Making my way through the top 100 Billboard singles of 1990 was thankfully less of an ordeal than enduring that of 1980. It wasn’t all great of course, but through at least the top two-thirds of the list, most of what I edited out was enjoyable if unremarkable up-tempo R&B and dance-pop. (The 1980 Billboard 100 was chock-full of god-awful, sappy, tepid crap.)
And I found plenty more to like when I dug deeper, from other sources. As usual, my singles playlists tend to be more pop and dance oriented, and there are healthy doses of techno and rap as well.
Enjoy!
1990, The Singles
The playlist is roughly chronological, according to release date. Songs for which I could find no specific release date (many of them the early rap singles) are clustered toward the middle of the playlist.
Playlist Notes:
- I wasn’t sure if I wanted to include Tyler Collins’ “Girls Nite Out” or not—I loved the fresh, pro-girl vibe, but the music seemed a bit too typical. However, the debate turned out to be moot; the song is unavailable in Spotify.
- When searching for the Age of Love’s single “The Age of Love” I promptly loaded the top hit in Spotify into my listening playlist and moved on. When I listened to it later, I discovered a monolithic, thumping techno track that—after I begrudgingly set aside my aversions to that type of thing—genuinely surprised me. I wasn’t just that I liked it, which I certainly did. It was that it seemed so current, as if it had just been released a couple years ago. I couldn’t believe the sounds I was hearing were from 1990. Of course it turns out the version I had selected was a remix of the original track, by Charlotte de Witte, released—you guessed it—two years ago. Silly me. I liked the original version less when I checked it out, but it’s still worthwhile (with some comically senseless rap that I still like) and it seems to be an oft-remixed trance classic. Other significant remixes include those by Jam & Spoon and Paul van Dyk—whoever they are—but I like the de Witte one the best.
About My Singles Playlists
Please note these singles playlists are not necessarily a compilation of all of the year’s best singles!
Rather, they only compile prominent singles that were not from any album featured on any of No Hype No Trends Music’s album playlists. (This includes the Best Albums of the Decade playlists, Year in Review album playlists, and Further Listening album playlists.)
Many of the best singles of each year have already been included in the other album playlists on this site. And any single from these albums that didn’t make the cut for its corresponding album playlist is disqualified from appearing here. (I want to include everything but have to draw the line somewhere! If I didn’t consider it one of the three best songs on the album, it won’t be on the singles playlist, period, even if it’s supposedly the best song of all time!)
Also, keep in mind that I typically designate a non-album single according to the artist’s home country. Many a non-album hit single in the UK, for example, was subsequently included on the US repackaging of UK album release. Thus, a US album track may be considered a non-album single here, so you might find it on a singles playlist instead of the album playlist where you expected to find it.
You might also find a single released in one year included in the Year in Review playlist of the following year, if the album it appears on was released later (as it often is).
More Singles of the 1990s…
[in development, as I work my way through the decade…]
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