What Were The Top Ten Selling Singles In 1991?
The Cold Open
Britain lurched through 1991 like a hungover stag do in a Little Chef car park. John Major inherited Thatcher’s handbag and tried to steady the tiller while recession gnawed away at the high street. The Gulf War flickered across TV sets in grainy night-vision, turning conflict into a spectacle. Bryan Adams would not leave the radio for months, Queen mourned their frontman, and even Springfield’s favourite cartoon family stormed the charts. It was a year when novelty, grief, and relentless romance collided at the top of the UK singles chart.
Here are the top ten selling singles in the UK in 1991.
1. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You – Bryan Adams
Sales: 1,430,000 • Label: A&M • Catalogue: AM 789
From Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. A global super-ballad that lodged at No 1 for a record 16 weeks. Britain’s longest collective sigh of devotion.
2. Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are The Days Of Our Lives – Queen
Sales: 673,000 • Label: Parlophone • Catalogue: QUECD 18
Reissued after Freddie Mercury’s death. A double A-side that topped Christmas and gave Queen their only chart-topper of the decade.
3. The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss) – Cher
Sales: 483,000 • Label: Geffen • Catalogue: GFSTD 19039
From the film Mermaids. Camp, catchy, and irresistible. Gave Cher her first UK No 1 since the sixties.
4. I’m Too Sexy – Right Said Fred
Sales: 470,000 • Label: Tug • Catalogue: CD SNOG 1
A three-chord strut aimed at the catwalk. “Too sexy for Milan, New York and Japan.” Reached No 2 but became a global novelty anthem.
5. Do The Bartman – The Simpsons
Sales: 430,000 • Label: Geffen • Catalogue: GFSTD 19030
Springfield on seven-inch. Michael Jackson’s ghostwriting fingerprints all over it. The first UK No 1 by an animated TV family.
6. Any Dream Will Do – Jason Donovan
Sales: 400,000 • Label: Polydor • Catalogue: POCDP 123
Lloyd Webber’s technicolour dreamcoat stitched into pop history. Donovan’s version topped the chart for two weeks while the West End show roared.
7. The One and Only – Chesney Hawkes
Sales: 375,000 • Label: Chrysalis • Catalogue: CHSNYCD 1
The definition of a one-hit wonder. Written by Nik Kershaw, sung by Hawkes, it spent five weeks at No 1. Career over almost instantly.
8. Dizzy – Vic Reeves and The Wonder Stuff
Sales: 358,000 • Label: EastWest • Catalogue: YZ 618CD
A sixties cover with comedy bravado. Reeves bellowed, the Wonder Stuff churned. Two weeks at No 1 and instantly back to novelty value.
9. Insanity – Oceanic
Sales: 350,000 • Label: Dead Dead Good • Catalogue: OCEANIC 1
Rave’s moment in the mainstream sun. Breakbeats and piano stabs stormed the Top 5. Peak chart position No 3 yet one of the year’s top sellers.
10. I Wanna Sex You Up – Color Me Badd
Sales: 345,000 • Label: Giant • Catalogue: W0047CD
From New Jack City. Smooth American R&B invaded the UK airwaves. Two weeks at No 1 and plenty of parental disapproval.
