UK hits of the 90's VI

Time now to look at the biggest hits of the 90's in the UK, again my source is a list I created on my rateyourmusic account (you can check it out here) and again I'm only including candidates that were a hit in the southern hemisphere back in the day. I'm also using alternate art for entries I'm able to find it for in case you don't recognise them from other areas on my site.

This is the only appearance from Billie Piper on this list, this is mainly because the other two hits she had from her debut album "Girlfriend" and "Honey to the bee" both failed to become candidates for this list otherwise they would've appeared on here as well. This is despite the fact that Billie had two chart toppers from her debut album which is further proof that the UK charts were chaotic in the late 90's.

I bet you forgot about these guys given how their biggest hit in the UK was with "Ride on time" in 1989, here they are with their second biggest hit over there which was also the case here in Australia even if this cover of the Earth wind and fire track was much bigger with us Aussies than it was with the Brits.

Even though this was Annie's highest charting solo hit in her native UK, this wasn't her biggest hit over there as that honour goes to "Little bird" from her first solo album in 1992. Although she had other hits in her homeland throughout the decade, these two songs were the only candidates from her I had for this list.

How has it taken me this long to feature a song from Westlife on this list? Admittedly they would've appeared earlier had "I have a dream" been an international hit for the Irish boy band. In any case, we have their debut single on here which proved to be a bigger hit for them in NZ than it was in their homeland, or at least it that seems to be the case with the limited chart run it had in their homeland.

Even though this was far from the biggest hit of its year for Berri in her homeland, that didn't seem to matter for us Aussies as we made it a hit for her here in Australia due to it being an EDM track that was perfect for our dance floors. Sadly, this was her only hit in her homeland, hence why she didn't have another down under.

We have one final entry from Celine Dion on this list, admittedly this wasn't as big in the UK as it was even in NZ where it had a lower peak position than it did on the UK charts. This is likely because the Brits still had fond memories of the Jennifer Rush song this serves as a cover for but were impressed with it enough to make it her breakthrough hit over there.

While this was a massive hit for this Christian pop band in their homeland, I'm willing to bet this took off in the UK due to it being a massive chart topper for them here in Australia as well as its usage in the popular TV series Dawson's creek. This was their only hit over there just like the rest of the world, however their cover of "There she goes" did chart on their charts.

I would ask how the Brits came across this track before PM Dawn's fellow Americans as this was a hit in the UK months prior to it topping the Billboard charts for the duo, but then I remembered that this samples "True" by Spandau ballet which was one of the biggest hits of the 80's over there which would explain the Brits love for this upon its initial release.

"Too late for goodbyes" was too minor of a hit to be a candidate for my 80's list, however Julian Lennon was able to score a massive hit in his homeland seven years later with this track even though its success over there pales in comparison to its success here in Australia. Admittedly I have no idea why we Aussies loved this guy more than anyone else in the world given this was his second chart topper here.

Much like in NZ, this was a flop for Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé upon its initial release in 1987 only for it to be resurrected and reissued in 1992 following the charity concert that was put together in his honour. It even had the same level of success in both countries to boot.

Here we are with the song that put these guys on the map, again it was a hit first in the UK before becoming an even bigger hit here in Australia and NZ before finally topping the charts in their homeland. Again, I have no idea how the Brits came across this track before their fellow Americans did, or for that matter what compelled us Aussies and kiwis to make it such a hit before it was on Billboard.

There's no appearance from Alanis Morissette on this list, so her fans will have to make do with this track from Meredith Brooks which did crossover to the UK likely due to it nearly topping both the Billboard and Australian charts back in the day. Admittedly this is another example of a low peaking song making the cut for this list as a sleeper hit.

Here's the other big hit that Lutricia Mcneal had in both the UK and in NZ, although this didn't have any chance of topping the UK charts like it almost did in NZ which makes it a bigger hit with the kiwis than with the Brits. Even so, it lasted for quite some time on the UK charts which is perhaps how the kiwis came across it in the first place.

I bet you weren't expecting to see Tori Amos on this list, here she is with her two for one deal from 1997 that became an instant chart topper for her in the UK as well as a massive sleeper hit for her here in Australia. Admittedly this might be due to "Professional widow" being an EDM track which I'm sure was a welcomed addition to the dance floors of the day.

You know that the UK charts were chaotic when this debut single from J-lo struggled to appear on this list, doubly so when you find out it had no chance at topping the UK charts despite it being a huge chart topper everywhere else in the world. She had much better luck over there throughout the 00's as her Hollywood career continued to grow.

This is the only other entry on here that failed to crack the UK top ten (the only other candidate being the Montreux E.P from Simply red) I guess the fellow Brits of Shampoo weren't too excited about their contribution to the Mighty morphing power rangers film even if they made it a hit during the Christmas season of 1994.

We have another British artist that didn't necessarily have the biggest hit of their year finding success here in Australia, although in this case they certainly had to wait to connect with us Aussies as this sat on our shelves for about a year before we finally made it a hit for the trio.

Robbie Williams is back once again with another one of his UK chart toppers, once again we have the Brits to thank for why this was eligible for this list as Robbie didn't have any solo success here in Australia until 2000 as we clearly weren't interested in his solo material following his infamous exit from Take that.

This is the final entry from Snap on this list, we would've had another one sooner had "Welcome to tomorrow" become a hit in the southern hemisphere. That song was from the band's third album, which goes to show how much the Brits loved the German group even after the rest of the world was done with their brand of EDM.

This is the final appearance from both Salt n Pepa and En vogue, told you we'd be looking at the RNB group on this list as a featured artist. We also finally have an entry that was a bigger hit in the rapper's homeland than it was in the UK, meaning this feels more like a victory lap for them finally making it on the Billboard charts more than anything.

You're probably wondering why this song is so low on this list if it was such an international success for White town, that's because we Aussies were always bound to make this a hit regardless of its success in White town's homeland give how it's an EDM track with such an interesting premise to its lyrics. Naturally it was the success it achieved here that helped it crossover to America.

Here's the final entry from B*witched on this list, it was also a UK chart topper for the family act despite having such a low placement on this list of mine. Its pitiful chart run in their homeland didn't prevent the kiwis from making it a success despite how big their album was by the time it was chosen as a single.

This really was a comeback for Duran Duran as it doesn't seem to matter where in the world you're from, this was the proof that these guys were willing to adapt to the 90's when so many of their contemporaries failed to do so. They of course ruined the good thing they had going with that infamous cover's album from 1995.

This is the final entry from the Spice girls on this list, it was a predictable chart topper for them given how their performance of this track on TOTP was featured in the Spiceworld film. This was actually a top ten hit for them on Billboard, although I have no idea how given that it failed to appear on my Billboard list.

Whereas "Stop" from earlier prevented the Spice girls from having ten consecutive chart toppers in their homeland, these guys managed to have eleven as it seemed like they could release a cover of the Teletubbies theme (which was a candidate for this list BTW) and it would've debuted at number one on the UK charts at the turn of the millennium.

This is the final hit that Black box had in the UK, although it was clearly more of a hit here in Australia for the Italian group given how much better it did on our charts compered to theirs. I'm not sure why their three hits in Australia and the UK bombed on Billboard considering how "Everybody everybody" and "Strike it up" were candidates for my Billboard list.

I have to imagine this became a Billboard chart topper for Maxi Priest due to it nearly topping both the Australia and NZ charts as this was more of a sleeper hit for the UB40 singer in his homeland than anything else. Again, I have to assume it was more his affiliation with the reggae band than anything else that made him so appealing to us Aussies and kiwis.

Again, we're looking at the European version of this track rather than the American version as despite the original being a chart topper for Whitney on Billboard, it was panned by critics who thought she was desperately trying to pander to her black audience. This version was much better received and saved the album of the same name from being a complete flop for her.

This being a hit in the UK more than explains how it managed to crossover here in Australia, yes this was a Billboard chart topper for Stevie B, however this is the kind of easy listening that rarely manages to find an audience outside of America. Now why the Brits were willing to make this ballad a success, I have no clue.

This was only barely more successful than the original in the UK, even then that's only because it had a higher peak position as this got closer to topping the UK charts than what Diana Ross and Lionel Richie did thirteen years prior. This is Luther Vandross's final entry on this list, although Mariah still has two more to come.

If this entry feels a little low to you, that's because it needed two attempts to catch on in Strike's homeland before it became a hit for them on the British charts. It was only after the second attempt that it found an audience amongst us Aussies, although it received a random surge in popularity likely due to a remix.

This is the other entry from Warren G I mentioned earlier on this list, I'm more surprised that this flopped in his homeland given how I would've thought the Tina Turner interpolation would've made this a shoe in for success on Billboard like it was throughout the rest of the world. For what it's worth, "Freak like me" from featured singer Adina Howard was a candidate for my Billboard list.

So, how many of my readers would've guessed that Eminem's breakthrough in the mainstream came not from his native America but rather the UK? I'm as shocked as you are that it was the Brits who discovered his breakthrough track and not his fellow Americans considering he would go on to be the biggest names in hip hop throughout the 21st century.

We have one final appearance from UB40 on this list as well as an appearance from Robert Palmer who managed to score a second worthy hit in his homeland following "Addicted to love" from four years prior. Even so, this was more of a hit here in Australia and NZ because of our love for Robert down under and UB40 in NZ.

This is another sleeper hit for this list; this would explain why it was also a sleeper hit in NZ given how it was a hit over there the same time it was a hit throughout Europe. It also explains why it was inescapable here in Australia as we Aussies wanted to see where this would fit in with our dance floors before we made it a success here.

We have one final entry from George Michael on this list, it appears his fellow Brits weren't as impressed with his serious phase as the Americans were given how much less popular he was during the first half of the decade in his homeland than on Billboard. Even so, he had a string of minor hits over there that sadly weren't candidates for this list.

This only barely cracked the UK top ten and yet it manages to appear on this list over so many entries that debuted higher than it peaked only to quickly fall off their charts throughout the decade. Indeed, Mariah was on a roll over there following her appearance on MTV unplugged which convinced the world she was the real deal and not a Milli Vanilli style marketing scam.

I bet you thought I forgot about these guys when I mentioned they had two other entries to come on this list, here's the first which was the final hit they had anywhere in the world given how it was the third single from their album Serenity. It seems fitting they had the most success in the UK between them, Corona and La bouche given how they didn't have a top ten hit on Billboard.

I would ask how this managed to nearly top the NZ charts given how it struggled to appear on this list, but then I remember that Ali Campbell was the lead singer of UB40 which means the bigger surprise is that this wasn't a bigger success in his homeland or indeed throughout the rest of the world.

From having the longest run at number one on Billboard to only barely making the cut for this list, granted this peaked during the Christmas season of 1995 in the UK as it did everywhere else in the world, however you have to wonder if there was any correlation between Billboard and the British charts throughout the 90's with such a disparity of success this song had on both charts.

Well, there had to be some reason why this was a hit here in Australia for Usher, although we have yet another chart topper on this list that appears so much lower than you'd think a chart topper should. Usher's popularity would grow over there going into the 21st century just like it did throughout the rest of the world.

It looks like Culture beat's two follow up singles to their top entry on this list proved to be equally as successful as each other in the UK rather than this being a bigger hit than their previous entry here in Australia, this is just another reminder that the Brits didn't allow highly successful albums to affect the success of the singles they spawned.

We are really starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel for this list as much like here in Australia, this debuted high on the UK charts only to quickly fall off once the initial hype it had died off for Meatloaf. Even so, the fact this managed to make the cut when so many other songs from 1997-1999 that did crossover in the southern hemisphere failed to do so should speak volumes to the validity of the UK charts.

It was a close call, but we're able to feature the third hit that Britney Spears had in the 90's on this list, this was a top ten hit in her homeland but too much of a fan hit to feature on my Billboard list for the 90's. Britney would start the 00's off with a chart topper in the form of "Born to make you happy" in the UK.

Full disclosure, this was meant to be the true final entry on this list, however I've bumped it up a few spots as I wanted the final entries to be a true send off to these lists of mine. That said, I had to include this second single from Westlife as it continued the winning streak they had in their homeland which didn't break until a year after its initial release.

I really wanted to cap this list off with this entry to mirror what I did for the 80's list, alas we have one more entry to look at which means this collaboration between MJ and Janet is the penultimate entry for this list. It just goes to show how much more popular the former was in the UK than he was in his native America as well as how much less popular the latter was with the Brits compared to her fellow Americans.

As much as I wanted to cap off this list with an MJ track, I feel this is a better conclusion to it as it's a cover of an Abba song from the 70's that in turn is a celebration of the 50's. It's also a live performance that features several big names in British music that hilariously saw bigger success here in Australia than it did in their homeland.

As for my final thoughts for this list, first off I'll spare you the rant about diversity as if you've made it to this point as well as looked at what I featured on my rateyourmusic list I based this off of, you'll know that the Brits didn't care if you were gay, straight, black, white, male, female, non-binary, cis or trans so long as you made music that they enjoyed listening to. They also didn't care where in the world you're from as this might be the most diverse collection of artists on my site when it comes to where in the world they're from, again it would've been even more diverse had I included the several dozen artists that failed to make an impact here in Australia and NZ back in the day. If I had a negative, it would be that as diverse as the Brits were when it came to who was making the music, said diversity didn't apply to their favourite genres as it was clear that their go to was either EDM, Europop or Eurodance with Britpop being a very distant fourth place and only due to them needing to support their local talent. This is in stark contrast with the RNB, hip hop and rock that dominated the Billboard charts which should tell you why I prefer the American scene over the British scene this decade. Much like the 80's, there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to which British artist managed to find international success throughout the 90's, even getting big through sheer novelty wasn't a death note to your international appeal as we saw throughout this list. Although the decade was fairly balanced overall, I will say that the last stretch of the decade really did seem to dominate the front load and tail end of this list due to how chaotic the UK charts were, this is due to piracy as this was around the time Napster launched and started harming sales around the world. If you want to make a drinking game while reading this list, take a shot every time I mention a song getting stuck at number two on their charts as there's a reason why I began this list pointing out how long a song lasted at number one throughout the decade. It's ridiculous how lengthy these runs at number one were and really did a lot to damage the legacy of these songs that hogged the number one spot at the start of this list.

I think that's all I have to say about the UK charts of the 90's, as always, I had a ton of fun bringing this to life and hope that you've either discovered your next favourite song on here or rediscovered a forgotten gem from when you were younger. Either way, take care and I'll see you around.