25 songs turning 30 in 2023

Yes, the iconic "Macarena!" The song has been remixed many times but was initially released in 1993. There probably isn't a single person who doesn't know the dance. Those lyrics, however, are way dirtier than I remember!

Powerline himself, Tevin Campbell, is such an underrated talent, and his first single, "Can We Talk," off of his second album, I'm Ready, is one of the best R&B songs of all time. And he was only 16 years old at the time!

Whitney's cover of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman" was absolutely incredible. The song was released as one of the singles from The Bodyguard soundtrack and has since had many different remixes. Things of note: Her version of the song includes a tribute to Chaka Khan at the end while featuring her in the music video.

"Linger" is one of the most beautiful songs to exist, and from The Cranberries' debut album (Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?), no less! This is the same album that gave us "Dreams." It's so good that it makes me hate that I think of the movie Click every time I hear it. If you know, you know.

"What's Up?" the second single of 4 Non Blondes' only album, Bigger, Better, Faster, More!,  has been a karaoke favorite for as long as I can remember. It is arguably the best song to scream along to, besides the obvious "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette. God knows how many more hits we would've gotten if they had stayed together just a little longer.

Lenny Kravitz was having a moment in 1993, and his third album of the same name is still considered one of his best. Thirty years later, "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" is still a banger.

The debut single of their debut album, Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid,  "Shine," is one of the best alternative rock songs of the 1990s. A song so good that Dolly Parton covered it!

"Everybody Hurts" was the fourth single off of R.E.M.'s eighth album, Automatic for the People, and although the album was released in 1992, the single was released in the spring of 1993, so it counts! AFTP, which also gave us "Man on the Moon" and "Nightswimming," is considered one of their best albums.

Much like R.E.M., SWV's debut album, It's About Time, was released in the fall of 1992, but their third single, "Weak," was released in April 1993. It ranked among Billboard's "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time." Their remixed version of their single "Right Here," based around Michael Jackson's "Human Nature," was also super popular around the same time.

If you're like me, you can't listen to this song without thinking of The Night at the Roxbury (1998) or the Saturday Night Live sketch with Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, and Jim Carrey. Regardless, "What Is Love" is an iconic '90s club jam known worldwide.

I have so many great memories of listening to this cassette tape (yes, on cassette) in the car with my family! "Whoomp! (There It Is)" may be considered a one-hit wonder, but it is definitely one of the best songs to come out of the 1990s and one of my personal favorites.

"Runaway Train" was released as their third single in the summer of 1993 from their sixth album, Grave Dancers Union, in 1992. Soul Asylum was huge in the early 1990s, and this song was reflective of that success. The band's music video especially stood out, featuring pictures of missing teens and children that helped locate 26 children.

The first single from Cypress Hill's second album, Black Sunday, "Insane in the Brain," is a hip-hop staple of the nineties. The song just never gets old, and it is still one of the best.

Back when Ice Cube wasn't yet an actor but an influential rapper of the 1990s, "Check Yo Self" was the last single (released in the summer of 1993) of his third album, The Predator. This album is considered to be one of the best of the nineties and is one of the 1001 albums you must hear before you die.

The first single from the band's last album, In Utero, "Heart-Shaped Box," remains one of my favorite Nirvana songs. The song also happens to have been the last song that they performed in concert before Kurt Cobain's passing in 1994.

Sheryl Crow's debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club, released in 1993, gave us "All I Wanna Do," the fourth single, in the summer of 1994. I don't know any other song on the album, but this song alone makes up for it.

I haven't met anyone who doesn't love this song! "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" was the first single off of Meat Loaf's sixth album, Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, rightfully earning him a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance. 

"Today" was Smashing Pumpkins' second single off of their second album, Siamese Dream. Despite its rather dark lyrics, I remember loving playing this song on either Guitar Hero or Rock Band; I can't remember which one. Never mind that I know about certain songs through playing video games, okay?

"Hero" is seen as one of Mariah Carey's most popular songs, earning a spot right here on this list. The second single on her third album, Music Box, just after "Dreamlover," holds a special place in our hearts and is up there in fans' rankings alongside her version of "All I Want For Christmas Is You."

The Jennifer Rush cover was Celine Dion's first single on her third English album, The Colour of My Love. If there is any doubt in your mind that you don't remember this song, you are wrong; please refer to the Ultimate Love Songs Collection to refresh your memory.

Snoop Dogg's debut album Dogġystyle, released in late 1993, gave us the incredible "Gin and Juice," the second single released not too long after in 1994. This song still slaps and is one of the best hip-hop songs of the nineties.

Another 1990s club jam with "The Rhythm of the Night!" I dare anyone not to dance to this song. It was the first single off of the Italian Eurodance group's debut album of the same name, and boy, was it successful. What a time to be at clubs when Eurodance music was all the rage!

"Mr. Jones," the first single off of Counting Crow's debut album, August and Everything After, put them on the map. It is easily one of the band's most popular songs to date, aside from their cover of "Big Yellow Taxi" and, of course, "Accidentally in Love" from the Shrek 2 (2004) soundtrack.

Sampled from Linda Lyndell's "What A Man" and released as the second single on Salt-N-Pepa's fourth album, Very Necessary (and En Vogue's EP released the same year), "Whatta Man" was unstoppable. Honorable mention: "Shoop," the first single from the same album.

"The Sign" was the second single from the band's American rerelease of their debut album of the same name. The Sign gave us all of the Europop goodness and is considered one of the best-selling albums ever. Honorable mention: the first single, "All That She Wants," from 1992.