If you really, really want single-element arrayrefs, don't push the string, but push an array reference containing the string:

while(<FH>){
    chomp $_;
    push(@data,[$_]);
}
[download]

But really, reconsider using Text::CSV_XS instead, because soon you will want to split up that string on commas whitespace using split and then you'll find that Text::CSV_XS is much better. Also see perldsc on data structures maybe.

Upon reading chorobas reply, I see that I completely forgot about quoting the other parts on output. Oh well.