Every #1 Hit From 1994, Ranked Worst to Best

For the rest of the year, I’m ranking every Billboard #1 hit from 1964, 1974, 1984, 1994, 2004 and 2014 from worst to best in each respective year. I did this in 2023, which you can read the final entry of here (and access the previous ones), and I’m continuing the series again as we careen towards 2025.

Last week, I ranked the 1984 crop and today we’re looking at 1994, my least favorite year that we’ll tackle. The ranking involves 10 (well, nine) songs (thanks to two songs spending a combined 25 weeks at #1), and seven of them are good but none of them are still in my rotation. There are some duds on this list, including a hit from he-who-shall-not-be-named. This will definitely not be the worst Top 10 of this series but, in the wake of a year as good as 1984, it’s a massive disappointment. But, ’94 gave us some pretty great ballads from some of the most well-respected names in pop history, along with some good and bad film soundtrack songs. Without further ado, here is every #1 hit from 1994, ranked from worst to best.

10. [Redacted]: “[Redacted]”

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9. All-4-One: “I Swear”

I put together an entire ranking of cover songs last year, but yet I was still surprised to learn that All-4-One’s “I Swear” is a cover of John Michael Montgomery’s hit country song of the same name. This time, the R&B group turn it into a soul-pop ballad that includes a lyric change (“And when there’s silver in your hair” became “And when just the two of us are there”) and a generic re-tooling of an already below-average track. I mean, it’s fine, but it’s not novel. It held the #1 spot for 11 weeks. It’s moments like these where I miss when those novelty country/rockabilly and instrumental songs held the top position for one week at a time.

8. Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart & Sting: “All For Love”

A song like “All For Love” is the antithesis of what I love about music: It’s an over-produced, melodramatic song written for a movie that no one remembers. It makes “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” sound good, aka it’s a stain on music so putrid that I am now wondering if letting people sing was even a good idea in the first place. Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting have all made some of the best rock music of their respective eras, but, when you put them together, it’s unholy matrimony. While I don’t love what the Hot 100 has become in 2024, I certainly am glad that a song like “All For Love” will likely never be able to go #1 again.

7. Boyz II Men: “I’ll Make Love to You”

A #1 hit for 14 weeks, “I’ll Make Love to You” is a fine ballad by a group that, in 1994, was arguably the most dominant in the world. Boyz II Men spent 17 weeks at #1 in ‘94, and had spent 13 weeks at #1 two years earlier with “End of the Road.” They really were those dudes, and they won a Grammy for “I’ll Make Love to You” in the process. Now, this is not the group’s best #1 hit from 1994, but it certainly is the one that left the biggest impression on the culture. I mean, when the ‘90s ended, it was the third best-performing song of the entire decade. You can’t really argue with the stats, and “I’ll Make Love to You” is a sweeping and massive singalong that didn’t just exemplify Boyz II Men’s command on pop music, it tightened their grip and proved that Babyface was the best producer alive.

6. Mariah Carey: “Hero”

The second single from her third album Music Box, “Hero” is Mariah Carey’s stadium-sized ballad. Inspirational, memorable and beautiful like Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” “Hero” quickly established Carey as one of the world’s greatest pop stars. It’s an inspirational track full of supportive kindness, the type of slow-burn gem that the charts just eat up. That is not to diminish what Carey has perfected on “Hero,” though. Few ballads can endure with such immense weight, yet “Hero” has been up to the task for 30 years—as it remains one of Carey’s most performed songs across her entire career. “There’s an answer, if you reach into your soul,” she sings. “And the sorrow that you know will melt away.” With a lush piano and atmospheric soundscapes surrounding her perfect vocal performance, “Hero” is a timeless homage to R&B and gospel.

5. Céline Dion: “The Power of Love”

“My Heart Will Go On” was such a huge song that it’s easy to forget that, three years earlier, Céline Dion scored a #1 hit with “The Power of Love.” It was her first chart-topper, and, perhaps, the track that allowed her to fully break out here in the States. She’d had Hot 100 success prior to ‘94 (“Where Does My Heart Beat Now” and “If You Asked Me To” both peaked at #4), but “The Power of Love” was a true mark of the Céline Dion we now know, love and revere. The way she sings “‘Cause I’m your lady and you are my man” could break glass, and this is one of those songs that really paved the way for someone like Adele having such a commanding chart dominance 20 years later.

4. Ace of Base: “The Sign”

Say what you want, but “The Sign” is a perfect pop song. Its legacy exists in the part of my brain as Hanson’s “MMMBop,” and I think it’s maybe the only collision of Europop and techno-reggae worth revisiting (forgive me, I’m just not all in on E-Rotic and Vengaboys) 30 years later. Despite it only holding the #1 spot for six non-consecutive weeks, it was the #1 song on Billboard’s year-end chart. I get it, “The Sign” rules and should have won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group in 1995 (it was nominated, losing to the horrible “I Swear” by All-4-One). You can’t really go wrong with a catchy hook and well-executed beats, even if the faux reggae textures haven’t aged very well. I forget about this song a lot (as I do with most of the previous entries on this list), but when I reconnect with it, I have a pretty good time doing so.

3. Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories: “Stay (I Missed You)”

Now, this is a perfect movie song. Lisa Loeb, you’ll have my heart forever for writing “Stay” and sending it to Ben Stiller to be used in Reality Bites. “Stay” is folk-pop executed flawlessly, and it’s so incredibly 1990s yet, miraculously, it still sounds as brand-new now 30 years later. I love a paradox like that and, when “Stay” hit #1, Loeb became the first artist to top the Hot 100 before being signed to a record label. A song like this going big is why singers like Natasha Bedingfield and Jewel had chart success years after. There’s nothing flashy about it; “Stay” is just a well-done, harmonic rock ballad that vaulted its maker out of obscurity—a feel-good story centered around a sugary, gentle song that, thankfully, unseated One-4-All’s “I Swear” out of the top spot after 11 weeks in August 1994.

2. Boyz II Men: “On Bended Knee”

Comparatively, “On Bended Knee” didn’t have the commercial energy that “I’ll Make Love to You” did months prior—though it wouldn’t have been that outlandish to expect all of Boyz II Men’s #1 hits to spend double-digit weeks at the top of the Hot 100. “On Bended Knee” is just so much better than “I’ll Make Love to You.” It’s the one track that really does re-capture the endearing, powerhouse starpower of “End of the Road”—a reward for the B2M heads and a proper appetizer for new listeners. It’s soulful and smooth as all get-out, and it’s one of the greatest apology songs ever made. For six, non-consecutive weeks between 1994 and 1995, “On Bended Knee” was the must-hear song in America. 30 years later, it holds up better than 60% of this list.

1. Ini Kamoze: “Here Comes the Hotstepper”

For (unfairly) two weeks in December 1994, Boyz II Men’s reign at #1 came to a momentary halt when Jamaican dancehall performer Ini Kamoze’s “Here Comes the Hotstepper” assumed the top spot. Is this the greatest example of reggae-rap? I think it might be. For many, this was an introduction to reggae fusion; that “na-na-na-na” chorus is known by millions, even if they can’t name which tune it comes from (it was inspired by Cannibal and the Headhunters’ “Land of 1000 Dances”). Kamoze never had another Top 40 song after this one, but it’s easily the catchiest song of 1994. It samples Isaac Hayes, Bobby Byrd, the Mohawks, Taana Gardner and Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick, and the verse-vocal melody was inspired by the Beatles’ “Come Together.” “Here Comes the Hotstepper” splashed the pop game with intoxicating grooves and never looked back. We should all be thankful it broke through.