I think I found that same site a few years ago along other articles, while doing research I saw that while there are some definite easy to tell
christmas toy of the year like Power Rangers in 1994, furbies in 1998 i think, tickle me elmo, etc, some years have no definite winner. I mean I was able to find sources of
every nintendo console was the christmas gift of the year, yes including the Wii U.
I'm guessing some of those articles are written without actual knowledge and don't do enough research so many years have incorrect or "not quite" right toys in that spot even if they were popular. For example that article you posted has incorrect pictures for the toys they're mentioning having a random 2000 power ranger show for the 1994 one and a mc donalds happy meal tamagotchi figure instead of a tamagotchi, so not very reliable. But yeah I wasn't able to find a great article about it that seemed 100% legit. sorry for the xmas eve rant.