Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

is a

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

published by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

(AC) market. In 1996, five different songs topped the chart in 52 issues of the magazine, based on weekly

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

data from radio stations compiled by

Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems Broadcast Data Systems (also known as BDS or Luminate BDS), is a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts published by co-owned ...

. The chart was published under the title Hot Adult Contemporary through the issue of ''Billboard'' dated March 9 and Adult Contemporary thereafter. For the first ten months of the year, only three songs occupied the top spot, each of which had an unbroken run of at least 12 weeks at number one. In the year's first issue of ''Billboard'' the number one position was held by "

One Sweet Day "One Sweet Day" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey and vocal group Boyz II Men. The song was released on as the second single from Carey's fifth studio album, ''Daydream'' (1995) by Columbia Records. The artists co- ...

", a collaboration between

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

and

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Nathan M ...

, which retained its position from the last chart of 1995. The R&B ballad held the top spot for the first 12 weeks of 1996 for a final total of 13 weeks at number one, a new record for the Adult Contemporary listing. "One Sweet Day" also topped ''Billboard''s all-genre chart, the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, for a record-breaking 16 weeks. In a 2011 poll, the readers of music magazine ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' voted it the best collaboration of all time. The song's record for the longest stay atop the AC chart was broken, however, by the very next track to reach number one. In the issue of ''Billboard'' dated March 30, "One Sweet Day" was displaced from the top spot by "

Because You Loved Me "Because You Loved Me" is a song by Canadian singer Celine Dion from her fourth English-language studio album, ''Falling into You'' (1996). It was released on 19 February 1996 as the first single in North America and as the second single in the ...

" by Canadian singer

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

, which remained at number one for 19 consecutive weeks, another new record. Dion would return to number one for five weeks beginning in November with "

It's All Coming Back to Me Now "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" is a power ballad written by Jim Steinman. According to Steinman, the song was inspired by ''Wuthering Heights'', and was an attempt to write "the most passionate, romantic song" he could ever create. ''The Sunda ...

", meaning that she topped the chart in almost half the issues of ''Billboard'' published in 1996. The third song to have a lengthy run at number one in 1996 was "

Change the World "Change the World" is a song written by Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy, and Wayne Kirkpatrick and recorded by country music artist Wynonna Judd. A cover version was recorded by English singer Eric Clapton for the soundtrack of the 1996 film ''Phe ...

" by British singer-guitarist

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

, from the soundtrack of the film ''

Phenomenon A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried W ...

'', which replaced "Because You Loved Me" in the top spot in the issue of ''Billboard'' dated August 10 and stayed at number one for 13 weeks. In addition to being a radio hit, the song also won the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

s for Song of the Year,

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

and

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...

at the 1997 awards ceremony. The final number one of 1996 was "

When You Love a Woman "When You Love a Woman" is a song by American rock band Journey. It is the third track from their 10th studio album, '' Trial by Fire'' (1996), and was released as the lead single from that album in September 1996. The song reached number one on ...

" by the band

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

, which occupied the top spot for the final three weeks of the year. The song was taken from the album '' Trial by Fire'', the first release by the band for ten years, but the last to feature longtime lead vocalist

Steve Perry Stephen Ray Perry (born January 22, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the rock band Journey during their most commercially successful periods from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. He also wrote/co ...

, who left the band after its release following a dispute over his refusal to have surgery for a degenerative hip condition.

Chart history

Chart history

References

See also