This is a summary of1993 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

15 songs reached the number 1 spot this year. Compared to 1992, there was an improvement to singles sales, with sales rising year on year for the first time since 1989. However, none of the singles released this year were million sellers, the first instance of this happening since 1990. The only song to sell over a million in 1993 was one from the previous year,Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You". It managed to sell sufficiently well enough to make its way onto the top 10 of both 1992 and 1993.

March saw The Bluebells reach number 1 with "Young at Heart", a song that had previously made number 8 in 1984. It was reissued after appearing in an advert forVolkswagen, and the band reformed to promote the song.

Take That got their first #1 in July, with "Pray". Debuting in 1991 with the #38 hit "Promises", they would go on to score another seven number 1s before splitting in 1996. "Pray" was followed byFreddie Mercury scoring a posthumous number 1 with a remixed version of "Living on My Own", the original version of which made number 50 in 1985, making it the first remix of a previously charted single to reach number 1.

The biggest selling single of the year came fromMeat Loaf, who hit #1 for seven weeks from October with "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)". It came from the albumBat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, also the biggest selling of the year.

Finally, as usual, December saw theChristmas number one single. Meat Loaf's successor at number 1 wasMr. Blobby, a popular character on theBBC One showNoel's House Party, with "Mr. Blobby" (the first ever eponymously titled number 1 single). In the final week before Christmas, he was knocked off by Take That's "Babe", making Mr. Blobby the first one-week #1 sinceU2's "The Fly" in November 1991, and making Take That the first act to have three singles in a row all enter at #1. However, the following week (Christmas week) saw Mr. Blobby climb back up to the top, the first time this had happened since January 1969, and officially become this year's Christmas number 1. Take That's "Babe" became the only chart topper of the year to spend only a week at the summit.

In the classical world, the British composerMichael Nyman enjoyed great success with his soundtrack for the filmThe Piano, which brought him anIvor Novello Award,Golden Globe,BAFTA andAmerican Film Institute award; the album sold over three million copies. Veteran Welsh composerDaniel Jones died. A less well-known composer,Peter Reynolds, won notoriety when his three-minute workSands of Time was performed inCardiff city centre; it is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's shortest opera.

• 11 February –Still Sorrowing for piano byThomas Adès is performed for the first time, in thePurcell Room by the composer.
• 19 February –Elton John is forced to end a concert inMelbourne,Australia a half hour early when a swarm of grasshoppers invades the stage.
• 27 March –Sands of Time, a short (four minutes long) opera by Welsh composerPeter Reynolds, libretto by Simon Rees, has its world premiere at an outdoor shopping centre in Cardiff, sung by soprano Rhian Owen and baritone Dominic Burns.
• 16 April –Paul McCartney headlines a concert at theHollywood Bowl, USA to celebrate "Earth Day". Other performers includedRingo Starr,Steve Miller andDon Henley.
• 21 April – FormerRolling Stones bassistBill Wyman marries designer Suzanne Accosta in France.^[1]
• 22 April –The Who's Tommy opens on Broadway.
• 7 May – The premiere ofHarrison Birtwistle'sFive Distances for Five Instruments, takes place in London at the Purcell Room, performed by theEnsemble intercontemporain.
• 31 May –Oasis force their way on to the bill atKing Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow.Alan McGee is in attendance, and then offers the band a recording contract on the spot.
• 5 June – premiere ofJonathan Harvey'sInquest of Love at theLondon Coliseum.
• 28 August –Bruce Dickinson plays his final show withIron Maiden after announcing his departure from the band earlier in the year. He would rejoin the band in 1999.
• 7 September –Berthold Goldschmidt‘s 12 minute orchestral workCiaconna Sinfonica is performed for the first time in the UK bySimon Rattle at theProms. The 90 year-old composer, resident in London since 1935, takes a bow at the end.
• 22 October –Oasis sign a recording contract withCreation Records
• Rick Astley retires from the music industry at age 27 after selling 40 million records in a five-year period.

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Notes:

The 1993BRIT Awards winners were:

• Best British producer:Peter Gabriel
• Best soundtrack:Wayne's World
• British album: Annie Lennox –Diva
• British breakthrough act:Tasmin Archer
• British female solo artist:Annie Lennox
• British group:Simply Red
• British male solo artist:Mick Hucknall
• British single:Take That – "Could It Be Magic"
• British video:Shakespear's Sister – "Stay"
• International breakthrough act:Nirvana
• International solo artist:Prince
• International group:R.E.M.
• Outstanding contribution:Rod Stewart

The 1993Mercury Music Prize was awarded toSuede –Suede.

• Stephen Caudel –Edel Rhapsody
• Nicholas Maw – Violin Concerto

• Michael Nyman –Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs

• 12 January –Zayn Malik (One Direction)
• 17 January –Frankie Cocozza, singer
• 13 February –Sophie Evans, Welsh singer and actress
• 8 April –TBJZL, YouTuber and rapper
• 19 June –KSI, YouTuber and rapper
• 5 July –Hollie Cavanagh, English-American singer
• 26 July –Stormzy, rapper
• 29 August –Liam Payne (One Direction)
• 13 September –Niall Horan (One Direction)
• date unknown –Dani Howard, composer

• 23 April –Daniel Jones, composer, 80
• 29 April –Mick Ronson, guitarist (The Spiders from Mars), 46 (cancer)
• 6 May –Ivy Benson, bandleader, 79
• 22 May –Melville Cook, organist, conductor and composer, 80
• 28 May –Duncan Browne, singer-songwriter, 46 (cancer)
• 19 June –Tony Brent, singer, 65 (heart attack)^[5]
• 21 June –Al Fairweather, jazz trumpeter, 66
• 7 August –Roy Budd, jazz pianist and film composer, 46 (brain haemorrhage)
• 11 August –Philip Martell, composer, 86
• 14 September –Peter Tranchell, composer, 71
• 30 September –Ronnie Aldrich, jazz musician, 77
• 11 October –Andy Stewart, singer, 59^[6]
• 9 November –Stanley Myers, film composer, 63 (cancer)^[7]
• 22 November –Anthony Burgess, composer and polymath best known as a novelist, 76
• 28 November –Tommie Connor, songwriter, 89
• 29 November –Alan Clare, jazz pianist and composer, 72
• 6 December –Bryson Graham, rock drummer, 41
• 12 December –Joan Cross, operatic soprano, 93
• 24 December –Ralph Downes, organist and music director, 89

• 1993 in British radio
• 1993 in British television
• 1993 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1993

• BBC Radio 1's Chart Show
• The Official Charts Company

• 1993 in British music
• 1993 in music
• 1993 in the United Kingdom
• British music by year
• 20th century in music

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards