February 6 - Billy Idol is involved in a serious motorcycle accident, resulting in several broken bones. Idol had been scheduled to have a major role in Oliver Stone's film The Doors, but due to his injuries, the role was reduced down almost to a bit part.
February 14 - 50,000 fans watch The Rolling Stones play the first of 10 concerts at Tokyo's Korakuen Dome, the beginning of the Stones' first ever tour of Japan.
April 6 - Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee suffers a mild concussion after falling off of scaffolding above his elevated drum kit during a performance in New Haven, CT.
May 29 - Toronto police threaten to arrest Madonna if she performs her simulated masturbation scene during her performance of "Like a Virgin" on her Blond Ambition Tour. Madonna refuses to change her show, and the police decide not to press charges, later denying that they had ever threatened to press charges (a claim refuted by footage captured during the filming of Madonna's 1991 documentary Truth or Dare).
June 2 - Vision of Love, Mariah Carey's debut single, enters the Billboard Hot 100 chart and will eventually reach the #1 spot for four consecutive weeks in the summer. She releases a further five singles, all of which reach number one in the US, making her the only artist ever to have their first five singles reach number one. She (as of 2006) scored another eleven number one singles, bringing her total to seventeen. She would then go on to become the most successful female artist in the history of music.
June 30 - Step by Step, New Kids on the Block's first single from their new album reaches the top of the Billboard charts and will stay there for a total of 3 weeks. It would become the boy band pioneers' biggest selling single.
August 24 - A judge rules that heavy metal band Judas Priest is not responsible for the suicide and attempted suicide of two Nevada youths who shot themselves after listening to the band's music.
September - In the UK, two singles, "Groove is in the Heart" by Deee-Lite and "The Joker" by Steve Miller Band (featured in a current TV jeans commercial), are announced to have sold the same number of copies in one week and a tie-break is used to decide which should be number one. "The Joker" wins, as it had climbed the most from the previous week.
September 11 - After a decade of performing in the Francophone world, Céline Dion makes her formal English-language debut in the United States with the release of her album Unison.
October - Jamaaladeen Tacuma records Boss of the Bass, that will be a blockbuster in 1991.
Garth Brooks releases his second album, "No Fences" and wins various awards across the music industry, including "best new country artist."
Del Amitri's second album, and first for five years, Waking Hours effectively relaunches their career. It provides them with the UK hit Nothing Ever Happens and the minor US hit Kiss This Thing Goodbye.
After a hiatus of 7 years, rock group Styx (band) reform to record a new album and tour without long time guitarist Tommy Shaw who was committed to Damn Yankees at the time. With his blessing, A&M recording artist Glen Burtnik joins Styx and release "Edge of The Century". The first single was Burnik's "Love Is The Ritual" which barely entered the Billboard 100. The follow-up single -- a religiously inspired ballad entitled "Show Me The Way" with Dennis DeYoung on vocals -- became a minor hit but then suddenly skyrocketed to the #1 spot on the Billboard 100 after radio stations took the liberty and produced their own versions of the song featuring comments from Operation: Desert Storm soldiers during the solo break -- a move that reportedly didn't sit well with the band, who believed it unfairly politicized their music, the Christian religious faith, and the sacrifices of the troops.
UK 1 - Jan 1990, US BB 1 of 1990, Holland 1 - Jan 1990, Sweden 1 - Feb 1990, Austria 1 - Mar 1990, Switzerland 1 - Feb 1990, Norway 1 - Feb 1990, Poland 1 - Mar 1990, Germany 1 - Feb 1990, Eire 1 - Jan 1990, New Zealand 1 for 5 weeks Apr 1990, Australia 1 for 8 weeks May 1990, KROQ 1 of 1990, Australia 3 of 1990, US CashBox 4 of 1990, Italy 8 of 1990, Europe 8 of the 1990s, RYM 9 of 1990, Germany 19 of the 1990s, Poland 59 of all time, Belgium 90 of all time, Acclaimed 113, OzNet 138, Rolling Stone 162, WXPN 661
UK 1 - Apr 1990, US BB 1 of 1990, US CashBox 1 of 1990, Sweden 1 - Apr 1990, Norway 1 - Apr 1990, Poland 1 - Apr 1990, New Zealand 1 for 4 weeks May 1990, Australia 1 for 4 weeks Aug 1990, Holland 2 - Apr 1990, Switzerland 2 - Apr 1990, Italy 5 of 1990, Germany 6 - Apr 1990, France 7 - Apr 1990, Austria 7 - May 1990, POP 7 of 1990, US BB 8 of 1990, RYM 8 of 1990, Australia 10 of 1990, Global 33 (5 M sold) - 1990, Party 181 of 2007, Germany 230 of the 1990s, Acclaimed 521, OzNet 881
UK 1 - Nov 1990, US BB 1 of 1990, Holland 1 - Nov 1990, Eire 1 - Dec 1990, New Zealand 1 for 7 weeks Dec 1990, Australia 1 for 3 weeks Apr 1991, Sweden 2 - Nov 1990, Switzerland 2 - Nov 1990, Norway 2 - Dec 1990, Germany 2 - Jan 1991, Austria 3 - Nov 1990, US BB 4 of 1990, POP 4 of 1990, France 5 - Dec 1990, Australia 15 of 1991, US CashBox 21 of 1990, Party 42 of 2007, Italy 65 of 1991, Germany 82 of the 1990s, RYM 188 of 1990
Holland 1 - Jul 1990, Sweden 1 - Aug 1990, Australia 1 of 1990, New Zealand 1 for 6 weeks Jul 1990, Australia 1 for 5 weeks Oct 1990, Switzerland 2 - Jul 1990, UK 3 - Jun 1990, Germany 3 - Jul 1990, US BB 5 of 1990, Austria 5 - Aug 1990, POP 5 of 1990, France 6 - Jun 1990, Norway 6 - Aug 1990, US BB 8 of 1990, Scrobulate 18 of rap, US CashBox 39 of 1990, RYM 63 of 1990, Germany 147 of the 1990s, RIAA 201, Party 214 of 1999, Acclaimed 1797
UK 1 - Dec 1990, Holland 1 - Nov 1990, France 1 - Dec 1990, Austria 1 - Nov 1990, Switzerland 1 - Nov 1990, Norway 1 - Dec 1990, Germany 1 - Jan 1991, Eire 1 - Jan 1991, Sweden 2 - Dec 1990, Poland 2 - Dec 1990, US BB 5 of 1991, Italy 7 of 1991, Germany 21 of the 1990s, POP 43 of 1991, RYM 47 of 1990, OzNet 226
