Petty Owned the Nineties

I essentially stopped listening to popular music in the early 80s. Everybody I liked then had started earlier.

That makes Tom Petty the exception that proves the rule. He must have ruled the Nineties, as a relic from the Seventies. Just look at his singles from that Lost Decade of Music (giving him a warm-up year . .):

• 1989 "I Won't Back Down", "Runnin' Down a Dream", "Free Fallin'"
• 1990 "A Face in the Crowd", "Yer So Bad"
• 1991 "Learning to Fly", "Into the Great Wide Open"
• 1992 "Too Good to Be True", "Kings Highway", "All or Nothin'", "Peace in L.A."
• 1993 "Mary Jane's Last Dance"
• 1994 "Something in the Air", "American Girl", "You Don't Know How It Feels"
• 1995 "You Wreck Me", "It's Good to Be King", "A Higher Place"
• 1996 "Walls", "She's the One"
• 1999 "Free Girl Now", "Room at the Top", "Swingin'", "This One's for Me", "Accused of Love"

He added "The Last DJ" in 2002. 

I haven't even heard of many of these, but the ones in bold get regular play today, pretty much owning contemporary airwaves. Wonder how many acts even come close. 

I became a fan with Damn the Torpedoes (1979)