Best of the Rest of the Top 40: 1994

Cafe Society
1

The year is now 1994. We have 31 songs in the Top 40 that didn’t make #1, including one of the only double-A-sides to make the year-end chart.

What’s your favorite?

  • denotes one half of a double A-side

Previous polls: 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993

Best #1 single polls: 1955-56 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s All-time

2

Not as dire as 1993 but still pretty weak.

10,000 Maniacs - Because the Night is the clear winner here which means that, like in the previous year’s poll, I’m again voting for a song that was written long before the year it charted/was covered.

I briefly considered Enigma, Crash Test Dummies and Sheryl Crow but as soon as I saw the last entry, my choice was clear. They would have been a pity vote anyway. Elton John and The Artist Formerly Known As Prince’ s singles are lackluster.

3

I like a good beer buzz early in the morning!

I was also torn between Sheryl Crow and 10,000 Maniacs, but “All I Wanna Do” was such a huge breakout hit for Crow and really cemented her as one of the biggest female artists of the 90s.

4

At least it’s not the oldest song on this list!

5

Enigma, with it’s nice chanting got my vote. Just behind would have been 10,000 Maniacs and Collective Soul. Several I liked but not in the sense that I would vote for them. Not as ghetto as 1993.

6

I’m going with the Crash Test Dummies’ 15 minutes of fame. Besides, the Al Yankovic parody is great.

7

This is a pretty underwhelming list. I voted for Ace of Base’s “All That She Wants.”

8

Easily 10,000 Maniacs. Because the Night is one of my favorite songs and almost everything else on the list sucks except for 3 or 4 that I find passable.

9

I only see two here that I could vote for: 10,000 Maniacs and Sheryl Crow. I’m going to go with Sheryl on this one.

10

10,000 Maniacs for me, Crash Test Dummies would have been my second choice.

11

I voted Crash Test Dummies, but in an ironic way.

[walks away humming]

12

Dagnabbit, I meant to vote for Sheryl Crow but voted for Enigma instead. That’s okay; Enigma’s a good one too.

13

Off the top of my head I have to go with “Whatta Man” by Salt ‘n’ Pepa/En Vogue. Maybe that’s influenced by the video of those fine-looking women strutting about. Mmmmmmmmmmm…

14

That had my vote. It was the only song I liked on the list.

15

Hey, I like this list better than most of the 80s! Definitely better than 93, too, although that wasn’t bad.

Went with Salt-N-Pepa “Shoop” but a lot of others could’ve gotten my vote.