3 Alternative Rock Anthems From the 1990s That Shockingly Never Made It to No. 1

In the 1990s, between grunge and Britpop alone, it wasn’t uncommon to see alternative rock bands in the charts alongside major pop stars, occasionally displacing those pop stars from the top spot. And few songs better defined the 1990s than the following tracks, which makes it shocking to learn that they never went No. 1 on the official singles chart.

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“Bitter Sweet Symphony” by The Verve

Despite never topping the charts, The Verve’s defining song became something like England’s national anthem. Richard Ashcroft’s urban hymn reached No. 2 in the U.K. and stalled at No. 12 in the U.S. Adding to the track’s bittersweet success was the ongoing legal dispute, which resulted in Ashcroft forfeiting royalties to The Rolling Stones for sampling an orchestral version of their song, “The Last Time”. In 2022, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards finally returned the publishing rights to Ashcroft. Although he’s probably not thinking about the official charts each time he sings “Bitter Sweet Symphony” at Wembley.

“Wonderwall” by Oasis

You don’t have to be a Britpop fan to recognize “Wonderwall”. And if you’ve witnessed a stadium full of fans belting it out like a Premier League crowd, you might assume it must be one of Oasis’s eight No. 1 U.K. singles. But like “Bitter Sweet Symphony”, “Wonderwall” peaked at No. 2 in the homeland. What song kept Noel Gallagher’s tune from the top spot? Robson & Jerome’s double-A side, “I Believe/Up On The Roof”. It wasn’t the only chart battle Gallagher lost in 1995. Blur famously won the so-called Battle of Britpop when “Country House” outsold “Roll With It”.

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana

Though grunge was very popular in the 1990s, other genres existed and thrived as Seattle’s rock stars influenced designers to market thrift store chic to the kids. However, as culture-shifting as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was, it, too, never topped the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at No. 6 and became the only Nirvana song to enter the top 10. (It did reach No. 1 on the Alternative Airplay chart.) But charts, similar to today’s streaming stats, only tell part of the story of a song’s prominence. Just ask Bruce Springsteen, who, as of this writing, has never landed a No. 1 on the Hot 100 as an artist. (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band covered Springsteen’s “Blinded By The Light”, which went No. 1 in 1977.)

Photo by Ilpo Musto