25 Years Ago in the Nineties: The Righteous Brothers “Unchained Melody”

Buoyed by its appearance in the 1990 film Ghost, “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers, which originally hit the Top 5 in 1965, worked its way back into the Top 20 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in the fall of 1990. In fact, two different versions — both the original version and a newly recorded version — made the Top 20, and for one week both versions appeared in the Top 20 at the same time. Exactly 25 years ago, during the week ending this Tuesday, the original “Unchained Melody” stood at number 17, down from a peak position of number 13 two weeks earlier, while the new version climbed to its peak position of number 19, where it would spend one week.