The Very Best Songs of the '90s

These are the top 100 most representative pop songs of the decade of the 1990s. Use this as your beginning guide to the music of the era.

In 1990 dance music had recovered from its dive underground in the wake of the end of disco. This was also a golden era of hip-hop experimentation with sampling.

Manchester, England made its presence known with a new invasion of British artists on the US pop charts. Dance music was about to step aside in favor of a noisier form of popular music.

Although grunge stood up and became noticed in 1992, it was also a year in which some of the most enduring pop ballads of recent years were released. This list is an example of just how broad the general public's taste can be in pop hits.

The gap between dance-oriented pop music and noisy grunge alternative rock grew even wider in 1993. This made for an exciting tension in the music marketplace.

More traditional rock made itself known in 1994. Melissa Etheridge broke through into the mainstream with her gutsy, raspy voice on "Come to My Window." The Counting Crows introduced their brand of storytelling with the ironic and witty, "Mr. Jones." and John Mellencamp joined Me'Shell Ndegeocello to cover Van Morrison's "Wild Night." Bruce Springsteen's intense, stirring rendition of his smash from that year, "Streets of Philadelphia," would stop the Academy Awards show cold. Beck scored a win with "Loser," and Sheryl Crow had enough fun for all of us with "All I Wanna Do." Madonna whispered a "Secret" to music fans, while they asked the Cranberries to "Linger." When fans weren't listening to moody ballads, they took to the dance floor to the driving beat of Ini Kamoze's "Here Comes the Hotstepper" and R. Kelly's "Bump 'N Grind." 

We had never known sheer female rage unleashed on the pop charts like that of Alanis Morissette with her debut hit "You Oughta Know." On the other end of the spectrum, Lisa Loeb expressed a quieter, but not necessarily any less powerful frustration.

One of the biggest worldwide dance hits of all time, the "Macarena," stands out from the crowd in 1996. However, there are plenty of other top songs to remember from the year including Everything But the Girl's more downbeat, but equally intoxicating dance hit "Missing."

1997 is the year in which bubblegum pop suddenly seemed relevant again with the appearance of brother band Hanson and the UK's assertive and bubbly Spice Girls. The death of Princess Diana also generated the world's biggest pop hit single of all time.

In 1998 a boy band emerged that will help rewrite teen pop history. In addition, we heard just what powerful music true superstars of dance and hip hop could create.

A female star who would become a true icon in the next decade released the most memorable pop song of 1999. It was also a year in which a legendary pop star introduced vocal technology to the mainstream that would have a major sonic impact in the next decade.