Hello.

I did a similar thread where I rated and ranked the Top 10 of each year of the 1990s.

[when I find it I will link it here]

It was quite popular so I decided to do number 11 to 20. There will be more surprises in here as fewer of us will remember everything that finished 11 to 20 in the YTD charts.

A mixed bag in 1990 with a few duds scattered in between 11 and 20.

10 Partners In Kryme - Turtle Power

A fairly lame sounding song now. Probably sounded ok back then. The pop-rap isn't bad for the time. I enjoy it more than I expected. As far as I remember it debuted higher than any other debut single entering at number 4.

It went on to spend 4 weeks at number 1, a very common occurrence in 1990. That happen 8 times. This was the lowest selling of all 8, finishing the year as the 13th best seller. It was their only hit in the UK

Colm's Score 5.5

Edited July 26Jul 26 by Colm

We definitely had that single as my younger brother was a massive fan of the turtles. I think it’s okay for a kids track

As kiddie novelties go, Turtle Power is not bad - I prefer it to Golden, which R2 played yesterday from the Netflix Kpop film 😄

9 Bombalurina - Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

Marginally more fun is this which finished the year as the 16th best seller despite a 3 week stretch at number 1.

Colm's score 5.9

Oh gosh, we definitely had that single too. My brother and I were the right age to be watching the Wide Awake Club each weekend and to us Timmy Mallett was a huge star 😂

8 M.C. Hammer - U Can't Touch This

I thought I'd enjoy this a lot more than I have during this review. It's obviously a cultural reference point in early 90s pop music. It's fine, I guess. Spent ages in the top 10 which is always an interesting thing. Finished the year as the 15th best seller. Only 2 other songs sold more in 1990 without going to number 1.

Colm's score 6.2

Edited July 27Jul 27 by Colm

7 Kim Appleby - Don't Worry

I remember loving this at the time. Listening back now, it's not really at the same level of production standards of Mel and Kim's output. I suppose, it doesn't have to be. It was unfortunate to be in the top 3 with two of the biggest sellers of the year - Unchained Melody and Ice Ice Baby. It finished the year as the 20th best seller.

Colm's score 7.0

Agree the production on Don't Worry lets it down. I really like it at the time and thought it was a pretty uplifting and fun single, but it sounds really dated now

6 Technotronic - Get Up (Before the Night is Over)

Definitely a step up from Pump Up the Jam, production wise. Alas the song itself is a step down, melodically.

It sounds better than I remembered.

Finished in 17th place on the Year End chart.

Colm's score 7.2

Like that one! Although I also really like Pump Up The Jam too. They're both very of their time production wise, but time has been a lot kinder to the late 80s / early 90s dance styles than the pop productions. I'd probably give it about a 7.5 as it's a fun listen with good nostalgic value for me, but isn't something I listen to that often.

5 The Beautiful South - A Little Time

Now we're into songs that I actually like a lot.

This passed me by at the time but it really improved for me. It's so beautifully written and sung. Finished as 12th best seller of the year. The video is such a wonderful concept.

Colm's score 7.7

4 Adventures Of Stevie V - Dirty Cash (Money Talks)

The instrumental is the star here. That beat kicks like a savage! On top of that, the subdued, seductive vocal.

This was released in 1989 but only got to number 100 . It really does not sound like something from 1989.

I loved it then. I love it now. I was delighted when it turned up on Now 18 which came into my possession due to a birthday cash injection from Colm's grandmother.

This was the 19th best seller of 1990.

Colm's score 8.3

Edited July 31Jul 31 by Colm

3 Alannah Myles - Black Velvet

I did not see this coming. No way that that this could be higher than Dirty Cash!

I ignored this when it came out as some sort of husky-voiced 80s throwback. What changed? I read the lyrics. It's not that the lyrics were amazing but just reading them allowed me to understand the song on a slightly different level - almost inviting me to sing along.

This is why I do these threads. Discovering diamonds that I thought were lumps of coal. This finished as 18th best seller of 1990.

Colm's score 8.5

2 Luciano Pavarotti - Nessun Dorma

Also improving on expectation is this. This is music in its purest form. Unadulterated, undiluted talent. I can't really add to that.

Unlucky to be released at the same time as Elton's Sacrifice, this was the best selling single to not reach number 1 in 1990 - finished in 11th place.

Colm's score 9.5

1 Roxette - It Must Have Been Love

That leaves us with the 14th best selling single of the year. Outselling 5 number 1s and all but one of the number 2s. This spent a period as my favourite song ever back in the 90s.

Today I learned that this was released in Sweden in December 1987. It wasn't released anywhere else. When the band were approached to do a song for the Pretty Woman soundtrack they were too busy to write an original so they added overdubs to the 1987 version and submitted it. It went on to be their most successful single. Second best seller in the USA in 1990.

Colm's score 10

some faves here, Roxette and Black Velvet topped my charts, and Black Velvet will always remind me of my first Florida holiday, sultry and Blues-ey. Kim and Dirty Cash both peaked at 2 and still love 'em. Dirty Cash still exciting, Kim's still makes me sad. I couldnt separate the lyric from her sisters young death so I forgive the production as she broke away from PWL with her Bros hubby. A Little Time is touchingly sad, from real-life personal events at the time as well as the record. Nessun Dorma is classic opera, and I like it a lot.

Hammer is Rick James + fun baggy pants. I will still stick with Rick James though. Technotronic credited Ya Kid K at last, but it's not as good as Pump Up The Jam. Timmy Mallet's hit, some might not know, is an Andrew Lloyd-Webber creation. True fact. It's also a very annoying pedestrian cover of an early childhood obsession song, which has had all the whimsical period charm surgically removed and replaced by a hyper-active kiddie presenter that many grown-ups would have been happy to see hit with a bigger plastic hammer. Little kids loved it all of course at the time. That reminds me, I must force my niece and nephew to relive that Youtube memory next time they are round and apologise....😇

Lovely choice of number 1 there, I loved It Must Have Been Love and it was the song that really got me into Rosette for a couple of albums. It's also the first song I sung on karaoke - a very long time ago! I believe it's also the last song I ever sung on karaoke too but I have been drunk a few times since then and can never say that with 100% confidence.

I think you've got the right songs in your top five. I really like A Little Time. In retrospect I always find it odd that I used to listen to them as they're decidedly at odds with most acts I listened to at the time. I bought it after hearing it enter the charts, and I can remember assuming it had probably dropped out when it hadn't been played in the first part of the chart show the following week... only to be astonished and over the moon when it was announced as the highest climber to #9... and then #4... and then I almost exploded with excitement when it made #1 (and I can remember these positions attached to the excitement all this time later!)

I used to remember all those positions too..

😁

Best : Beautiful South

Worst : Technotronic