Really like the retro countdowns here and thought now it is time for me to do one. As first year I have chosen 1991 as this is one of my favourite years of the UK charts. I was 14 back then and I have great memories on the songs charted in that year. At that time I was much into rave, but there is plenty of good stuff also from other genres. As entry criteria I chose just songs which made it into the Top 20 in the UK. I am from germany, but the main chart I always followed was the UK chart.

Enough talked - now it is time for the first song:

100 Amy Grant - Baby Baby

This was the breakout hit for Amy hitting #1 in the US and #2 in the UK. Absolutely brilliant piece of synth-pop with great vocals.

Very Mariah-esque vocal. Nice upbeat song. And yeah its synthpop so if you didnt know the year could think it was late 80s.

Somebody on this forum I remember said the chorus of Ariana Grande's song Santa Tell Me reminded them melodically of this song too.

99 Definition Of Sound - Wear Your Love Like Heaven

Definition of Sound was a London-based dance-music group, consisting of Kevin Clark and Don Weekes. "Wear Your Love Like Heaven" was their biggest hit. A nice blend of hip-hop with electronica somewhere between Hip-House and De La Soul. Absolutely fun song.

Edited Friday at 10:444 days by DaTilt

I did my 1991 top 100 based on personal chart performance (but stuck it in Year-End Charts thread I think) a year or two ago, and both of these were in it I think! Both goodies!

98 Frankie Knuckles - The Whistle Song

Knuckles was the DJ at the Warehouse nightclub in Chicago from 1977 to 1982. It is widely accepted that his style of DJing and his selection and the appeal of the Warehouse gave house music its name, although in the beginning, the word 'house' was used only in Chicago to denote something which was cool, hip, fresh or bad. Knuckles had been long time friends with Larry Levan, they had had their musical upbringing together from going to clubs like Loft and the Gallery.

Due to his importance in the development of house, Knuckles was often known as "The Godfather of House Music", and as such the city of Chicago named a stretch of street and a day after Knuckles in 2004. His accomplishments earned him a Grammy Award in 1997. As well, Knuckles was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame for his achievements in 2005. Unfortunately he died way too early in March 2014 aged 59.

He was mostly famous for his remixes, e.g. "Where Love Lives" by Alison Limerick or "Hangin' On A String" by Loose Ends, but in the end of the 80's and early 90's he had also some commercial success under his own name. "Baby Wants To Ride", "Tears", and "Your Love" (the instrumental of it was used for the famous Eren's Bootleg Mix of "You Got The Love" by The Source"), but it was "The Whistle Song", which gave him the biggest commercial success. This is a nicely laid-back house tune with a very catchy whistle melody without any use of vocals.

The whistle part after 0:50 is surely a big influence for Bob Sinclar - Love Generation there!

97 Lisa Stansfield - Change

Aftere her big success with her debut album "Affection" in 1989 including the #1 single "All Around The World" Lisa Stansfield returned in 1990 with the first single of her second album "Real Love". "Change" peaked at #10 in October 1991 and is a nice soulful downtempo song.

Good timing as I've just been listening to Now Yearbook 1991. Baby, Baby is great, I love the bit at 2:20 where the instrumental sounds like a funfair. The song itself is very 80s sounding, had it come out in 1988 it would have fit the charts then too.

23 hours ago, TheSnake said:

The whistle part after 0:50 is surely a big influence for Bob Sinclar - Love Generation there!

You are absolutely right - it was never that obvious to me.

11 minutes ago, gooddelta said:

Good timing as I've just been listening to Now Yearbook 1991. Baby, Baby is great, I love the bit at 2:20 where the instrumental sounds like a funfair. The song itself is very 80s sounding, had it come out in 1988 it would have fit the charts then too.

Yeah, it sounds absolutely late 80's. It is a bit of a pity that synth pop faded that much from 1992 onwards.

Change, another one in my year-end list Lisa's great! 👍

On 22/11/2025 at 20:43, gooddelta said:

Baby, Baby is great, I love the bit at 2:20 where the instrumental sounds like a funfair.

The Prodigy influenced for their Everybody In The Place (Fairground Mix)?!

Actually the bit at 2:20 in Baby Baby reminds me of Nik Kershaw's The Riddle.

On 22/11/2025 at 20:56, DaTilt said:

You are absolutely right - it was never that obvious to me.

Yeah, it sounds absolutely late 80's. It is a bit of a pity that synth pop faded that much from 1992 onwards.

It kind of went away from pop then but into dance music instead - a lot of chart dance music became more synthpop-influenced then following the success of Snap!'s Rhythm Is A Dancer.

96 Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch - Good Vibrations

Mark Wahlberg aka Marky Mark is the older brother of "New Kids On The Block" singer Donnie Wahlberg. Together with his Funky Bunch he had some hits in the early nineneties of which "Good Vibrations" was the bigest one. This is a very strong hip-house/early eurodance song featuring vocals from Loleatta Holloway. Her vocals were sampled without permission for the original version of "Ride Of Time with thich Black Box scored a #1 hit in 1989.

Edited yesterday at 20:541 day by DaTilt

Yeah I would still call this hip house not eurodance yet but that's just my opinion!

Don't know the song very well, but at the end of 1991, Cappella sampled Loleatta Halloway yet again with Take Me Away.

I liked the retro clips and vibes on this one - and it was better than NKOTB records! Oops!

95 Rozalla - Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)

Rozalla had 5 Top 20 hits, but only one Top 10 hit with "Everybody's Free" peaking at #6 in autum 1991. I quite like this song, but it was a bit overplayed during the 1990's.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by DaTilt

The rave bit at 2:10 is the best bit! The whole track is very good though!

Absolute anthem. The rave orchestra hits are euphoric. 10/10 classic for me