See also:
Events
- January 1 – Debut album Sixteen Stone by Bush hits #4 on the Billboard 200 a post grunge success
- January 18 – Jerry Garcia wrecks his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California. Garcia is not injured in the accident.
- February 1 – Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers band member Richey James Edwards goes missing after leaving the London Embassy Hotel at 7AM.
- February 7- Shania Twain is ready for worldwide fame, today she releases her first Diamond album The Woman in Me.
- February 12 – Iron Butterfly bassist Philip Taylor Kramer disappears from Highway 101 as he tries to get back home from the Los Angeles International Airport. He tries calling his family and 911 for help, but receives none.
- February 14 – Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers band member Richey James Edwards' Vauxhall Cavalier is found in a service station on the Bristol side of the Severn Bridge, with evidence that he had been living in it. Although he was near a notorious suicide spot, there was no evidence to suggest he committed suicide.
- February 14 – Rapper Tupac Shakur is sentenced to one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in prison on a sexual abuse charge. He was later released on appeal.
- February 19 – Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee marries Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson on a beach in Cancún.
- February 25 – Lyle Lovett has an accident while riding his motorcycle in Mexico, breaking his collarbone. The accident prevented Lovett from attending the Grammy Awards. (He ended up winning two awards.)
- March 1 – R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry leaves the stage during a Switzerland concert after suffering a brain aneurysm. He undergoes a successful brain surgery two days later in Switzerland.
- March 8 – Ingo Schwichtenberg commits suicide by jumping under a subway train.
- March 14 – With the release of Me Against the World Tupac Shakur becomes the first male solo artist to have a #1 album on the Billboard 200 while in prison. The album remains at the top of the charts for four weeks.
- March 17 – Madonna holds a premiere for her new "Bedtime Story" video. The party is called the "world's biggest pajama party" because the 1500 guests wear pajamas and teddy bears.
- March 26 – Rapper Eazy E dies due to complications of AIDS
- March 28 – Lyle Lovett and actress Julia Roberts announce that they are separating after 21 months of marriage
- March 31 – Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla Perez is shot and killed by Yolanda Saldivar, her former personal assistant and former fan club president, who had recently been fired for embezzlement.
- March 31 – During a performance in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Jimmy Page narrowly escapes being stabbed by a man who rushed the stage with a knife. The man was tackled by security guards who were injured in the brawl.
- April 29 – Tupac Shakur marries Keisha Morris inside the Clinton Correctional Facility. Shakur is serving a four-and-a-half year jail term on sexual assault charges. They are later divorced.
- May 5 – Former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler is arraigned on a felony count of possession of heroin, in addition to two misdemeanor drug charges.
- May 2 – EJCF was held in Basel. Next time was in 1998.
- June 1 – Alan Wilder leaves the band Depeche Mode.
- June 13 – Alanis Morissette releases her massive breakthrough album Jagged Little Pill, which sells over 30 million copies worldwide.
- June 20 – Natalie Merchant releases her first solo album Tigerlily which sold over 5 million copies.
- July 18- Dreaming of You, sold 175,000 copies on the day it was released. It made number 1 on Billboard's pop chart on the CD's debut week, selling more than 331,000 copies, making Selena the fastest selling Latin female artist of all time and the only one to debut at #1. EMI Latin's president estimated that the album actually sold more than 700,000 copies the first week.
- August – The First Tibetan Freedom Concert is organized by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys in Los Angeles. The proceeds from the ticket event go to the Milarepa Foundation, which exposes human rights violations in Tibet by the Chinese government. Artists appearing included The Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters, The Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers and A Tribe Called Quest.
- August 9 – Jerry Garcia dies of a heart attack while in drug rehab at Serenity Knolls in Marin County, California. The remaining members of the Grateful Dead choose to disband it due to this event.
- August 28 – Oingo Boingo announces that the band will break up following a series of Halloween shows in L.A. Lead singer Danny Elfman goes on to a career scoring major motion pictures, including nearly every film directed by Tim Burton.
- August 28 – The official end of Sarah Records is marked with a "farewell party" featuring live sets by many of the label's acts. It is the last live appearance by The Orchids before they split up.
- September 2 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland, Ohio.
- October – The first International Guitar Festival is held in Buenos Aires.
- October 11th – Tupac Shakur is released from Clinton Correctional on $1.4 Million bail which is posted by Suge Knight. In return 2Pac signs a three album deal with Knight's Death Row Records.
- October 16 – Goa trance album Twisted released.
- October 21 – Shannon Hoon, lead singer of the band Blind Melon is found dead at 28 of a Heroin overdose.
- October 24 – The Smashing Pumpkins release their multi-platinum double album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
- November – Queen releases their final studio album, Made In Heaven, with vocals by Freddie Mercury.
- November 19 – Part One of The Beatles Anthology television mini-series airs on ABC. The first installment ends with the music video for "Free As A Bird", the first new Beatles recording since their break up in 1970.
- November 20 – Part Two of The Beatles Anthology television mini-series airs on ABC. (Volume One of The Beatles Anthology CD series is also released on this day.)
- November 21 – Part Three of The Beatles Anthology television mini-series airs on ABC.
- December 21 – Madonna is subpoenaed to testify at the Criminal Courts Building in Los Angeles, CA on January 3, 1996 against her stalker, Robert Hoskins. Hoskins was shot by a security guard outside her estate in Los Angeles, CA, in May 1995 for trespassing on her property and threatening to marry or kill her. Madonna was not at home during the incident. If she ignores the order, a $5 million warrant will be issued for her arrest.
- December – Bob Dylan toured with Patti Smith.
- Sam Phillips makes her motion picture debut in the Bruce Willis action film, Die Hard With a Vengeance. Phillips plays one of the main terrorists in the film.
- Garth Brooks will release his 6th studio album, "Fresh Horses", which will debut at #2 on the pop charts and remain at #1 on the country charts for several weeks.
- 3 members of R.E.M., Bill Berry, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, fall ill to various illnesses while on the "Monster Tour". Berry suffered an aneurysm which required immediate surgery, Stipe suffered a hiatal hernia and Mills underwent an appendectomy.
- Nada Surf recorded High/Low, which will be a blockbuster album in 1996
- Phil Collins recorded Dance Into the Light, which will be a blockbuster album in 1996
- Paul D'Amour leaves Tool.
- The Offspring re-issues The Offspring (the 1989 album)
- Ritmi i Rrugës form – the pioneering and most successful Albanian rap group.
- MP3 files start flourishing on the Internet
- A watershed year for death metal, across the whole spectrum: legendary melodic death metal albums Slaughter of the Soul, Storm of the Light's Bane, The Gallery, and The Jester Race released by At the Gates, Dissection, Dark Tranquillity, and In Flames, respectively; Death's Symbolic, Morbid Angel's Domination, and Vader's De Profundis; on the more brutal side of death metal, landmark albums Pierced From Within (Suffocation) and None So Vile (Cryptopsy) are released.
Bands formed
Bands disbanded
Bands reformed
Albums released
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Release Date Unknown
Biggest hit singles
The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the charts of 1995.
| # |
Artist |
Title |
Year |
Country |
Chart Entries |
| 1 |
Coolio |
Gangsta's Paradise |
1995 |
 |
UK 1 – October 1995, US BB 1 of 1995, Holland 1 – October 1995, Sweden 1 – October 1995, Austria 1 – November 1995, Switzerland 1 – November 1995, Norway 1 – October 1995, Italy 1 of 1996, Germany 1 – January 1996, Éire 1 – October 1995, New Zealand 1 for 9 weeks October 1995, Australia 1 for 13 weeks January 1996, France 3 – October 1995, Poland 3 – October 1995, Australia 6 of 1995, US BB 11 of 1995, US CashBox 12 of 1995, Germany 16 of the 1990s, Scrobulate 27 of rap, POP 31 of 1995, Global 33 (5 M sold) – 1995, Europe 48 of the 1990s, RYM 69 of 1995, Acclaimed 439 |
| 2 |
Shaggy |
Boombastic |
1995 |
 |
UK 1 – September 1995, Italy 1 of 1995, Éire 1 – September 1995, New Zealand 1 for 2 weeks September 1995, Australia 1 for 1 weeks May 1996, Norway 2 – September 1995, Germany 2 – September 1995, US BB 3 of 1995, Austria 3 – October 1995, Switzerland 3 – October 1995, Holland 4 – September 1995, Sweden 4 – September 1995, US BB 6 of 1995, POP 7 of 1995, France 8 – August 1995, Australia 8 of 1996, US CashBox 23 of 1995, Scrobulate 34 of dancehall, Germany 181 of the 1990s |
| 3 |
Take That |
Back for Good |
1995 |
 |
UK 1 – April 1995, Sweden 1 – April 1995, Norway 1 – April 1995, Germany 1 – April 1995, Éire 1 – March 1995, Australia 1 for 2 weeks August 1995, Holland 2 – April 1995, Switzerland 2 – April 1995, Austria 3 – May 1995, US BB 7 of 1995, Australia 9 of 1995, Poland 10 – January 1995, Italy 28 of 1995, RYM 53 of 1995, OzNet 126, Germany 128 of the 1990s |
| 4 |
Michael Jackson |
You Are Not Alone |
1995 |
|
UK 1 – September 1995, US BB 1 of 1995, Switzerland 1 – September 1995, Poland 1 – August 1995, Éire 1 – September 1995, New Zealand 1 for 3 weeks September 1995, Austria 2 – September 1995, Germany 3 – September 1995, Sweden 5 – August 1995, Holland 6 – August 1995, Norway 9 – September 1995, US CashBox 13 of 1995, Australia 25 of 1995, Italy 45 of 1995, Germany 262 of the 1990s |
| 5 |
U2 |
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me |
1995 |
 |
Norway 1 – June 1995, Poland 1 – January 1995, Éire 1 – June 1995, New Zealand 1 for 1 weeks July 1995, Australia 1 for 6 weeks October 1995, UK 2 – June 1995, Austria 4 – July 1995, Switzerland 5 – July 1995, Holland 9 – June 1995, Germany 9 – July 1995, Sweden 15 – August 1995, US BB 16 of 1995, Australia 16 of 1995, Italy 27 of 1995, POP 59 of 1995, RYM 72 of 1995 |
Top hits
See also: Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1995
Classical music
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