NO 55- WHIGFIELD (1,668,900)

5 UK TOP 40 HITS

BEST SELLER: SATURDAY NIGHT (1,092,000)

The top selling wholly Danish act of the 90s was Whigfield who is, of course, best known for the million selling “Saturday Night”. She sold enough to be the 4th biggest singles act of 1994, and whilst barely anyone remembers any of her other hits she accumulated 4 top 10 hits in under 12 months. Like all massive hits “Saturday Night” ended up becoming a hindrance rather than an asset to her career, and the UK always considered her a novelty act, it didn’t help that subsequent hits sounded uncannily like a rewrite of her biggest hit.....

NO 54- UB40 (1,676,800)

14 UK TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: (I CAN’T HELP) FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU (609,000)

Far bigger in the first half of the decade than the second half, UB40 had been getting top 10 hits as far back as 1980. They scored 12 top 10 in the 80s and added a further 5 in the 90s including the No 1 “(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You” in 93 but their brand of reggae lite seemed to lose its synch with the British public, and after 98 and they disintegrated in various factions with much animosity.

Genuinely never heard of the Outthere Brothers! 😂

I always think of Sexy Eyes being Whigfields big song.

Probably because it was in Australia.

1 hour ago, Paddington James said:

I always think of Sexy Eyes being Whigfields big song.

Probably because it was in Australia.

I recall it got reasonable traction on MTV in the UK but we were seemingly unimpressed

UB40 proper act with a good run of proper hits. I still like their output whether Mrk 1 or Mrk 2, but lean more towards Ali Campbell's. One might muse that Pato Banton's number one is really a UB40 duet and I feel they should be top 50 for both that and Ali's solo hit as side projects.

Quite surprised that Whigfield sold another 600K after Saturday Night. Although I do recall quite liking Think Of You at the time

11 hours ago, Paddington James said:

I always think of Sexy Eyes being Whigfields big song.

Probably because it was in Australia.

Bigger than Saturday Night? 😮

45 minutes ago, dandy* said:

Bigger than Saturday Night? 😮

Yes:

Saturday Night - #78

Sexy Eyes- #6

Gimme Gimme - #14

19 minutes ago, Paddington James said:

Yes:

Saturday Night - #78

Sexy Eyes- #6

Gimme Gimme - #14

Wow, quite considerably bigger lol!

7 minutes ago, Spiceboy said:

Wow, quite considerably bigger lol!

Haha yes, which explains why I wasn’t overly familiar with Saturday Night but could sign the Sexy Eyes chorus. 🤣

NO 53- ROD STEWART (1,691,300)

14 UK TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: ALL FOR LOVE (292,000)

Accruing 8 top 10 hits through the decade whilst almost anyone noticing Rod the Mod was one of the great survivor’s from the 70s (though not the only one to make their debut before the 80s, and of course that 90s chart topper evaded him). He's not hit number one in over 40 years now so the chance he will again seems unlikely, his closest brush through the decade coming in 1994 when “All For Love” hit the runner up spot....

NO 52- MANIC STREET PREACHERS (1,709,500)

22 UK TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: IF YOU TOLERATE THIS YOU’RE CHILDREN WILL BE NEXT (315,000)

A tally of 22 hits in the decade is rivalled by few acts but only 7 of them made the top 10. Notwithstanding sales topped the 1.7 million level in the decade thanks to a very successful latter part of the decade when they found their second wind in the Britpop explosion of the mid 90s. Their most successful year was 1996 when they sold a third of their overall total....

.

NO 51- JAMIROQUAI (1,720,900)

16 UK TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST SELLER: VIRTUAL INSANITY (330,000)

7 top 10 hits and pretty much a hit in every year since 1992 pays dividends come the decade end countdown for Jay Kay and his crew. They were finally rewarded with a No 1 in 1998 when “Deeper Underground” did the honours but 1996 was their killer year when the hits from “Travelling Without Moving” added up to half a million. A high profile relationship with Denise Van Outen hardly hindered sales and kept him in the media glare right into the 00s....

Here's the bottom half of the top 100 recap

NO 100. JIMMY NAIL (1,086,900)

NO 99. THE TELETUBBIES (1,103,000)

NO 98. RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS (1,109,100)

NO 97. HANSON (1,119,000)

NO 96. S CLUB 7 (1,129,400)

NO 95- CHAKA DEMUS & PLIERS (1,131,200)

NO 94- JASON DONOVAN (1,141.900)

NO 93. EN VOGUE (1,148,200)

NO 92- D:REAM (1,157,800)

NO 91. THE SHAMEN (1,163,600)

NO 90. TINA TURNER (1,164,600)

NO.89- RIGHT SAID FRED (1,166,600)

NO 88- RUN DMC (1,167,900)

NO 87- BABYLON ZOO (1,170,000)

NO 86- GINA G (1,174,900)

NO 85- TEXAS (1,212,300)

NO 84. PULP (1,233,400)

NO 83- MICHAEL BOLTON (1,257,300)

NO 82- THE KLF/ JUSTIFIED ANCIENTS OF MU-MU (1,262,000)

NO 81- N-TRANCE (1,280,000)

NO 80- DINA CARROLL (1,289,500)

NO 79- NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK (1,290,300)

NO 78- LIGHTHOUSE FAMILY (1,298,000)

NO 77- BOYZ II MEN (1,323,500)

NO 76- LISA STANSFIELD (1,334,300)

NO 75- NATALIE IMBRUGLIA (1,343,100)

NO 74. ANOTHER LEVEL (1,346,100)

NO 73- EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL (1,351,600)

NO 72- R.E.M (1,362,700)

NO 71- BILLIE (1,375,600)

NO 70- 911 (1,381,200)

NO 69- SHANIA TWAIN (1,423,900)

NO 68- WESTLIFE (1,432,300)

NO 67- SAVAGE GARDEN (1,454,300)

NO 66- T.L.C (1,486,500)

NO 65- PET SHOP BOYS/ ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS (1,492,200)

NO 64- ROBERT MILES (1,508,000)

NO 63- MARK MORRISON (1,539,000)

NO 62- VARIOUS ARTISTS- PERFECT DAY (1,539,500)

NO 61- MEAT LOAF (1,547,200)

NO 60- ROXETTE (1,550,600)

NO 59- TONI BRAXTON (1,570,900)

NO 58- PRINCE/ SYMBOL/ THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS… (1,594,400)

NO 57- SHAGGY (1,603,000)

NO 56- THE OUTHERE BROTHERS (1,651,800)

NO 55- WHIGFIELD (1,668,900)

NO 54- UB40 (1,676,800)

NO 53- ROD STEWART (1,691,300)

NO 52- MANIC STREET PREACHERS (1,709,500)

NO 51- JAMIROQUAI (1,720,900)

So happy to see Toni and TLC on the list !!

Toni criminally ignored on this site!!

Jamiroquai <3

I absolutely love Virtual Insanity and Too Young To Die, both are among my favourite 90s singles. The former in particular was good enough to be a UK #1, much more so than what did make it for them.

22 hours ago, Paddington James said:

Yes:

Saturday Night - #78

Sexy Eyes- #6

Gimme Gimme - #14

Wow I'm amazed by this... I just assumed that Saturday Night would have been one of those songs that smashed in virtually every territory!

'Motorcycle Emptiness' 💚

getting into the big numbers now beyond the one-hit wonders. Rod doing very well considering I tend to think of 1983/4 as his last hurrah bar the odd good single now and again - like Ooh La La. He might have even done better than in the 80's Top 100 acts by the looks of it. JK I tend to prefer his more disco-era to the early jazzy stuff, but I wouldnt have guessed Jamiroquai would have been quite this high! The Manics less of a surprise as they had fanbase sales plus bigger hits along the way.