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 1995, 11 songs topped the chart, then published under the title Hot Adult Contemporary, 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 ...

. On the first chart of the year, "

I'm the Only One "I'm the Only One" is a song by American singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge from her fourth studio album, '' Yes I Am'' (1993). It was released as the first single in September 1993, reaching number 12 in Canada and number 26 in the Netherlands. ...

" by

Melissa Etheridge Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist. Her eponymous debut album was released in 1988 and became an underground success. It peaked at No. 22 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and its lead ...

moved up to number one, displacing the final number one of 1994, "

I'll Make Love to You "I'll Make Love to You" is a 1994 number-one hit single by American R&B group Boyz II Men for the Motown label. The song, which was written by Babyface, was the lead single from their second album, '' II'' (1994). It was a commercial success, sp ...

" by

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 ...

. The two songs alternated at number one once again before

the Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s ...

took the top spot with "

Love Will Keep Us Alive "Love Will Keep Us Alive" is a song written by Jim Capaldi, Paul Carrack, and Peter Vale and produced by the Eagles, Elliot Scheiner, and Rob Jacobs. It was first performed by the Eagles in 1994, during their ''Hell Freezes Over'' reunion tour, w ...

" in the issue of ''Billboard'' dated January 28. The band had recently reunited more than a decade after breaking up, and "Love Will Keep Us Alive" was the group's second AC chart-topper, twenty years almost to the day after " Best of My Love" had reached number one. The Eagles were replaced at number one by

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

with " Take a Bow", the fifth and final Adult Contemporary chart-topper for the singer dubbed the "Queen of Pop" but the longest-running, spending nine weeks atop the chart. Three consecutive chart-toppers which between them held the top spot from early June until mid-November were taken from film and TV soundtracks. Canadian singer

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...

spent five weeks at number one with "

Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" is a song written by Canadian musician Bryan Adams, Michael Kamen and Robert John "Mutt" Lange, and recorded by Adams for the 1995 film ''Don Juan DeMarco'', starring Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp and Faye Du ...

" from the film '' Don Juan de Marco''. It was followed into the top spot in early July by " I'll Be There for You" by

the Rembrandts The Rembrandts are an American alternative rock duo, formed by Danny Wilde and Phil Solem in 1989. They had previously worked together as members of Great Buildings in 1981. The Rembrandts are best known for the song " I'll Be There for You", ...

, the theme song from the TV show ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

''. In late August, British singer

Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

reached number one with "

Kiss from a Rose "Kiss from a Rose" is a song from Seal's second eponymous album. The song was first released as a single in July 1994 and included in the film ''The NeverEnding Story III'' that year. It was re-released a year later in 1995 as part of the ''B ...

", which featured on the soundtrack of the film ''

Batman Forever ''Batman Forever'' (on-screen title is simply ''Forever'') is a 1995 American superhero film directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Tim Burton, based on the DC Comics character Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. The third installment of W ...

''. Seal's song remained at number one for 12 consecutive weeks, tying the record for the longest run atop the Adult Contemporary chart. The final AC chart-topper of 1995 was "

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

, which reached number one on the final chart of the year. The R&B ballad would go on to hold the top spot for the first 12 weeks of 1996 for a final total of 13 weeks at number one, another new record for the Adult Contemporary listing, as well as topping ''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.

Chart history

Chart history

References

See also