Chart of 1994

This year saw the start of the Britpop / Indie scene in the UK with the rise of Oasis and the increase in popularity of bands like Blur and Pulp.

Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories - Stay (I Missed You)

Lisa Loeb made number 1 with this song in the States before even having a record deal. She remains the only artist to achieve this feat. Despite a long-standing career in the USA, this remains her one big success in Europe as her follow up work never matched her breakthrough effort.



East 17 - Around The World

First single from their second album Steam, this got the London boys another top 3 hit. It's possibly the cheesiest song they ever released!



Cyndi Lauper - Hey Now (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun)

Lead single from her Greatest Hits album, this is a re-release of her début single with a bit of a re-work. This helped resurrect her career, which had been languishing in the doldrums for several years.



Céline Dion - Think Twice

Despite being a total flop in the USA, this cemented Céline's career in the rest of the world and gave her a 7 week stint at the top of the UK charts in 1994.



Tony Di Bart - The Real Thing

British dance act from the Thames Valley, he scored his only number 1 with this. A huge hit in the clubs at the time, its mellow sound trips you out.



MC Sar & The Real McCoy - Another Night

Another wicked club tune from another German dance act. This was their biggest hit and got them a number 3 in the UK, but amazingly for a eurodance song, this got to number 1 in the USA!



Enigma - Return To Innocence

Another chart topper from Engima. This got them into some trouble due to the illegal sampling of Led Zeppelin's, When The Levee Breaks and a traditional Taiwanese drinking chant, which was recorded on the sly during a cultural exchange in Paris!



Stiltskin - Inside

A Scottish post-grunge band, this was their only chart success. It made number 1 on the back of a Levi's advert.



Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Philadelphia

Winner of the 1994 Oscar for Best Song, this is a haunting, slow, melodic and stripped down song that was part of the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia. The film was about a guy living with AIDS and the song reflects the general mood of the film.



Take That - Everything Changes

This was Take That's biggest hit of the year with Robbie on lead vocals, but American success continued to elude them. This was the title track of their most successful album.



Boyzone - Love Me For A Reason

And another boyband! This was the début single for the Irish boys, more favoured by your Granny, and got it them to number 2.



Baby D - Let Me Be Your Fantasy

A eurodance-trip hop outfit from the UK. This was originally released in 1992 without success, but became a huge club hit. After being voted the best club tune of all time on KISS FM, it was given another release in 1994 and got them a two week stint at the top of the charts.



The Grid - Swamp Thing

A slightly random phenomenon of music in 1994 was the mixing of country and dance music. This was a classic dance tune in this year. Who'd have thought you could mix a banjo riff onto a dance track!



Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry - 7 Seconds

Classic R&B track from the Senegalese and Swedish singers. He sings in the Wolof language.



Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You

Hugely overplayed Christmas song by the diva with a huge vocal range. This is the most successful Christmas song of the modern era and is her biggest hit in several countries including Japan.



Corona - The Rhythm Of The Night

Corona was an Italian eurodance act. This was her début single and was a smash hit all over Europe. It stayed at number 1 in Italy for 13 weeks. However it didn't catch on in the USA until 1995, almost a year after its European release. She had a few other hit singles around this period, but her follow up album flopped.



Ace Of Base - The Sign

The Swedish group's 5th single and one that got them 6 weeks at the top of the US chart. This was taken from their début album called Happy Nation. However in the USA the album was released as The Sign.



Doop - Doop

Doop were a Dutch dance music outfit that scored a huge hit with this Charleston inspired track that just repeats the word doop over a big band sample. The song was used as the theme music for Finnish TV programme Herra 47.



D:Ream - Things Can Only Get Better

Number 1 hit from the Northern Irish dance act. He went on to have 8 other hit releases. This song will forever be remembered as the theme music for New Labour's UK election campaign in 1997. How ironic things can turn out to be.



Let Loose - Crazy For You

A British pop band from London, they scored 8 top 20 hits in the UK and released 3 albums. This was their début and earned them a spot at number 2 in 1994.



Bon Jovi - Always

Huge power ballad by the New Jersey rock band. This went to number 1 and remains one of his biggest hits. Its from the album Cross Road and was originally written for the film Romeo Is Bleeding, but the band decided not to lend it to the film as they disliked it! Bon Jovi rarely perform this live due to the incredible strain it puts on Jon's voice.



Pato Banton & UB40 - Baby Come Back

Pato Banton is a reggae singer from the West Midlands and joined fellow Brummies on this number 1 smash hit. He won a Grammy in 2001 for Best Reggae Album.



East 17 - Stay Another Day

This was the London boys' biggest hit and gave them the Christmas number 1 of 1994 in the UK. It was the third biggest selling song of the year.



Whigfield - Saturday Night

A little Danish girl scored a huge worldwide hit with this party song and its dance. It was her biggest hit and was the first ever song to enter the UK chart at number 1 knocking the song below off the top spot.



Wet Wet Wet - Love Is All Around

This was the biggest selling single of 1994 and spent 15 weeks at the top of the UK chart giving the Scottish band their biggest ever hit. It was released with the film Four Weddings And A Funeral. It's a cover of the Troggs' song from 1968. Marti Pellow said they "drove everyone mad with it in the summer of 1994, but that the strength of the song is in its sheer simplicity".