Which song was number one for the longest in the 1990s?

The article explores which songs actually held the number one spot the longest during the 1990s, arguing that despite the decade's reputation for grunge, Britpop and hip hop, it was soft "adult contemporary" ballads that dominated the charts commercially. This mattered enough at the time that Billboard launched a dedicated Adult Top 40 chart in 1996, reflecting how far pop had split from the guitar-driven acts more commonly associated with the era's cultural memory.

On the US Billboard Hot 100, the longest-reigning number one was Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey's "One Sweet Day", which topped the chart for 16 weeks in 1995-96, with other long stayers including Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and Los Del Rio's "Macarena". In the UK, Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, matched that 16-week run, while Wet Wet Wet's "Love Is All Around", boosted by Four Weddings and a Funeral, spent 15 weeks at the top, showing how film soundtrack tie-ins repeatedly drove the era's biggest and longest-lasting hits.