The week of October 30, 1993, saw Mariah Carey hanging on to the top spot of Billboard’s Hot 100 with ‘Dreamlover.’ It was the last of eight weeks that song would spend atop the chart.
Right behind it was a song that would ascend to #1 the following week and spend five weeks there: Meat Loaf’s ‘I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).’ This was Meat Loaf’s first-ever #1 hit, and his last. He died last year at age 74.
I featured a song by R&B trio SWV back in July — their sole #1 hit, ‘Weak’ — and at the time I mentioned that they had three top ten songs in the early 90s. Well, here’s another of them.
In the week of October 9, 1993, the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 belonged to Mariah Carey, whose ‘Dreamlover’ was in the middle of eight consecutive weeks at #1. Carey kept SWV from nabbing their second #1 with ‘Right Here (Human Nature).’
The week of September 18, 1993, saw a few repeats at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, as it has on almost every Throwback Weekend from the decade. Mariah Carey held on to the top spot with ‘Dreamlover,’ Tag Team claimed #2 with ‘Whoomp! (There It Is),’ and UB40 sat at #3 with ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love.’ Oh my god, the 90s sucked!
In the #4 spot we have Janet Jackson with ‘If,’ the second single from her album Janet. You might recall that first single ‘That’s the Way Love Goes‘ spent two full months at #1, longer than any song by her brother Michael.
The week of August 28, 1993, saw two songs I’ve already covered in the #1 and #2 spots of the Billboard Hot 100: UB40’s ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ and Tag Team’s ‘Whoomp! (There it Is),’ respectively.
That brings us to #3, where Mariah Carey’s ‘Dreamlover’ sat on its way to a #1 berth the following week. This pop/R&B confection would be Carey’s seventh to top the charts, and ended up spending eight consecutive weeks at #1.
After a run of great Throwback Weekend songs from the 60s through the 80s, we hit the brick wall of the 90s. Fortunately, I’ve already posted the #1 song from the week of August 7, 1993, the awful but inexplicably popular cover of ‘(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love with You‘ by UB40.
In the #2 spot is a song I was ready to dismiss as hot garbage, but my increasing nostalgic fondness for early 90s hip-hop keeps me from going too negative. ‘Whoomp! (There It Is),’ by hip-hop duo Tag Team, isn’t great art, but its verses have the playfulness and buoyancy that make much of this era’s rap music a delight.
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