There were 27 songs that reached #1 on the Billboard pop charts in 1991. I wasn’t listening much to pop radio, apparently. Some of the songs I never heard of. Then there are those, such as the most popular song of the year, that I must have heard, but my mind and my ear wouldn’t accept it.
(Everything I Do) I Do For You – Bryan Adams, #1 for seven weeks, triple-platinum single. I knew this was from the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. But it didn’t imprint.
Black Or White – Michael Jackson, #1 for seven weeks, platinum single. I MIGHT have heard it on the radio. But I surely saw the video several times.
Rush, Rush – Paula Abdul, #1 for five weeks, gold single. I actually own the Spellbound album on which this appears. (There’s a story about that.) But I don’t recall hearing the tune on the radio.
Emotions – Mariah Carey, #1 for three weeks, gold single. I have her #1s album, but I otherwise don’t recognize it.
Two weeks at #1
Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) – C+C Music Factory, platinum single. The song in toto, I don’t recall. But the parenthetical part of the title I heard EVERYWHERE. The First Time – Surface, gold single. IDK.
I Don’t Wanna Cry – Mariah Carey. I own this on her Number #1’s album, but I don’t listen to it much.
Justify My Love – Madonna, platinum single. Maybe I heard it on the radio? But I know it from her The Immaculate Collection greatest hits album, my only Madonna album.
Baby Baby – Amy Grant. I know the song and the video, to my surprise.
Cream – Prince and the N.P.G., gold single. Know this from his The Hits/The B-Sides compilation
All The Man That I Need – Whitney Houston, gold single. I have I’m Your Baby Tonight on CD, where this appears. I do also have a cassette of her first album.
Someday– Mariah Carey, gold single. This is on the international version of her #1s, but not the version I own
I Adore Mi Amor – Color Me Badd, gold single. I’ve vaguely heard of the group but IDK the song.
A single week at #1
More Than Words – Extreme, gold single. Somehow, may have actually heard this, possibly on an oldies station.
I Like The Way (The Kissing Game) – Hi-Five, gold single. IDK
One More Try – Timmy-T-platinum single. IDK, but doesn’t it sound like a whole lot of other songs?
Unbelievable – EMF, gold single. The hook I’ve heard endlessly.
When A Man Loves A Woman – Michael Bolton. This I heard. Not my favorite version of this song.
Set Adrift On Memory Bliss – PM Dawn, gold single. This I actually own on a CD.
Romantic – Karyn White. I couldn’t have identified it, but it sounds vaguely familiar
Love Will Never Do (Without You) – Janet Jackson, gold single. Now, the Rhythm Nation 1814 album I played quite often.
Good Vibrations -Marky Mark and Funky Bunch. Not only do I not remember the song, but I also couldn’t find it on YouTube, though it is on Spotify.
You’re In Love – Wilson Phillips. Somehow, I have heard this, though I couldn’t have identified the artist.
Joyride – Roxette. Vague recollection.
I’ve Been Thinking About You – Londonbeat, gold single. I own the album on which appears, though I don’t recall buying it.
The Promise Of A New Day – Paula Abdul. Also from Spellbound. Never heard it on the radio.
It’s weird; I knew so many songs from only a decade earlier. I hadn’t stopped listening to music. From the top albums of 1991, I own collections from R.E.M., Paul Simon (who I saw live that year), Travelling Wilburys, and the Vaughan Brothers, plus the aforementioned Madonna and Janet.
From the first Boyz II Men album, which I own, a song that “only” made it to #3, Motownphilly.
