For one year, though, the world danced to New Jack Swing, cried to Sinead O’Connor, and struck a pose for Madonna.
By December, the first whispers of the "Year of the Woman" (which would explode in 1991 with Lisa Fischer, Oleta Adams, and others) were in the air. More importantly, in a Seattle storage space, a band was recording an album called Nevermind . 1990 popular songs
If 1989 felt like the last breath of the extravagant 80s, 1990 was the year the music industry held its breath and looked both ways. It was a year of fascinating contradictions: Madonna pushed boundaries while Mariah Carey introduced a new standard in vocal gymnastics. Milli Vanilli returned their Grammys in disgrace, while a little-known band from Seattle called Nirvana was quietly recording the album that would blow the doors off the entire scene in 1991. For one year, though, the world danced to
Here are the songs that defined the pop charts of 1990. No song defined the sheer mass of 1990 pop better than Mariah Carey’s “Vision of Love.” Released as her debut single, it was a tectonic shift. Before Carey, pop divas sang loudly; after Carey, they attempted the complex melisma and whistle register she debuted here. The song spent four weeks at #1 and announced the arrival of the decade’s most influential vocalist. If 1989 felt like the last breath of