1990 started off well as Kylie Minogue hit Number One with TEARS ON MY PILLOW the final track lifted from "ENJOY YOURSELF" and Lonnie Gordon had an International hit with HAPPENIN' ALL OVER AGAIN which reached #3 in the UK.  

Jason Donovan continued his winning streak this year, gaining Top Ten hits with HANG ON TO YOUR LOVE #8 and RHYTHM OF THE RAIN #9 and further hits with ANOTHER NIGHT #18 and I'M DOING FINE #22. All taken from his second album "BETWEEN THE LINES".

​

Sonia hit the Top 40 with COUNTING EVERY MINUTE #16 and END OF THE WORLD while Big Fun hit again with HANDFUL OF PROMISES #21. Both acts teamed up for a charity record in aid of Childline and YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND made #14 in June.

​

Another charity record, USE IT UP AND WEAR IT OUT by Pat & Mick reached #22 making money for the Help A London Child Charity.

​

April's Ivor Novello Awards saw Mike, Matt and Pete walking away with awards for BEST SELLING A SIDE for TOO MANY BROKEN HEARTS , MOST PERFORMED WORK for THIS TIME I KNOW IT'S FOR REAL and amazingly SONGWRITERS OF THE YEAR for the 3rd consecutive year, a unique achievement at the time.

​

However, things started to change for Stock Aitken Waterman in 1990 as their tight grip upon the charts began to loosen. If anything, the songs were getting stronger and more interesting, but faced with a wave of new music genres like rave, techno, indie and baggy, the new SAW material didn't have the same impact it had had for the previous three years.

​

After two years of having a 100% hit rate with all their releases, Stock Aitken Waterman saw records like Kakko's "WE SHOULD BE DANCING, Romi & Jazz's ONE LOVE, ONE WORLD and Errol Brown's SEND A PRAYER (TO HEAVEN) missing out on Top 75 places.

 

American soul diva Sybil's first track with SAW, MAKE IT EASY ON ME, won rave reviews, but just scraped into the Top 100, while new SAW girl band Delage peaked at #63 with their debut single, ROCK THE BOAT. Lonnie Gordon failed to follow up her smash hit  HAPPENIN' ALL OVER AGAIN, with her second single BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS only reaching #48 and her third release IF I HAVE TO STAND ALONE faring worse at #68. Despite having six SAW tracks her album of the same name was not given a release in the UK until 2009. 

​

Kylie was more popular than ever though! Releases like BETTER THE DEVIL YOU #2 and STEP   #4 gained her more credibility, both from her third album RHYTHM OF LOVE. This album also contained four tracks that Kylie had recorded with other producers, demonstrating that she wanted to move on from the sound that had established her.