# Best #1 single of the year retrospective: 1996 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168 "2014-11-09T17:31:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/1 "2014-11-09T17:31:35Z")
The year is now 1996. Having slowly bubbled up for several years, we’re increasingly beginning to see hip-hop and R&B dominate the top spot. For the first time since the '70s (and for almost the last time ever) we have two sets of double A-sides at #1, which means that, with Mariah carrying over, we have… 11 songs to choose from. (Notwithstanding the carryover and the double A-sides, 1996 would be tied for the slowest year in the history of the #1 spot.) You know the drill. What’s your favorite? - denotes one half of a double A-side Previous polls: [1955-56](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=731649) [1957](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=731871) [1958](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732021) [1959](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732199)[1960](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732526) [1961](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732691) [1962](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732872) [1963](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733112) [1964](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733297) [1965](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733526) [1966](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733750) [1967](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733958) [1968](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=734168) [1969](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=734331) [1970](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=734535) [1971](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=734741) [1972](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=735107) [1973](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=735304) [1974](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=735502) [1975](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=735659) [1976](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=735871) [1977](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736076) [1978](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736316) [1979](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736501) [1980](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736705) [1981](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736957) [1982](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737099) [1983](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737315) [1984](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737488) [1985](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737732) [1986](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737957) [1987](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=738178) [1988](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=738403) [1989](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=738639) [1990](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=738829) [1991](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=739067) [1992](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=739360) [1993](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=739525) [1994](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=739880) [1995](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=740122) [2012](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=675664) [2013](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=710843) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/2 "2014-11-09T17:33:49Z")
Since I’m in before the poll, I’m gonna make a preemptive vote for “none of them”. I’ll come back in a few minutes to see if I was right. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/3 "2014-11-09T17:41:34Z")
Black Street “No Diggity” got my vote. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/4 "2014-11-09T17:43:12Z")
“No Diggity” is fun. ([Here’s a band covering it](http://www.avclub.com/video/jc-brooks-the-uptown-sound-cover-blackstreet-93872) – also fun.) I don’t think I’d pee on any of the other songs if they were on fire. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/5 "2014-11-09T17:58:37Z")
The only one on the list I have heard is the Macarena and I don’t know about the various mixes. The only good thing I can say for it is that I wouldn’t turn it off if I hadn’t heard it in a year. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/6 "2014-11-09T17:59:07Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > “No Diggity” is fun. ([Here’s a band covering it](http://www.avclub.com/video/jc-brooks-the-uptown-sound-cover-blackstreet-93872) – also fun.) I don’t think I’d pee on any of the other songs if they were on fire. I heard Ed Sheeran, of all people, do a cover of that song at a live show a few years back. Hip-hop performed by a white guy with a very British singing voice on solo acoustic with a loop pedal is… well, it’s something, I’ll give it that. The Macarena was fun, but the song itself was just fluff and the English lyrics that the Bayside Boys wrote were just plain stupid. The dance was what got this one to #1, and the music video didn’t even show full dance, just a slowed-down shortened version of it. Of course, after that, America came to its senses and never again did a song named after a dance reach #1. [Oh,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajmI1P3r1w4) [wait.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk1_DbbzSdY) I myself voted for “California Love”. I’m not much of a hip-hop fan and I just found the song annoying when it was new, but it’s grown on me over the years - it’s fun and it’s a good showcase both for Dre’s production and Tupac’s vocals. (PS: I will be expecting written apologies from everyone who complained that there weren’t any good songs on the '70s lists.) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/7 "2014-11-09T18:01:46Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > The only one on the list I have heard is the Macarena and I don’t know about the various mixes. The only good thing I can say for it is that I wouldn’t turn it off if I hadn’t heard it in a year. To clarify, the Bayside Boys mix [is the default version you probably think of when you think of the Macarena](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiBYM6g8Tck)- synth beat, random women singing about how their boyfriend is away and they want to dance, and two old guys singing the chorus in Spanish. The original, which was recorded in 1992 and never got significant airplay outside the Hispanosphere, [was Latin jazz.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Df-YjO8W8) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/8 "2014-11-09T18:05:41Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > Since I’m in before the poll, I’m gonna make a preemptive vote for “none of them”. I’ll come back in a few minutes to see if I was right. If “none of the above” were an option, I’d probably have voted for it here (not for the first time in this decade). But since it isn’t, I voted for _California Love_, though I was sorely tempted to vote for _Macarena_, just because. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/9 "2014-11-09T18:22:50Z")
\*Macarena is the best song on this list. \* Ponder that statement for a while. I hate every other song on this list except for Dr. Dre’s, so consider this an 8-way tie for dead-ass last place. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/10 "2014-11-09T18:45:30Z")
Voted for No Diggity, but it is clear something fundamental has happened to how music is charted. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/11 "2014-11-09T18:48:00Z")
Looking at that list, I’m starting to see how the Macarena became such a big hit. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/12 "2014-11-09T19:16:43Z")
I’ve never heard of a single one of these songs. Abstain. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/13 "2014-11-09T20:05:25Z")
Gotta represent for the late, great Roger Troutman - who was born fifteen minutes from where I live - and vote for “California Love”. Besides, it’s the best song on yet another sorry fucking list (closely followed by “No Diggity” and … not one other fucking song on this bitch). ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/14 "2014-11-09T20:33:47Z")
Toni Braxton - “Un-Break My Heart” is by far the best on the list, and with the novelty song Macarena the only one I would not mind listening to once in a while. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/15 "2014-11-09T20:38:30Z")
“California Love.” It’s one of the few songs on this list I still listen to. “No Diggity” is a good track, as well. “Macarena” is probably my least favorite of the bunch. I’m somewhat surprised at how well it’s doing. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/16 "2014-11-09T20:47:06Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > “Macarena” is probably my least favorite of the bunch. I’m somewhat surprised at how well it’s doing. Like potential presidential candidate polling two years out, it’s all about name recognition. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/17 "2014-11-09T21:36:46Z")
I voted “Crossroads” but it ties with “California Love”. If I had to come up with a soundtrack for freshman year of college, those would definitely on the list. And the videos for both are kind of cool. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/18 "2014-11-09T22:07:00Z")
I swear that other than Macarena I could not tell you what a single one of these songs sound like. Was I deaf in 1996? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/19 "2014-11-09T22:23:44Z")
… Well, we’ve hit the first year since the early 60s when there’s not one song I can actually say I like. The only two I can even remember without looking them up are Macarena and Unbreak My Heart, both of which are annoying as fuck… And have created a mashup earworm. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168/20 "2014-11-09T22:39:18Z")
“California Love” in an absolute landslide. “No Diggity” was a great song (and I loved that whole album), so that gets second place. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1996/704168.md?page=2)