The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1995

 

The Top 10 Best Hit Songs of 1995

Hi guys, it’s Fire here, back at it again with the top 10 BEST hit songs of 1995!!

As I said in my worst list, 1995 was a really good year for the Hot 100—even if I wouldn’t call it the best year of the 90s (1996 still takes that honor). Rap cemented its rise into the mainstream with the very first hip hop YE #1, seeing huge years for Biggie and 2Pac. Hip hop soul and gangsta rap were coloring R&B to create some real standout tracks. And you all already know that I love eurodance and house, which both had great years on the Hot 100! You’re also gonna see a lot of rock on this list as singer-songwriters like Alanis Morissette were taking inspiration from jangle pop and grunge to chart the path for adult alternative acts going forward. As usual, the songs eligible for this list must have met at least one of these rules:

• They debuted on the 1995 Hot 100 YE

• Repeating songs are eligible if they beat or matched their previous standings on this YE

• Any songs in the YE Top 20 are eligible regardless of the first two rules

• The same rules apply to the Hot 100 Airplay YE

As such, if you wanna see the full pool of songs I listened to for this list, check out this Spotify playlist here.

So let’s get started by looking at our honorable mentions!!

HM #1: Gloria Estefan - Turn The Beat Around (YE: #87, PEAK: #13)

I’m kinda shocked to learn that this doesn’t appear to be very well-liked among the music hobbyists I’ve seen (one of them I saw put this on his worst list for this year). I’ll get this out of the way—this is a cover of a 1976 Vicki Sue Robinson hit. I decided to listen to the original for this review and I absolutely think it’s great. And Gloria Estefan honestly does it justice!! It takes the original piece in a direction that feels inspired while preserving what made Vicki Sue Robinson’s version work. The production here is terrific, blending house beats with a razor-tight disco groove. And Gloria Estefan is throwing everything she’s got into this—she’s truly making it her own; it doesn’t feel like a disinterested karaoke cover. Yeah, this is a really fun cover and it certainly does a great job of turning it upside down.

HM #2: Hootie & The Blowfish - Only Wanna Be With You (YE: #33, PEAK: #6)

No, this has nothing to do with Pokemon. I never really cared for anime, and the one time I tried watching it was Pokemon and I found it boring by the first episode. Really, I first became familiar with this song because Post Malone dropped a cover of it in 2021 that I guarantee you all forgot existed. All that’s to say that I have absolutely no emotional connection to “Only Wanna Be With You”, so me calling it great speaks to its genuine quality as a fun roots rock song. The guitar-driven groove is easygoing yet tight, which fits a song about companionship that celebrates all the small, fun moments. The lyric about the (Miami) Dolphins making Darius Rucker cry is really adorable because it’s just a sweet, intimate moment that feels real. And when you tack on those genuinely great guitar solos, this is a really fun song.

HM #3: Alanis Morissette - Hand In My Pocket (YE: #70 ON HOT 100 AIRPLAY)

Yeah, if you read my 1996 best list, you know that I like Alanis Morissette’s brand of singer-songwriter cuts a lot, and “Hand In My Pocket” is certainly no exception. I think I’m learning that one of my favorite songwriting topics is when the artist is describing being on the other side of a hardship with a good head on their shoulders. Or in Alanis Morissette’s case, a good hand in her pocket. I like how she emphasizes how she’s not perfect, but she’s happy with her place in life and has faith that even those small issues will eventually get resolved. She doesn’t have it all figured out just yet, but she knows she’s gonna be just fine. It’s a moment where she can put all her other anxieties on hold and just breathe for a second—she’s grateful for what she does have. Really, as I’m entering a period of serious uncertainty—I graduate college in the spring and have tons of unanswered questions about what I’m gonna do after my graduation, if things will turn out well, etc—it can feel suffocating to think about. I have about a billion and one ideas of what I wanna do after my undergrad and the thought of pursuing even just one of them feels overwhelming. But “Hand In My Pocket” is a great reassurance that things will turn out well no matter what I choose to do. And even if things don’t turn out well, those harmonica riffs are still sweet.

HM #4: Soul Asylum - Misery (YE: #99, PEAK: #20)

Yeah, this is possibly one of the silliest songs I’ve ever put on one of my 90s best lists—that hook is pure corniness. The song centers around a gimmick based on the phrase “misery loves company”, and evolves into “let’s start a company called misery” into “Frustrated Incorporated”. But what makes this work is that it doesn’t really wallow in its emo-ness. The poetry is definitely very teenage, but the power pop production makes it feel anthemic rather than cringey. And the anthemic nature feels justified—the song isn’t really “I’m in misery, let me die alone”, it’s more “we’re both miserable, let’s help each other overcome that misery”. It also helps that frontman Dave Pirner just embraces the silliness of the song fully and leans into that monster of a hook. Yeah, if I’m ever feeling miserable, maybe Soul Asylum would be good people to hang out with.

HM #5: Seal - Kiss From A Rose (YE: #4, PEAK: #1)

And now we have Seal’s biggest and most well-known hit!! And while he’s had hits that I’ve personally preferred to this, “Kiss From A Rose” is still so well-remembered today for a reason. Seal sounds like he means every word he’s saying, with a stunningly commanding presence that oozes charisma. The production sounds spacious in order to let Seal take center stage. You genuinely believe that kissing this girl is like receiving a kiss from a rose that lights up even the darkest rooms. Not much else to say about this—you all know why this is great.

HM #6: Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know (YE: #38 ON HOT 100 AIRPLAY)

As much as I do love the lyrics of “Hand In My Pocket”, you just have to give the big one its flowers too—the song seethes with anger at this guy who dumped Alanis, and she matches the angry tone really well!! It’s kinda messy and very “not over it”, but the way that Alanis wholeheartedly sells the anger makes it work—it’s the same reason Olivia Rodrigo’s “good 4 u” from 2021 has held up so well.

HM #7: Gin Blossoms - Til I Hear It From You (YE: #39 ON HOT 100 AIRPLAY)

I already covered this on my 1996 best list, so I’ll keep this short: it’s a sweet power pop banger with incredibly melodic and dreamy guitars and fun percussion. And frontman Robin Wilson’s vocals are dreamy and sincere to match the production. I said it in my 1996 best list, and I’ll say it again—“The song just sounds like I’m walking on poofy clouds into the sunset”—great song!!

HM #8: Weezer - Buddy Holly (YE: #68 ON HOT 100 AIRPLAY)

I’ll be honest, outside of a select few songs, Weezer just aren’t for me. I’ve always felt like frontman Rivers Cuomo’s voice was obnoxiously whiny. That said, I cannot deny that arguably their signature song, “Buddy Holly”, is genuinely great. The power pop production helps Rivers Cuomo’s voice not feel grating, with that groove and the harsher guitars. And the lyrics are pretty endearing too—Rivers Cuomo likens himself and his girlfriend to Buddy Holly and Mary Tyler Moore to say that he doesn’t care what people say about their relationship and that he’ll remain committed to it. Yeah, Weezer compare themselves to the guy who made one of the best hit songs of 1958, and they measure up!!

HM #9: Montell Jordan - This Is How We Do It (YE: #10, PEAK: #1)

Arguably the most well-remembered New Jack Swing hit of the 90s, and it’s an absolute banger!! Montell Jordan rides the huge groove with tons of charisma for a club jam that feels like a statement of purpose. The massive piano chords and synths make this feel like it’s the definitive New Jack Swing song. This song is certainly how you do it, if “do it” is make a song that has this title—you know, not Katy Perry’s terrible 2014 single.

HM #10: Soul For Real - Every Little Thing I Do (YE: #45, PEAK: #17)

Soul For Real had 2 hits this year, and while “Candy Rain” is pretty good, this is just a great hip hop soul cut. Everyone in Soul For Real has endless charisma to ride the great groove and bassline smoothly. They make a rather needy phrase like “every little thing I do, you’re on my mind” instead sound like the most successful pickup line in history! Yeah, this is an underrated little gem of a song, definitely worth checking out—and if these guys didn’t win over the girl after this song, something terribly wrong has occurred.

HM #11: The Rembrandts - I'll Be There For You (YE: #7 ON HOT 100 AIRPLAY)

So believe it or not, I don’t really watch TV. Seriously, when it comes to Netflix shows and movies, I’m the most terminally OFFline person ever. I say this because I feel like some will think I only put this on my list because of it being part of the Friends soundtrack. I haven’t seen the show, so I have no context surrounding this song’s use in that show other than that this is the theme song of it. But “I’ll Be There For You” is pretty great all the same, with its lively percussion, fun guitar riffs, and the utterly joyous vocal delivery. As a song about being there for someone who was there for you too, like “Only Wanna Be With You”, it makes the commitment sound really fun!! Yeah, this is a fun song, and it’s very fitting for it to be the theme song to a show called Friends.

HM #12: Real McCoy - Another Night (YE: #6, PEAK: #3)

Fire and eurodance—a combo that goes together just like paneer and pizza (if you’ve tried it you KNOW). This already made my best list for 1994, but just to recap: Karin Kasar’s vocals are loose and fun and even despite an oddly threatening tone, O-Jay’s rapping still feels fun! It’s massively helped by the upbeat production, with those colorful synths and that lively house beat. Great song!!

Onto the list proper!...

10...So for as much as hip hop had a really strong year in 1995, it’s not really gonna be as dominant on this list as it was on my best lists for 1993 and 94. Biggie had a huge year, but I admittedly didn’t really connect as much with his output this year. We got the first ever hip hop YE #1—and we’ll get back to that in due time—but you could argue it was more pop than hardcore rap. And some of my absolute favorites in 90s hip hop—Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Ice Cube—were all absent from the 1995 YE entirely. However, there was one big exception...

10. 2Pac - Old School (YE: #51, PEAK: #9)

It’s nice to see a song that’s basically a shoutout to everything and everyone that laid the foundation for the song to even exist. And across a really strong bassline and awesome groove courtesy of the boom bap percussion, that’s essentially what 2Pac is doing here. 2Pac pays homage to hip hop pioneers like Ricky D, Eric B. & Rakim, and Big Daddy Kane, just to name a few, with a genuine sense of gratitude. I wrote an essay in July 2025 for the 4th anniversary of my blog about an 11/10 rating I give to songs that served as formative moments of my life—I’m still really proud of that article and I still consider that my magnum opus. The short version of it is that an 11/10 for me is a song that was instrumental to me being the person I am today. “Old School” is the adoration one has for their 11/10 songs put to music. The song essentially says that if the songs and artists he references didn’t exist, 2Pac would be in a drastically different place in life. And connecting so personally with music is one thing I really love seeing in people. Even if I don’t necessarily like the song being discussed, that emotional connection is what makes me see why the song matters. Excellent track; it’s not my favorite from 2Pac this year though—stay tuned.

9...So the reason I allow airplay only songs to make my 90s lists is an incredibly stupid rule that Billboard had at the time where songs could only chart on the Hot 100 if they had a physical release. This meant that a lot of the biggest songs of the 90s never charted on the Hot 100. One of the most infamous examples of this was “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls—though it did eventually chart on the Hot 100 and make the 1999 YE. The Goo Goo Dolls had another song that fell in this territory—it was a big hit on the Hot 100 airplay chart first, but eventually charted on the official Hot 100 and made the YE the following year. Here it is!!...

9. Goo Goo Dolls - Name (YE: #61 ON HOT 100 AIRPLAY)

This is just so incredibly charming—John Rzeznik vows to his girlfriend to keep her name a secret over that really strong melodic jangle pop production that makes it all the more charming. And literally while I was writing this review, I noticed the line “And now we're grown-up orphans that never knew their names”. I read the Genius annotation on it and suddenly the song picked up an added power—Rzeznik’s parents died within 2 years of each other, leaving him an orphan at the age of 16. This isn’t just a song about keeping a lover’s name a secret—it’s about Rzeznik bonding with a girl who was orphaned at a young age and doesn’t even remember her own name. “I won’t tell no one your name” fits beautifully as a symbol of protecting the innocence they share and as a forbidden love story. I already thought this was incredible, but now it feels even more powerful than the cute love song I had initially thought it was.

8...I know that my 90s worst lists have implied that I hate AC ballads on principle. But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—it comes down to execution. Have interesting production dynamics, a sincere performance, and/or an engaging melody, and I can like even the sappiest AC ballads. Case in point...

8. Sophie B. Hawkins - As I Lay Me Down (YE: #39, PEAK: #6)

What I think makes “As I Lay Me Down” work is Sophie B. Hawkins’s gentle vocals that are soft-spoken enough to sound intimate but not to the point of disinterest. I also love the production, with those dreamy sophisti-pop synths that sound airy in the right way to accentuate the lovestruck tone. And the melody sounds gorgeous—it’s in A# major, eliciting a lovesick tone, which matches the rest of the song really well. Yeah, in a genre where almost everything tends to default to forgettable and boring mush, this is a real standout.

7...So 2020 was undoubtedly one of the biggest anomalies of a year I can remember. The main reason for this was the COVID-19 pandemic. Also known as the coronavirus, it attached a very negative connotation to the name “Corona”-okay, you get the setup here...

7. Corona - The Rhythm Of The Night (YE: #54, PEAK: #11)

Yeah, if there’s a 90s eurodance hit that’s endured the most today (other than “What Is Love” at least), it’d probably be “The Rhythm Of The Night”. So given the connotations attached to the name “Corona” now, I’m shocked in hindsight that this didn’t see a notable resurgence in 2020 outside of a bad sample flip on a Black Eyed Peas song. But hey, this song is still incredible. Jenny B’s vocals have an aura of mystique to them that makes the song sound enchanting, like this is truly the rhythm of the night. I don’t really have much else to say—it’s eurodance, it doesn’t take a lot for it to work for me. This rhythm will definitely keep you going all throughout the night into the morning.

6...But we’re not done with eurodance yet!!...

6. Real McCoy - Run Away (YE: #38, PEAK: #3)

“Another Night” might be the biggest and most well-remembered Real McCoy hit, but “Run Away” is really underrated in my eyes. It takes what already made “Another Night” great and removes the weaknesses that held it back from being incredible. The beat is incredibly danceable and fun thanks to those synths that mimic a violin surprisingly well. Karin Kasar’s vocal melody (I think it’s her? I looked on Genius and she has no credits so forgive me if I’m wrong) sounds stronger here than the one on “Another Night”, and I think part of it might be that she sounds further back in the mix, meaning that the production takes center stage without overpowering her. And while I thought O-Jay’s rapping felt a tad threatening on “Another Night”, it feels like pure fun here. I think what makes this really click more is that the production sounds fuller, which makes it sound more fun. Yeah, it’s time to break free and run away...so uh, I’ll go do that now, bye guys.

5...Hey, I never said we were done with Real McCoy!!...

5. Real McCoy - Come And Get Your Love (YE: #69, PEAK: #19)

If Nicki French’s eurodance cover of “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” was how you make a eurodance rendition of a song badly, “Come And Get Your Love” is how you do it well!! It’s a cover of a 1974 Redbone hit, which I did listen to for this review, and this cover does the original justice!! The song isn’t full-on eurodance—it’s closer to the Motown/disco-ish sound of the original, just with eurodance accents. Just like “Turn The Beat Around”, it’s faithful to the original while taking it in a different enough direction to justify its existence. It certainly helps that Real McCoy are having a ton of fun here—the vibe is loose and fun. It’s like you’re at a sleepover with your best friends and are up late having a dance party. Yeah, this is incredible—I’ll take my love now and I’ll be outta here.

4...It’s funny when two songs with the same title make the YE list, especially if the songs happen to be vastly different in quality. But what might be funnier is when they have very similar, but not quite matching, titles. It’s of course funny if they happen to differ massively in quality, but what if they both make one of my lists? I guess 1995 pop culture was just obsessed with running away...

4. Janet Jackson - Runaway (YE: #29, PEAK: #3)

You have no clue how tempted I was to put this back-to-back with “Run Away” on this list just to set up the most obvious joke in the book. But as much as I do love Real McCoy’s song, Janet Jackson definitely has the better “Runaway”. The R&B production sounds lush and joyous. And the New Jack Swing-tinged beat makes it sound happy without being cloying. As for what she’s joyous about, the song is about how Janet has traveled the world but the big thing missing everywhere she goes is her lover. It’s clearly more about the escapist fantasy of experiencing the world with her partner than the fact that she misses him, so the upbeat production fits like a glove. More than anything though, this just makes me smile. It was a real close race between Janet and Real McCoy, but Janet ran just a bit farther.

3...Roll back all the way to #10: “We got the first ever hip hop YE #1—and we’ll get back to that in due time[...]”. It’s time...

3. Coolio f/L.V. - Gangsta’s Paradise (YE: #1, PEAK: #1)

Song of the year! Even though rap had already started to gain more of a foothold in the mainstream back in 1992, “Gangsta’s Paradise” being the biggest song of 1995 feels like the moment the genre cemented itself as a truly revolutionary force. Sure, the hook is melodic enough to where it could easily be geared for pop crossover, but that big hook obscures how truly dark the lyrics are—it’s written from the perspective of a gangsta who’s lost all hope in life and is trapped in that “paradise”. The catchy hook feels like the front people see with the gangsta lifestyle—all the cool posturing that obscures the dark reality of it. And while I’ve never had, and hope I never will have, the experiences being detailed in the song, I can’t deny that this being the YE #1 feels like it means something. It signals that there is an audience for these difficult topics in our mainstream music and that it can be successful on the radio. This song proved that hip hop is more than just a novelty genre only enjoyed by a very niche audience. This might just be the best YE #1 of the 90s. Truly amazing song, so what two songs beat it?

2...Okay, roll back to #10 once again—“it’s not my favorite from 2Pac this year though—stay tuned.” Yeah, it’s finally time to get to this...

2. 2Pac - Dear Mama (YE: #51, PEAK: #9)

I really love songs about how grateful you are to your parents/mentors who guided you in life, and “Dear Mama” might just be the best one that I’ve ever heard. It’s a pure ode to 2Pac’s mom. Like in “Old School”, 2Pac’s pure gratitude really shines. I really appreciate how he makes it clear that things weren’t always the best between him and his mom, like when he admits that whenever there was drama, he and his little sister blamed the person who was there for them most. The storytelling is super vulnerable and raw—the references to poverty add power to 2Pac’s mom doing everything to raise her children as a single mother. If “Gangsta’s Paradise” proved that there was an audience for rap that got unflinchingly real, “Dear Mama” is...I’ll let the Genius song bio say it: “‘Dear Mama’ is the song that made it OK to admit: even if they kill people and sell drugs, deep down, thugs are all sensitive mama’s boys.” This song has some of the best lyrical depth I’ve ever seen, and it was so very close to being my favorite hit of the year. So what’s better?

1...So here’s a tad bit of backstory to my blog’s name that no one has ever known until this moment: Most of you know that my screenname from when I was on Pulse was “Fire” (the lore behind that screenname is a whole other story). When I was creating my blog’s name, I was still a bit insecure about my music taste, so I thought that making my blog’s name a reference to me having bad music taste would preempt any possible backlash I could receive—readers would know they’d see really hot takes by reading my blog. So that’s how I landed on “Fire’s Flaming Hot Takes”—the fact that the name was genuinely great was purely happenstance. I’ve grown more secure in my music taste since, but I bring all of this up to say that 5 years ago, when I started, I probably wouldn’t describe my music taste as “basic”. But my best hit of 1995 might just be the single most basic and obvious choice for this honor. But hey, sometimes the basic pick is the right one...

1. Mariah Carey - Fantasy (YE: #7, PEAK: #1)

“Fantasy” is a masterpiece in every regard, from the disco guitar rollick to the bouncy and happy beat riding the Tom Tom Club sample tremendously. It doesn’t feel overshadowed by that sample because it creates its own entirely unique atmosphere and tone. And coupled with Mariah’s exuberant and happy delivery, “Fantasy” takes all of my favorite parts of Mariah Carey’s artistry and puts it all into one song. Her best songs sound so happy, and this is one of the happiest songs I’ve ever heard. Mariah’s singing sounds effortless and joyous in a way that makes it sound like she’s singing, not because it’s her job, but because she just loves it. And her voice on this song might just be the most joyful, effortless, and impressive that it’s ever been. Every individual component of this song is perfectly crafted to age like fine wine. It’s impossible to be in a bad mood after hearing this—the joy is utterly infectious. I heard this on the radio a couple months ago and I was struck by how timeless it sounded. In other words, it might not be surprising, but it’s no less right; “Fantasy” by Mariah Carey—the best hit song of 1995!!

And that’s the final 90s list done!! Next month come my decade-end lists for the 90s, so if you have predictions for that or your own lists of the best hit songs of 1995, feel free to comment them down below!! I’m eager to read your thoughts! My next article should be my Chill Pick article for this month, so look out for that and until the next article, remember to keep it Fire!!