NO 44- U2 (1,968,800)

13 UK TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: HOLD ME THRILL ME KISS ME KILL ME (471,000)

 

whilst they had 10 top 20 hits in both decades the group managed a couple of chart toppers in the former decade, and 1995’s “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” being their best selling single to date when it was released. The band were never really a singles act, and whilst singles tended to enter and peak high, they tended to be 2 or 3 week affairs with a quick slump, the record mentioned being an exception mainly to its continual promotion on the “Batman Forever” film....

 

They sold just 16,000 singles more in the 90s than the 80s!

NO 43- FIVE (1,979,600)

7 UK TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: KEEP ON MOVIN (421,000)

 

The bad-boy boyband it was cool to like and the natural heirs to East 17, Five (also known as 5ive- that’s sooooo 90s) accumulated 7 straight top 10 hits in the last 25 months of the decade to accelerate into the top 50 for the decade! After steadily improving chart positions from their debut “Slam Dunk (Da Funk) which made No 10, the group final nabbed a No 1 in Nov 99 with just a month to spare. They must have been frustrated after a trio of No 2 hits in 1998-99 saw them top midweek charts in some cases but fail to hold onto the top slot. Their success remained solid until their demise in 2001 by which time their string of top 10 hits had expanded to eleven......

NO 42- COOLIO (1,989,600)

7 UK TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: GANGSRTA’S PARADISE (1.268,000)

 

With “Gangsta’s Paradise” contributing over half his total, Coolio must be truly thankfully for the idea to sample Stevie Wonder. His remaining three top 10 hits topped up his tally and a further big hit was scored in 1997 when “C U When U get There” (which again contained a sample, this time Pachelbel’s Canon) sold a very healthy 300K +. A very quiet 00s peaked for him with an appearance in “Celebrity Big Brother” where he didn’t exactly come across well!....

U2 and Five very respectable and deserved slots there, consistency rather than the biggie that has flattered Coolio somewhat. A classic yes, and C U When U Get There is fab too, but excluding those two wouldnt leave much in the way of sales.

Tomorrow we finally get to the 2 million mark!

NO 41- GABRIELLE (1,990,400)

10 UK TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: IF YOU EVER (549,000)

 

So here’s the best selling UK female soloist of the decade. A debut single and No 1 “Dreams” kick started her career which although erratic was successful, and by the end of the decade she had accrued 10 hits of which 6 had gone top 10. Often underestimated, her success was pretty solid for 10 years although she hasn’t really been seen for a while now she certainly left her mark on the 90s and is perhaps the surprise bigest selling UK Female Solo Artist of the decade....

NO 40- 2 UNLIMITED (1,995,300)

14 UK TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: NO LIMIT (531,000)

 

Meanwhile these are only the 2nd highest placed Dutch act on our list. Pete Waterman recalls that he was sent their singles with Ray’s vocals on them which were, allegedly, so bad he had to remove them before they were given a release. No matter as they were hits anyway. “Commercial dance” (There’s a phrase you don’t hear that much anymore) was a powerful force in the 90s chart and 2 Unlimited rode into the charts on the back of it.

 

All 14 of their hits were in this decade and all made the top 40 though after 94 the top 10 hits ceased, interestingly they were the 2nd biggest selling single artists of 1993, beaten only by Take That.....

NO 39- ACE OF BASE (2,014,400)

12 UKTOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: ALL THAT SHE WANTS (603,000)

 

The “Abba for the 90s” are the first act to break the 2 million mark for singles sales in the 90s and also struck it very big in the US. “All That She Wants” and “The Sign” contribute over 1 million sales between the two of them at a time when singles sales weren’t amazing. A spate of successes at the end of the decade when sales were much healthier helped them to climb up the charts perhaps higher than most thought they would get....

Gabrielle!!! I'm a huge fan and she is sadly so underrated. She had such a solid run of great singles and a few really good albums too... Rise is up there as one of my favourite albums ever!

Gabrielle did well, and earned that sales total pretty much, though oddly her best year was 2000 for me. 2 Unlimited did well to extend a couple of good singles into a long run of hits, but few are memorable these days, Ace Of Base also seemed like a short-run band but came big in the later end of the decade with their best stuff, so good to see them in the top 40. Pop is not a dirty word to me, when done well.

Gabrielle , wow she has some killer material that she has written mostly herself!

She always had huge gaps between album campaigns and still managed to have hits.

If You Ever huge sales but stuck behind the power of the spice girls.

If you like Gabrielle back then check out ‘Shine’.

I am so pleased you chose Forget About The World, a song lyrically about her friend telling her that she is a lesbian. The single mix of this song on all the compilations slaps.

NO 38- BON JOVI (2,043,600)

15 UK TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: ALWAYS (559,000)

 

Despite pretty much turning out the same hit continually all decade long, 80s rockers Bon Jovi have proved many critics wrong and gone the distance- still producing hits into the 2010s. This total does not include solo sales for Jon Bon Jovi, yet despite that they are hardly needed to secure this lofty position, their biggest year being 94 when they finished in 6th place. Their biggest hit of the decade “Always” contributed heavily to that tally and indeed the decade end sales tally...

NO 37- CLIFF RICHARD (2,069,900)

19 UK TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: MILLENNIUM PRAYER (860,000)

 

By far the oldest star on this countdown and certainly the one with the longest chart history, Cliff didn’t have a terrible 90s outstripping far younger, and more fashionable bands. Naturally “Millennium Prayer” allows him to finish in the top 40 for the 90s and without it he would have finished down in 86th on this survey.

 

He had 7 top 10 hits throughout the decade but cannily, as he became associated Christmas, he made sure he had a single available over the high selling festive period which ensured he maximised sales for his annual single and come the decade end reaped the benefits.....

NO 36- THE VENGABOYS (2,079,500)

5 UK TOP 40 HITS

BIGGEST HIT: BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM (578,000)

 

Selling a prodigious 1.7 million records in 99 to finish the year as the 2nd biggest act on the singles scene, the vengaboys first 5 singles are entirely responsible for their position here. All their singles went top 4 and in the Y/E 99 charts they placed three singles in the top 40 impressive by any one’s standards. As soon as the new decade came along however the hits dried up and 2001 saw the last time they graced the charts, brief and glorious....

Goodness Vengaboys weren't even on my radar to be included in this! Can't think why though she had some massive hits. I saw them as a support act for Steps in 2017 and they were actually brilliant, I came away a bigger fan than I had previously been.