UK Singles Chart: 1992

With two hits this year, Cliff Richard became the first outright in terms of most hits. He also kept his run of hits every year since 1979, closely followed by Shakin Stevens who had a hit every year since 1980. Elton John overtook David Bowie into third place, whilst joining the 30+ club in terms of number of hits were Michael Jackson and Roy Orbison.

	Artist	No of Hits	New Hits
1	Cliff Richard	103	This New Year, I Still Believe In You
2	Elvis Presley	101
3	Elton John	45	The One, Runaway Train, The Last Song
4	David Bowie	44
5	Status Quo	43	Rock Til You Drop, Roadhouse Medley
6	Queen	40
7	Paul McCartney	39
8	Stevie Wonder	37
9	Rod Stewart	36	Tom Traubert's Blues
10	Diana Ross	34	The Force Behind the Power, One Shining Moment, If We Hold On Together
=	Michael Jackson	34	Remember the Time/Come Together, In the Closet, Who Is It, Jam, Heal the World
12	Frank Sinatra	32
=	Rolling Stones	32
=	Shakin Stevens	32	Radio
15	Roy Orbison	31	I Drove All Night, Crying, Heartbreak Radio
16	Lonnie Donegan	30

No change in terms of most number ones

	Artist	No of #1s	New #1s
1	Elvis Presley	17
=	Beatles	17
3	Cliff Richard	13
4	Abba	9
5	Rolling Stones	8
6	Madonna	7
7	Slade	6
=	Rod Stewart	6

A glance at the number ones of the year implies the 80s might have returned. The first number one of the year came from Wet Wet Wet with "Goodnight Girl" after a string of hits that had only made the lower reaches of the Top 40. However they would not reach the Top 10 again until 1994 when they had their most famous number one "Love Is All Around".

The second number one came from Shakespears Sister with "Stay" which was there for 8 weeks. Their follow up "I Don't Care" made the Top 10, but would be their final hit to do so.

Bringing the top spot into the 90s next came Right Said Fred with "Deeply Dippy", their second hit of the year after "Don't Talk Just Kiss". They didn't fare so well with their next hit though with "Those Simple Things/Daydream" on managing number 29.

Also keeping it 90s next was KWS with "Please Don't Go/Game Boy", the former being a dance cover of the KC & the Sunshine Band record and the latter being arguably the only hardcore rave number one in chart history, though nowhere near as well known.

We then have the 80s does the 70s with Erasure scoring their only number one with the "Abba-Esque EP", an EP of Abba covers. Erasure had a solid year also scoring Top 10s with "Breath of Life" and "Who Needs Love (Like That)" which originally failed to reach the Top 40 when it was first released in 1985.

Speaking of 1985, that was the year the act who had the next number one was last in the Top 40. The person in question is Jimmy Nail with "Ain't No doubt". Bringing it back to the 90s next was Snap! with their second a final number one with "Rhythm is a Dancer".

The next number one comes from the act who were arguably the most successful chart wise of the year. This was the Shamen with "Ebeneezer Goode". The casual music listener may think that was their only record, but this year alone they also had a number four with "Boss Drum", a number five with "Phorever People" and a number six with "LSI".

We then have a trio of chart debutants score the next three number ones, Tasmin Archer with "Sleeping Satellite", Boyz II Men with "End of the Road" and Charles & Eddie with "Would I Lie to You".

The Christmas number one came from Whitney Houston with "I Will Always Love You" which remained number one well into 1993 spending 10 weeks at the top.

After a year away from the UK Top 40, Motown was back with newcomers Boyz II Men as one of their acts who followed up their number one with "Motownphilly". There was another newcomer from Motown in Shanice who had her only Top 40 hit with "I Love Your Smile". We also had the return of Lionel Richie after a 6 year absence with the hits "Do It To Me" and "My Destiny" which would be his last hits for the label. Additionally we had the final chart appearance of Motown act the Temptations with "My Girl" which failed to reach the Top 40 when it was first released. However this appeared on the soundtrack to the movie of the same name so therefore is not officially a Motown record.

Michael Jackson was dabbling with the New Jack Swing sound, thanks in part to having Teddy Riley producing on his album with records like "Remember the Time" and "Jam". It was also the year that brought us "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-N-Effect which featured a verse from Teddy Riley which had been written by a certain Pharrell Williams. We also had the debut of TLC with the record "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg".

Generally though the R&B sound was moving away from New Jack Swing and more towards the contemporary sound of the mid 80s. The Dance/R&B crossover sound pioneered by Soul II Soul was also on its way out of the charts with just Soul II Soul themselves and Innocence keeping that sound going.

We did however start to see the acid jazz sound gain in popularity. Although Incognito and Young Disciples go the ball rolling the previous year, this year we had more Incognito with "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" and we also had the debuts of Brand New Heavies with "Dream Come True" and Stereo MCs with "Connected".

Dance music generally had a big presence in the charts with many tunes from the House, Techno and Breakbeat Hardcore genres. Aside from the number ones, big hits included "Raving I'm Raving" by "Shut Up & Dance", "On A Ragga Tip" by SL2 and "Sesame's Treet" by Smart Es.

The latter was another example of what was dubbed Toytown Techno with other examples including "A Trip To Trumpton" by Urban Hype and"The Banana Song" by GSP.

Despite the number one from Snap, there wasn't much other Euro Dance apart from 2 Unlimited. There was "Take Me Away" by Cappella, "It's My Life" by Dr Alban and "Run To You" by Rage.

There was however a form of Euro Dance which could be considered to be its equivalent of Toytown Techno, records which sampled computer games. There was "Supermarioland" by Ambassadors Of Funk featuring MC Mario, "Supersonic" by HWA featuring Sonic The Hedgehog and "Tetris" by Doctor Spin, who was in fact Andrew Lloyd Webber.

We saw the first example of Hardbag music with "Don't You Want Me" by Felix charting this year. Meanwhile, it was still just Massive Attack keeping Trip Hop music going with the Massive Attack EP.

There was notably less Rap/Hip Hop music in the charts this year. We saw the last of MC Hammer with "Don't Pass Me By". We did however have the debut from Kris Kross, who were the only act to have more than one Rap/Hip Hop hit this year. First came the well known "Jump", then came "Warm It Up" and then "It's A Shame". This would be the last we'd see of them in the UK Top 40.

There were also debuts from Naughty By Nature with "O.P.P.", Arrested Development with "People Everyday" and House Of Pain with "Jump Around". All three of the acts would return to the charts in future years.

With Nirvana bringing Grunge to the UK charts the previous year, several acts would follow this year. These included Pearl Jam with "Alive", "Even Flow" and "Jeremy", L7 with "Pretend We're Dead", "Everglade" and "Monster", Soundgarden with "Jesus Christ Pose" and Sonic Youth with "100%", whilst Nirvana themselves had hits with "Come As You Are", "Lithium" and "In Bloom".

Unlike what the history books say though, this didn't spell the end for Glam. Most notably we had Mr Big score a number two with "To Be With You", plus we had hits from Extreme, Skid Row, Motley Crue and Europe.

Having ditched the hair metal literally with a haircut, Bon Jovi returned to the charts this year with "Keep the Faith".

In the Goth scene Sisters of Mercy had their biggest hit with the number three "Temple of Love" and we also had the final new hits from the Mission with "Never Again" and "Like A Child Again" and All About Eve with "Phased EP".

Thrash was kept going by Megadeth with the hits "Symphony Of Destruction" and "Skin O' My Teeth". Now considered Heavy Metal rather than Thrash, Metallica continued to have hits with "Nothing Else Matters" and "Wherever I May Roam". There were also hits from Iron Maiden with "Be Quick Or Be Dead" and "From Here To Eternity", WASP with "Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New York Morgue)" and a return to the Top 40 after a 10 year gap for Black Sabbath with their final hit "TV Crimes". There was also the debut of alternative metal band Therapy? with "Teethgrinder".

Amongst the hard rockers, there were hits this year for the likes of Guns N Roses, Def Leppard, Alice Cooper, Thunder, Little Angels and AC/DC. We also had the debut of Ugly Kid Joe with "Everything About You" followed up with "Neighbor".

The baggy sound was still going strong with Stone Roses, James, Inspiral Carpets, Primal Scream, Charlatans, EMF, Flowered Up, The Farm and Happy Mondays all having hits this year.

The direction of Indie music in general was changing though with this perhaps being the strongest year for Shoegazing. Arguably the best known Shoegazing band Ride had their only Top 10 hit this year with "Leave Them All Behind". There were also hits this year for Catherine Wheel, Curve and Lush.

We also saw the origins of what would become Brit Pop, with "Popscene" by Blur charting this year which is said to be where Brit Pop begun. There was also the debut of Suede with "Metal Mickey".

Another notable Indie group this year was the Wedding Present, who released a new single every month meaning giving them 12 Top 40 hits this year. The most successful of these was "Come Play With Me" which was the only one to reach the Top 10.

This was the year we saw the beginnings of the biggest boyband rivalry of the early 90s. Take That had already made their chart debut in November 1991 with the minor hit "Promises" making number 38. That had their first major hit this year in June with "It Only Takes A Minute" which reached number 7. Their follow up "I Found Heaven" failed to reach the Top 10, but would be their final 90s hit that didn't. They then had hits with "A Million Love Songs" and "Could It Be Magic".

East 17 debuted in August with the number 10 hit "House of Love". Their follow up "Gold" only managed to reach number 28.

With Aitken now gone, Stock & Waterman still managed five Top 40 hits this year, three of which were their final hits for Kylie Minogue with the number two "Give Me Just a Little More Time" being the most successful of these. The other two came from Bananarama with "Movin On" and WWF Superstars with "Slam Jam".

With their being over 100 more Top 40 hits in 1992 than 1991 there was enough room to accommodate both the old a new music which is what seems to have happened. Despite this though there were just 12 number ones.

A lot is said in the history books about the Rave scene peaking in 1992 with the raves themselves attracting the largest crowds. The charts does reflect this with more dance music that's ever gone before.

The question for 1993 is will there be a decline in Dance records? and will Grunge kill off glam metal in the charts once and for all? and will we get more Rap/Hip Hop in the charts?