1991 was an exceptional year for Number 1s. There were just twelve, and they were all great! Most of them are on my favourite songs playlist!

Whilst one or two haven’t quite stood the test of time and perhaps aren’t the corkers they were once perceived to be, they were all genuinely great songs at the time.

It’s hard to point to my favourites as they are all strong. If pushed I’d go for Please Don’t Go by KWS just because I used to love it at the youth club and the nostalgia is strong. That is the only thing that just edges it above the rest.

What a year for music!

1993 will have 16 Number Ones and most of them are great, but there’s one bloody awful song that all records of should be destroyed. Let’s look forward to blaming Noel Edmunds together.

1991 was a crazy year for Number 1s.

There were novelty hits – Do The Bartman and The Stonk. There was an eclectic range of styles – Sadeness (Part I), 3AM Eternal, Bring Your Daughter… To The Slaughter, Any Dream Will Do and Dizzy. There were some pop classics from film soundtracks – The One And Only, and The Shoop Shoop Song. There was another song cast into the limelight after use in an advert – Should I Stay Or Should I Go. There was a massic ‘video’ used to launch Black Or White. There was a meeting of the chart kings – Elton John and George Michael. And there was the re-release of a Number 1 to commemorate the sad death of a musical genius.

The stand out story of the year was the record-breaking run at the top for Everything I Do (I Do It For You). This record still stands today.

Every song had a story behind it, each one was very much of its time telling a little bit of the history of 1991.

My favourite Number Ones from 1991 are: Should I Stay Or Should I Go, The One And Only, Everything I Do (I Do It For You), Dizzy, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, and Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives.

1992 promises to be a vintage year for Number 1s. Some enduring classics and some long running chart toppers. I can’t wait to write all about it.

The first year of the 90s was a brilliant year for pop, especially if you were a child. The Number 1s seemed very child-friendly. And there were some songs which have remained popular because they were of a certain era.

In my opinion, the Nineties was the best decade for music, so it is entirely appropriate that it starts with a bang!

At the time, my favourite Number 1s of the year were: Dub Be Good To Me, Turtle Power and Ice Ice Baby.

In 2024, my favourite Number 1s of 1990 are: Nothing Compares 2U (even more poignant after Sinead O’Connor’s sad death in 2023), Dub Be Good To Me, World In Motion, Sacrifice, Show Me Heaven, Unchained Melody and Ice Ice Baby. It shows that my musical taste has grown up and mellowed if nothing else. But it seems that Dub Be Good To Me has stayed with me, and so that is my top song of the year.

Looking ahead to 1991 the range of music styles to reach the top is something to behold! It will be interesting to reflect!

The last year of the Eighties was dominated by cheesy pop!

It’s a good thing! Reviewing the singles of the year has brought back lots of memories of my childhood and I have really enjoyed reviewing the songs. 1989 was definitely a year in which I began to notice pop music and pay attention to who was at the top of the charts. I can remember most of the Number 1s vividly.

The year, as I’ve already said, was dominated by Stock, Aitken and Waterman and Jive Bunny.  This means that there was rather a distinctive sound to the year.

My favourite Number 1s from 1989 were Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart, Too Many Broken Hearts, Like A Prayer, Eternal Flame, Hand On Your Heart, Back To Life, You’ll Never Stop Me From Loving You and, best of all, Ride On Time.

1989 was a year that began to form my future taste in music – I enjoy pop and dance music and it was clear from the above choices that this was where my musical taste was going to go, and it would be this way for a few years at least…

I was going to conclude 1989 with a summary of some facts about Number 1s in the 1980s, but it’s easier to direct you to Wikipedia which is full of the sorts of facts I would spend time putting together!

Looking ahead to 1990 we will find some fantastic songs and fantastic stories and I’m looking forward to it already!

1988 was another great year for Number Ones. There were some absolute classics that reached the top, in a range of musical styles. I wasn’t old enough to understand, but I imagine for those into pop music that it was an exciting time.

We didn’t know it yet but we saw the birth of the manufactured pop era with releases by Kylie Minogue and Bros making the chart. The signs were there that there was an appetite for the pop ‘star’ and that music buyers were excited about the singer as well as the song itself. We also saw that there was a market for record companies to exploit new routes to music with music from adverts topping the chart. There were some charity records too, and this is becoming an almost annual feature in the charts.

Stand out Number 1s, for me, included Heaven Is A Place On Earth, I Think We’re Alone Now and I Should Be So Lucky (what a fantastic three records to start the year off with!) and then Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You. Four very pop-sounding pop songs!

1989 has some exciting songs at the top. There’s lots to look forward to including the take over of Neighbours pop stars, the introduction of an edgy new boy band from America, and the chart takeover of a certain musical bunny…

1987 was a great year for Number Ones.

There were some poorer songs, Star Trekkin’, Pump Up The Volume and Jack Your Body, but there were some absolute classics which have more than stood the test of time.

It’s hard to choose a favourite as there are so many, but if pushed I would choose Never Gonna Give You Up. It is one of pop’s most enduring hits. Close runners up include Always On My Mind and I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

Coming up in 1988 there are some absolutely wonderful pop songs. It was in this year, when I was 9, that I began to develop more of an interest in pop music. Lots to look forward to…

The 1986 reflects the varying styles of music if the Eighties perfectly.

There was a mixture of the power ballad (The Final Countdown), the reggae-pop (I Want To Wake Up With You), the random foreign language hit (Rock Me Amadeus), the revival hit (Reet Petitie), the rock anthem (Spirit In The Sky) and the pure pop (True Blue).

The varying styles made it an interesting year!

I don’t have clear memories of the songs as they were released but many of them have become classics and include some of my favourites (Don’t Leave Me This Way).

Looking ahead to 1987 the varying styles continue and there are some absolute monster-huge songs that will reach the summit. Lots to look forward to.

1985 was quite an up and down year for quality songs at Number 1.

It was clear that charity singles were going to become a thing, after the runaway success of Do They Know It’s Christmas? in 1984 and you could see people’s eyes light up at the idea of releasing charity songs and experiencing the same level of success. Of course, none of them ever did and none of them ever will ever again.

Another theme of the year was (at least it seems like to me) mums buying records. I Know Him So Well, Move Closer and Saving All My Love For You are all huge love songs and probably appealed more to a certain demographic.

There were some timeless songs that reached the top in 1985 – I Want To Know What Love Is, Spin Me Around, Easy Love, Move Closer, There Must Be An Angel, Into The Groove, I Got You Babe and The Power Of Love. It’s hard to pick a stand out song as I don’t think any of them have continued to enjoy huge popularity.

There were some poorer songs – the weakest being You’ll Never Walk Alone by The Crowd. A very worthy cause, but there are better ways to raise money than this.

Looking ahead to 1986 there are a lot of Eighties powerhouses to look forward to – massive artists and classic songs.

1984 was a great year for Number 1s with some real classics released.

The year was dominated by a couple of acts – Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Wham! (including George Michael). Between them they had six out of the 14 Number 1s of the year, and George Michael also performed on a 7th.

The year featured the biggest selling single of the decade, Do They Know It’s Christmas?, and launched the idea of a charity single.

Standout records, for me are: Relax, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Careless Whisper amd Freedom.

Special mention must be made of the truly garbage, Pipes Of Peace, which was the first Number 1 of the year. Awful.

1985 promises some Eighties classics and more charity records…

Well, from the crap that seemed to clog up the system in 1982, 1983’s Number 1s were something to behold. There were some iconic songs that reached the top of the charts.

1983 is, without a doubt, the best year that I have tracked so far. The record buying public finally got it right!

It’s hard to pick the songs that weren’t so good this year. Maybe Too Shy is the weakest but that’s at a push.

In terms of the best, it’s even harder to choose as I gave so many songs 10/10 this year!

A quick glance at what is coming up in 1984 shows lots more promise. Just some dirge to get through at the start of the year though…