This article is about the American ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart held during the 1990s. The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart is the main song chart of the American music industry and is updated every week by the ''

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 adverti ...

'' magazine. During the 1990s the chart was based collectively on each single's weekly

physical Physical may refer to: * Physical examination, a regular overall check-up with a doctor * ''Physical'' (Olivia Newton-John album), 1981 ** "Physical" (Olivia Newton-John song) * ''Physical'' (Gabe Gurnsey album) * "Physical" (Alcazar song) (2004) * ...

sales figures and

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 ...

on American radio stations. The methodology for determining sales and airplay figures drastically changed with the chart dated November 30, 1991. Instead of surveying retail stores and radio stations, sales data was now gathered by

Soundscan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

via a collection of the number of barcode scans a record received while airplay was to be compiled by

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 ...

, which continuously monitored what songs were being played on radio. As the decade progressed, a growing trend in the music industry was to promote songs to radio without the release of a commercially-available singles in an attempt by record companies to boost albums sales. Because such a release was required to chart on the Hot 100, many popular songs that were hits on top 40 radio never made it onto the chart. Beginning December 5, 1998, the Hot 100 changed from being a "singles" chart to a "songs" chart. Not only did ''Billboard'' start allowing airplay-only tracks to chart, it broadened its radio panel to include "R&B, adult R&B, mainstream rock, triple-A rock, and country outlets", which was formerly "confined to the mainstream top 40, rhythmic top 40, adult top 40, adult contemporary, and modern rock formats." "

Another Day in Paradise "Another Day in Paradise" is a song recorded by English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins. Produced by Collins along with Hugh Padgham, it was released as the first single from his number-one album '' ...But Seriously'' (1989). As wi ...

" by

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

began the 1990s in the number-one position, spending the first two weeks of the decade on top, but its first week at number one was on the chart dated December 23, 1989. Santana's " Smooth" featuring Rob Thomas finished the decade and began the next with a 12-week run atop the Hot 100.

Number ones

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Statistics by decade

Artists by total number-one singles

The following artists achieved three or more number-one hits during the 1990s. A number of artists had number-one singles on their own as well as part of a collaboration.

Artists by total number of weeks at number-one

The following artists were featured in top of the chart for the highest total number of weeks during the 1990s.

Songs by total number of weeks at number-one

The following songs were featured in top of the chart for the highest total number of weeks during the 1990s. * " Smooth" by Santana featuring Rob Thomas spent 12 consecutive weeks at number one, on the charts dated from October 23, 1999 to January 8, 2000. Its reign at the top of the Hot 100 extended into the 2000s by two weeks, so only 10 of its weeks occurred in the 1990s, making it fall short of the 10 longest running number-ones in the 1990s if going strictly by its weeks at number one during the decade.

References