# List of Radio & Records number-one adult alternative singles of the 1990s

Adult Alternative Songs, also known as Triple A, is a record chart that ranks the most-played songs on American adult album alternative radio stations. Formulated based on each song's weekly total plays, the chart was introduced in the September 22, 1995, issue of Radio & Records magazine, while Billboard's chart archives begin on January 20, 1996. Adult Alternative Songs, along with other Radio & Records airplay charts, was initially compiled using radio airplay data from Mediabase. In August 2006, Radio & Records was acquired by The Nielsen Company – then known as VNU Media – parent company of rival publication Billboard. Following the purchase, Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems replaced Mediabase in monitoring airplay for charts, beginning with the issue dated August 11, 2006. Billboard themselves introduced the chart in their July 5, 2008, issue, appropriating the same Nielsen data, and became its sole publisher after Radio & Records ceased publication in June 2009.
The Billboard website currently lists Adult Alternative Songs charts dating back to January 1996. These charts are based on data from a Triple A chart that had previously been published in the Billboard-owned Airplay Monitor magazine from that date until the acquisition of Radio & Records, and which had used Nielsen data that was largely similar to the Mediabase data used in the Radio & Records chart.

## Number-one singles

Key
    † – Radio & Records year-end number-one single
    ↑ – Return of a single to number one
| Single | Artist | Reached number one | Weeks at number one |
| "The World I Know" | Collective Soul | January 20, 1996 | 1 |
| "Waiting for Tonight" | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | January 27, 1996 | 1 |
| "The World I Know" ↑ | Collective Soul | February 3, 1996 | 3 |
| "Follow You Down" | Gin Blossoms | February 24, 1996 | 5 |
| "Everything Falls Apart" | Dog's Eye View | March 30, 1996 | 4 |
| "Old Man & Me (When I Get to Heaven)" | Hootie & the Blowfish | April 27, 1996 | 9 |
| "Too Much" | Dave Matthews Band | June 29, 1996 | 1 |
| "Who Will Save Your Soul" | Jewel | July 6, 1996 | 1 |
| "Change the World" | Eric Clapton | July 13, 1996 | 1 |
| "Lack of Water" | The Why Store | July 20, 1996 | 1 |
| "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" | Primitive Radio Gods | July 27, 1996 | 5 |
| "Walls" | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | August 31, 1996 | 2 |
| "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)" | John Mellencamp | September 14, 1996 | 6 |
| "If It Makes You Happy" | Sheryl Crow | October 26, 1996 | 1 |
| "Barely Breathing" | Duncan Sheik | November 2, 1996 | 1 |
| "Bittersweet Me" | R.E.M. | November 9, 1996 | 4 |
| "One Headlight" | The Wallflowers | December 7, 1996 | 8 |
| "A Long December" | Counting Crows | February 1, 1997 | 2 |
| "One Headlight" ↑† | The Wallflowers | February 15, 1997 | 6 |
| "Staring at the Sun" | U2 | March 29, 1997 | 7 |
| "The Freshmen" | The Verve Pipe | May 17, 1997 | 5 |
| "Four Leaf Clover" | Abra Moore | June 21, 1997 | 1 |
| "A Change Would Do You Good" | Sheryl Crow | June 28, 1997 | 6 |
| "Building a Mystery" | Sarah McLachlan | August 9, 1997 | 10 |
| "Most Precarious" | Blues Traveler | October 18, 1997 | 6 |
| "3 AM" | Matchbox 20 | November 29, 1997 | 13 |
| "The Mummers' Dance" | Loreena McKennitt | February 28, 1998 | 1 |
| "3 AM" ↑ | Matchbox 20 | March 7, 1998 | 1 |
| "My Father's Eyes" | Eric Clapton | March 14, 1998 | 7 |
| "Don't Drink the Water" | Dave Matthews Band | May 2, 1998 | 1 |
| "One Belief Away" | Bonnie Raitt | May 9, 1998 | 1 |
| "The Way" | Fastball | May 16, 1998 | 3 |
| "Kind & Generous" | Natalie Merchant | June 6, 1998 | 7 |
| "Stay (Wasting Time)" | Dave Matthews Band | July 25, 1998 | 7 |
| "Save Tonight" | Eagle-Eye Cherry | September 12, 1998 | 2 |
| "Please" | Chris Isaak | September 26, 1998 | 2 |
| "My Favorite Mistake" | Sheryl Crow | October 10, 1998 | 4 |
| "Lullaby" | Shawn Mullins | November 7, 1998 | 3 |
| "My Favorite Mistake" ↑ | Sheryl Crow | November 28, 1998 | 1 |
| "Daysleeper" | R.E.M. | December 5, 1998 | 2 |
| "Slide" | Goo Goo Dolls | December 19, 1998 | 6 |
| "You Get What You Give" | New Radicals | January 30, 1999 | 6 |
| "Slide" ↑ | Goo Goo Dolls | March 13, 1999 | 1 |
| "Every Morning" | Sugar Ray | March 20, 1999 | 1 |
| "Run" | Collective Soul | March 27, 1999 | 3 |
| "I'm Not Running Anymore" | John Mellencamp | April 17, 1999 | 1 |
| "Run" ↑ | Collective Soul | April 24, 1999 | 2 |
| "Anything but Down" | Sheryl Crow | May 8, 1999 | 5 |
| "Room at the Top" | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | June 12, 1999 | 4 |
| "Smooth"† | Santana feat. Rob Thomas | July 10, 1999 | 13 |
| "Angels Would Fall" | Melissa Etheridge | October 9, 1999 | 3 |
| "Hanginaround" | Counting Crows | October 30, 1999 | 8 |
| "The Great Beyond" | R.E.M. | December 25, 1999 | 8 |