for Love" February 5, 1994:
  17. "The Sign" February 12 – May 14, 1994:
  18. "Baby, I Love Your Way" May 21, 1994:
  19. "I Swear" May 28 – July 2, 1994:
  20. "Don't Turn Around" July 9 – August 13, 1994:
  21. "Stay (I Missed You)" August 20 – September 3, 1994:
  22. "I'll Make Love to You" September 10 – October 1, 1994:
  23. "All I Wanna Do" October 8 – November 19, 1994:
  24. "Another Night" November 26 – December 17, December 31, 1994; January 14, 1995:
  25. "On Bended Knee" December 24, 1994; January 7, January 21 – February 18, 1995:
  26. "Take a Bow" February 25 – March 25, 1995:
  27. "I Know" April 1 – June 3, 1995:
  28. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" June 10, 1995:
  29. "I'll Be There for You" June 17 – August 5, 1995:
  30. "Kiss from a Rose" August 12 – October 7, 1995:
  31. "Only Wanna Be with You" October 14–21, 1995:
  32. "Fantasy" October 28 – December 2, 1995:
  33. "One Sweet Day" December 9, 1995 – February 17, 1996:
  34. "Missing" February 24 – March 23, 1996:
  35. "Ironic" March 30 – May 11, 1996:
  36. "Because You Loved Me" May 18 – June 15, 1996:
  37. "Killing Me Softly" June 22 – July 6, 1996:
  38. "You Learn" July 13 – August 24, 1996:
  39. "I Love You Always Forever" August 31 – November 9, 1996:
  40. "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" November 16, 1996:
  41. "Head Over Feet" November 23 – December 7, 1996:
  42. "Don't Speak" December 14, 1996 – February 15, 1997:
  43. "Lovefool" February 22 – April 5, 1997:
  44. "You Were Meant for Me" April 12 – May 3, 1997:
  45. "I Want You" May 10–17, 1997:
  46. "MMMBop" May 24 – July 12, 1997:
  47. "Bitch" July 19 – August 9, 1997:
  48. "How Bizarre" August 16, 1997:
  49. "Semi-Charmed Life" August 23 – September 27, 1997:
  50. "Foolish Games" October 4–18, 1997:
  51. "Fly" October 25 – November 22, 1997:
  52. "Tubthumping" November 29, 1997 – January 24, 1998:
  53. "Truly Madly Deeply" January 31 & April 18, 1998:
  54. "My Heart Will Go On" February 7 – April 11, 1998:
  55. "Torn" April 25 – July 4, 1998:
  56. "Uninvited" July 11–18, 1998:
  57. "Iris" July 25 – August 15, 1998:
  58. "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" August 22 – October 10, 1998:
  59. "One Week" October 17 – November 28, 1998:
  60. "Lullaby" December 5, 1998 – January 23, 1999:
  61. "Save Tonight" January 30, 1999:
  62. "Slide" February 6–13, 1999:
  63. "Slide" February 20 – March 20, 1999:
  64. "Every Morning" March 27 – May 8, 1999:
  65. "Kiss Me" May 15, 1999:
  66. "No Scrubs" May 22, 1999:
  67. "Livin' la Vida Loca" May 29 – July 10, 1999:
  68. "I Want It That Way" July 17–24, 1999:
  69. "All Star" July 31 – September 4, 1999:
  70. "Genie in a Bottle" September 11 – October 2, 1999:
  71. "Mambo No. 5" October 9 – November 6, 1999:
  72. "Smooth" November 13, 1999 – January 1, 2000:
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