Hey there, I thought I’d make a list ranking the longest charting singles from what I believe to be the most lucrative time in music history here in Australia. This list is fairly straight forward, each entry appears A: by how long they charted for and B: how well they did during their chart run. The only other thing is that the charts became somewhat redundant starting in 2007 where ARIA allowed for digital downloads which effectively removed the shelf life of each single. This means I’ve decided to include the chart runs of songs on the digital and single charts from this period to give an idea of how long a song would’ve lasted on the charts without this change whilst allowing songs that didn’t chart on the physical chart to appear on here as well.
This is by far the oldest artist to appear on this list, although he wouldn’t live for very long after he finally made it big as he would die while on tour in 1999 due to a heart failure. This is an autobiographical song about how he overcame his speech impediment by scatting at local night clubs, although I think he only found success with this song due to it being a catchy EDM track.
1995 27 weeks
Well, here’s that other hit that Juice Newton managed to score in Australia this year, this time it’s a cover of a Dave Edmunds track from a few years prior which in addition to it being a bouncy number is likely why it found success here for the country singer. Although these two songs on this list were the full extent of her popularity in Australia, she found further success in her native America as the decade went on.
1981 27 weeks
This was the only success that Carl Carlton was able to have in his career, he’s a musician of colour who was perhaps a little late to the party when it came to 70’s soul as this only became a success here in Australia due to how inescapable the likes of MJ and Prince were throughout the year.
1983 27 weeks
It did feel weird that this failed to appear on one of my lists given how I remember this being everywhere back in the day, although I guess this was the introduction to one of the most successful emo bands of the 00’s (at least here in Australia) with a song that’s about taking the rich and famous down a peg or two. I guess in retrospect this song is hypocritical given what these guys would achieve in their career.
2002 27 weeks
This was the only hit that country legend Crystal Gayle was able to achieve in Australia, although it was more of a sleeper hit here so perhaps it was less a hit and more something that just stuck around long enough to qualify for this list.
1977 27 weeks
This was another band who scored a big hit this year that was completely misleading to what their usual sound was, in this case we have Roxus scoring their only hit with this ballad which seems like the opposite of their other songs from their one and only album Nightstreet which was more in line with what Rose tattoo or AC/DC was offering from the mid 80’s, they’re basically the Australian equivalent of Extreme in that regard.
1991 27 weeks
This was the second hit that Supercharge had here in Australia, and just like their biggest hit from the previous year, this was also a flop everywhere in the world except for Australia likely due to a possible performance these guys gave on Countdown back in the day. This would be their final hit as they would break up due to the lack of success they had in their homeland not long after this.
1978 27 weeks
Following the mediocre reception of Kick’s second single “Devil inside” (which we’ll look at in a bit) INXS were able to bounce back with the third single here thanks to how energetic it was proving they were still able to have a banger in their catalogue as they appealed to an international market. The fourth and final single from the album was “Never tear us apart,” a song that’s considered their signature track.
1988 27 weeks
Apparently when it came time to promote John Paul Young to an international audience, his label went with an album track from his second album rather than one of the big hits he had earlier in the decade here. This was that song they went with which became a hit for him two years after it appeared on the album, it led to the success of his earlier entry on this list worldwide, so I guess that’s something.
1978 27 weeks
This was originally a hit for the French trio Gibson brothers just as the decade was starting throughout Europe, I guess we Aussies weren’t interested in it at first due to it coming off as a bit too silly for us. We changed our minds a year later likely due to us wanting to support disco whenever we could given how to this day, Americans will claim that the disco backlash of 1979 forever killed the genre.
1980 27 weeks
This was the only other hit that Gloria Estefan had in Australia with Miami sound machine, I guess the novelty of their breakthrough hit from earlier in the decade ensured that we Aussies wouldn’t be able to take them seriously despite how popular they were in NZ and their native America. Her popularity would explode here in the 90’s after surviving a horrific crash in her tour bus.
1988 27 weeks
We looked at the song this track remixes on my 1985 list, so now let’s look at my and many others introduction to that classic which became a hit in the late 90’s from this British dance group Dario g. Here the group takes the chanting from the original track and pairs it with production that makes it feel like an exotic track from Africa rather than a sombre ballad from a new wave band.
1997 27 weeks
Boyzone were indeed one of the biggest boy bands of the decade, so why not have these guys take over from them once they called it quits this year? This was their debut single and the first of many UK chart toppers for them which of course led to them gaining a bad reputation in the UK due to how inescapable they were. Their popularity wasn’t as big here in Australia, although they did better than Take that for what it’s worth.
1999 27 weeks
This was the debut single of Snap, a German band who took the world by storm with this song that’s been used in many sports montages over the years thanks to the lyrics fitting well with workout routines. Naturally their earlier entry on this list was what confirmed these guys to be the hot new EDM act of the moment, however this remains their most popular song in their catalogue due to that chorus.
1990 27 weeks
You’d think that “Spend the night” would be the big hit that Cheetah had in their career considering how well loved that track remains to this day, alas this was their big hit here which admittedly is in the same ballpark as their signature tune so it’s not like they were unfairly ignored back in the day. I don’t know why these two women didn’t have another hit, but it led to them calling it quits in 1982.
1978 27 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2008 27 weeks
This will be the only appearance from John Butler Trio on the singles charts given how they were more of an albums band here in Australia during their run in the mainstream, although it’s possible that “Zebra” was a much bigger hit that had its sales eaten up by digital piracy from earlier in the decade considering how much airplay that received back in the day from the band.
2006 27 weeks
It seems fitting that All 4 one would score their two big hits in Australia with covers of obscure country ballads, indeed this comes courtesy of John Michael Montgomery who didn’t end up releasing his version as a single to allow this RNB cover to become a massive success for the boy band. This would be the last anyone would hear from these guys even though they never officially broke up.
1995 27 weeks
This was one of several songs that appeared on the NZ side of my site that was only a sleeper hit at best here in Australia, although it does feel odd that this didn’t do even better over here considering how this was released at the height of the medley craze that had taken over the music scene worldwide.
1981 27 weeks
This was the debut single for Vanessa Amorosi, it’s a more conventional teen pop song about how she realises what a nasty person she was in a relationship only after her ex has moved onto someone else. She was only young at the time, so I feel that she gets a pass for having this as her debut when the rest of her early catalogue is far more mature.
1999 27 weeks
Well, this was a surprise hit here in Australia, mainly because nowhere else in the world was this British/American band able to score a hit other than with “I’ve been thinking about you” from the start of the decade. There wouldn’t be any more surprise hits from these guys despite them never breaking up.
1995 27 weeks
This was the final hit that Akon had here in Australia, I almost forgot about this track when I brought up “Don’t matter” two years prior as even back in the day, this song didn’t create much buzz for the RNB singer and likely only became a hit due to it fitting in with the rising club boom that was happening this year. He also recruits Colby O’Donis fresh off his collaboration with Lady Gaga and someone named Kardinal Offishall.
2009 27 weeks
This took a while to be a success here in Australia, I’m not sure why other than it being a more upbeat track compared to their other hit “Send me an angel” from the previous year. It eventually reached the upper echelons of our charts and even did quite well in Europe considering the success of their other big hit, although this would sadly be the last anyone would hear from the Australian band.
1983 27 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2007 27 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2007 27 weeks
This was the only other hit that Kenny Loggins managed to achieve in Australia, although you’d think that “I’m alright” from Caddyshack would’ve been big here as well considering how iconic his movie themes were this decade. The Top gun soundtrack was an inverse of the Footloose soundtrack when it comes to his success, he had the big hit there but only the moderate hit here.
1986 27 weeks
This is the only entry from Scarecrow that managed to become a hit for John Cougar Mellencamp here in Australia, I guess had it been released as the lead single rather than the third single, it probably would’ve been more of a genuine hit here rather than a sleeper hit like it wound up being. Still, it and the rest of the singles on the album remain staples on oldies stations to this day and for good reason.
1986 27 weeks
While it’s true that “Stay” remains the song that everyone affiliates with Shakespear’s sister to this day, it’s worth noting that their debut single was also a decent success for them back in the day likely due to the star power that Siobhan Fahey had following her departure from Bananrama. As you can imagine, this was completely different from anything she has released with her former band hence its mixed reception upon its release.
1989 27 weeks
It’s a bit weird that this was only a sleeper hit here in Australia given how vividly I remember hearing this getting overplayed on the radio back in the day, admittedly it was a bigger hit here than Sonique’s international hit “It feels so good” (stay tuned for that in a bit) and is second only to her appearance on “Theme from S’express” from over a decade prior as the biggest hit of her career down under.
2000 27 weeks
This was the debut single for Brandy, an RNB singer who would have more success internationally than she did here due to RNB not being among the most popular genres of the decade here. That said, her popularity was decently big down under and even carried over into the 00’s likely due to her strong vocals which were impressive around this time considering she was only in her mid-teens.
1995 27 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2006 27 weeks
Although this was a huge hit in NZ and only a sleeper hit here in Australia, it’s worth pointing out that this second single from their album Permanent shade of blue was released much sooner here there it was over there which likely suggests that the RNB ballad would’ve likely fallen into obscurity over there were it not a radio hit over here.
1994 27 weeks
This was the other big hit that Korn had from their magnum opus Follow the leader, as I said earlier, it allowed the lead single from the album to rebound on our charts given how it was more of an immediate success here despite also failing to crack our top twenty. As it turns out, we have TRL to thank for why these guys were big, meaning they were somewhat of a predecessor to Limp bizkit in the nu metal scene in that regard.
1999 27 weeks
This is the final hit that Mika had in his career anywhere in the world, although you wouldn’t expect the queer man to make a fat positivity anthem especially since this was released a good six years prior to when “All about that bass” became the anthem for fat acceptance.
2007 27 weeks
As this was released much sooner here in Australia than it was in NZ (it was still released a year after it became a success throughout Europe) it only makes sense that we Aussies were a bit puzzled with what to do with this track as opposed to the kiwis who made it an instant success when it saw the light of day over there.
1984 27 weeks
Although “Africa” was the big hit off of Toto’s Grammy award winning album IV, this was its lead single which was enough of a success here in Australia back in the day for it to be a sleeper hit for the band. This is another song that is more well known these days compared to many of the songs that managed to be bigger hits upon its initial release on this list thanks to oldies stations keeping it on rotation.
1982 27 weeks
I guess Roxy music was able to achieve some success here in Australia after all as their final single they released before they went on hiatus for Bryan Ferry’s solo career managed to be a massive sleeper hit for them here in Australia, although I get the feeling this was merely a warm up to what Bryan had to offer over the next two years given how this feels more like a solo project from him.
1975 27 weeks
This was the only hit that T pain had here in Australia throughout the 00’s, it would’ve been his only hit were it not for the fact he scored a surprise hit in 2012 with “Turn all the lights on.” Both of these were sleeper hits for the rappers, suggesting we Aussies only paid attention to them due to their success in America.
2007 27 weeks
These guys were able to score a second hit from their debut album following how well they did on Triple J’s year end list for 2008 with both entries on this list, this makes it all the more puzzling that their second album would fail in 2012 even though indie music had become far more pretentious by that point.
2009 27 weeks
We looked at “Whodunit” on the NZ side of this site, time to look at the big hit that Tavares achieved internationally back in the day which the kiwis for some reason ignored even though they were clearly aware of what these guys had to offer. We Aussies also ignored these guys for the most part, however we had the excuse of this not fitting in with what Bay city rollers, Sherbet and Abba had to offer.
1976 27 weeks
I wasn’t expecting to feature so many sleeper hits from the EDM genre on this list, here we are with U.S.U.R.A’s one and only hit which we Aussies curiously passed up back in the day as this only makes the cut due to its refusal to die on our charts. Admittedly the Italian house scene didn’t have as much love from us Aussies as the rest of the EDM scene did for whatever reason.
1993 27 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2008 27 weeks
I have to imagine we Aussies weren’t impressed with the nightmare inducing Claymation like the rest of the world was, yes this was originally a hit for Jackie Wilson upon its 1957 initial release, however I doubt the children of those who made it a hit initially passed up on this because they dug up their parents copy of the track when it resurfaced in the mainstream.
1987 27 weeks
One of the biggest names in country music to never achieve much commercial success is Tanya Tucker, around this time, she was the Leann Rimes of her generation as she was looking to break into the country market in her native America with ballads such as this one that became a success for Australian singer Judy Stone who had a career of covering songs from international artists for Australian audiences.
1974 27 weeks
There was no shortage of underage performers who made it big in the 70’s, our latest entry comes from the Moir sisters who were a family trio of young women who scored their one and only hit with a song they wrote. I guess the fact they wrote this did put them on a higher league than the likes of the Osmonds and the teen idols from the second half of the decade, although they sadly remain a one hit wonder regardless.
1974 27 weeks
OK this is a song that I’ve always had negative feelings towards due to how misguided the execution was, I will say that there were good intentions behind this song but unfortunately the way the song guilt trips its audience into buying it to support its cause rubbed people the wrong way and continues to do so to this day.
1985 26 weeks
I know Britney isn’t exactly what you would call a seasoned performer, however I can’t help but admit this was a fantastic debut single for her thanks to how amazing it sounds even to this day. Her career has seen many ups and downs over the years, however it’s clear that she still commands a loyal fanbase even to this day.
1999 26 weeks
This was a happy ending for John Farnham who has spent most of his career as an adult musician in obscurity save for a few hit singles as the front man of the Little river band from earlier in the decade. This even managed to give him a second hit throughout most parts of the world almost two decades after his initial success “Sadie the cleaning lady.”
1986 26 weeks
If you ever wondered why the lyrics on this breakthrough single from Shakira were strange, that’s because it’s an English version of a song that was popular in the Spanish speaking parts of the world that was given a one for one translation of the lyrics. This didn’t prevent this song from being a massive hit for the Columbian star worldwide as it introduced her to a wider audience.
2002 26 weeks
I’m sorry but I always found this song to be rather annoying, in fact it’s part of the sub-genre from around this time I’ve dubbed as nursey pop. Basically, it’s a song so childish and precocious that it can easily be mistaken for a nursey rhyme, which I’m sure was what made this type of track a success back in the day. Surprisingly, this was so huge that it managed to crossover to Europe and even top the UK charts.
1980 26 weeks
Most people will likely be more familiar with Madonna’s rendition from the theatrical version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita; however, it was originally a hit for Julie Covington when the story was little more than a concept album where it became one of the biggest hits of the decade for her. She made the strange decision to not appear on the stage version of the album, being replaced with Elaine Paige instead.
1977 26 weeks
This was all set to become another flop for Enrique Iglesias given how it had such a slow climb to the top of the charts worldwide, however it received a sudden boost when it was chosen as the unofficial theme song to the 9/11 attacks as it would play over news coverage of the aftermath of the disaster. This allowed the album it serves as the lead single for to become a massive success for the Latin crooner.
2001 26 weeks
This was originally released as a single from Elvis Presley in the late 60’s to deafening silence, likely because it was during that period where he was more focused on his acting career rather than his singing career and the original version not being among the more memorable songs in his catalogue. This remix came to be due to the song being used in the film Ocean’s eleven which allowed it to become a surprise hit worldwide.
2002 26 weeks
Given how tragedy struck the band during the midpoint of the decade with the death of one of its members, there was a very real possibility that this signature track of theirs and the album it came from never would’ve come into fruition had the band decided to call it quits once they lost their key member. Fortunately, the band soldiered on which resulted in this party jam coming into fruition for them and becoming their big breakthrough in their homeland of America.
1989 26 weeks
Following the success of their breakthrough single “Set you free,” this British trance group decided to remix the Bee gees classic from Saturday night fever by recording several rap verses to replace the verses from the original which allowed this to become their biggest hit in several parts of the world. This wasn’t even the last time they achieved a hit with this feat as “Da ya think I’m sexy” was also a massive success for them.
1995 26 weeks
Following the mediocre success of her self-titled album outside of Australia (it was a huge hit down under due to heavy promotion on Countdown) Madonna decided to go bit with her second album by working with Nile Rogers of Chic fame on this track he originally wrote from the perspective of a guy. Needless to say, she made it her own and it became one of her several signature songs over the years.
1984 26 weeks
So Cocktail isn’t a good movie, granted I’m no Tom Cruise fan but I can tolerate him in films such as Rain man and A few good men provided the story is as good as those flicks. I guess the saving grace from the film is that it did revive the career of the Beach boys following a long dry spell from the mainstream (save for a medley of theirs from earlier in the decade.) Even then, there’s people who don’t think this song was worth their revived popularity.
1988 26 weeks
If there was one band who promoted the idea of diversity in the mainstream better than anyone else in the music industry, Culture club would be that band as everything about them (right down to their inception as a band) was built for the purpose of making the world a better place through acceptance of other people. It helps that the music throughout their discography was generally fun like their biggest hit.
1983 26 weeks
Well regardless of what you think of this song (it has a great bassline even if Vanilla stole it from Queen to use for his weak rapping) you can’t deny this songs achievement for becoming the first hip hop track to top the Billboard charts, thankfully both MC Hammer and Young MC topped the Australian charts before this did. It’s a bit of a tragedy to see how quickly Robert’s fall from grace was following this songs success.
1990 26 weeks
So, for whatever reason, someone decided to do a mashup of “You’re the one that I want,” “Greased lightning” and “Summer nights” from the Grease soundtrack where it managed to become a massive success at the start of the decade. The DJ gave full credit to both stars of the film, and as such it recharted later in the decade when the 20th anniversary of the film was released.
1991 26 weeks
Just a fair warning that you won’t be seeing “Thank you” from Dido on this list, this is because that song wasn’t released as a single here in Australia to avoid it stealing success from this haunting track from Eminem about an obsessed fan of his which has since become the term used for these types of people in fandoms. For what it’s worth, this song underperformed in NZ where Dido’s track was released as a single.
2001 26 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2008 26 weeks
Roxette are one of my favourite bands of all time, so to learn that they nearly never had a career outside of their native Sweden is a bit of a disappointment from me. Fortunately, with the help of a foreign exchange student, this third single from their sophomore album managed to find massive success in America which was then translated to the rest of the world for the duo.
1989 26 weeks
To think that this is the biggest hit in the Rolling stones career in Australia, granted this is mainly due to a lack of competition this song had upon its initial release here as many of their other tracks had to fight with the likes of the Beatles and other artists from the height of the British invasion but still. At least it’s a song that’s still well remembered by the general public to this day.
1981 26 weeks
As far as I can tell, this wasn’t the theme to a theatrical film, meaning that these guys were instantly trying to recreate the success they had with their breakthrough single “End of the road” from two years prior. I guess this paid off for them as the lead single to their second album II was a huge success worldwide for the RNB boy band, and indeed the replaced themselves at number one on Billboard with their next single.
1994 26 weeks
This had a bit of a slow rise to success here in Australia as it was originally released in the previous year to deafening silence for Merril Bainbridge, presumably due to no one wanting to hear a sex jam sex to a beat boxing err…. beat. They eventually changed their minds this year which led to it becoming a huge success for her, this in turn sparked international interest in her debut album which resulted in this song becoming a huge success over in America the following year.
1995 26 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2006 26 weeks
This was the final solo hit to come from George Harrison, although the success of this cover of the obscure track from James Ray did lead to him forming the supergroup the Travelling wilburys a year after its initial release. Apparently, he cut out a verse from the original which led to two things about this track, the first is that it changes the context of the lyrics and the second is that it makes this version more repetitive than the original. No wonder many people don’t like this track.
1987 26 weeks
Well this is the sell-out to end all sell-outs, we have a band who began their career as actual hippies now singing about how corporatized the world has become set to instrumentation that has since become synonymous with the mainstream pop rock of the 80’s. I get what they were going for here, and to be honest if you ignore the hypocrisy on display, this is still an awesome track from one of the older acts on this list.
1985 26 weeks
This is the first song that Shakira recorded in English given how her earlier entry on this list was originally recorded in Spanish before it was translated into English to sell to an English-speaking market. As such, the lyrics on here are more coherent as they weren’t translated from Spanish, I’m guessing this is how it managed to become her second consecutive chart topper in most parts of the world.
2002 26 weeks
This is a cover of an obscure track from Gloria Jones from the mid 60’s, although I don’t think anyone would know that nowadays given how this English duo made the track their own at the dawn of the MTV era. It turns out there’s two videos floating around out there to this classic, although I’m only familiar with the one that has the love sprites haunting the (possibly queer) man in the video as a metaphor for how sexually frustrated he is.
1981 26 weeks
This was the third entry from Delta’s debut album, this time it’s the title track from said album which is a reflection of how far she came from when she began her long journey as a musician which obviously connected with audiences who likely initially felt she was the Australian equivalent of the likes of Mariah Carey or P!nk. It was her third chart topper in a row, although like the rest of her catalogue, audiences have since come around for this track.
2003 26 weeks
This was by far the biggest hit to come from Foreigner which is a bit of a shame because these guys are best known for their more energetic rock tracks such as “Urgent,” “Cold as ice” and “Hot blooded.” Admittedly their second biggest hit “Waiting for a girl like you” was also a soft rock ballad, so perhaps audiences were simply more interested in these guys expressing their sentimental side more than anything.
1984 26 weeks
Although these guys had massive success in their native America throughout the second half of the decade, it does pain me to report that this was their only success here in Australia as even the Brits and kiwis gave them more success with their other singles than we Aussies did. At least this disco classic was a huge success for them, and hey lead singer Nile Rodgers did become an in-demand producer after this.
1978 26 weeks
This was the only noticeable hit for the English duo Lighthouse family outside their homeland, likely due to it sounding like something Simply red would’ve released earlier in the decade and that band’s popularity dwindling out by this point in time. Strangely this wasn’t among the biggest hits of the year in their native UK despite it easily being one of the biggest hits of the year in Australia.
1998 26 weeks
This was one of two big hits that Feargal Sharkey had in Australia, I bring this up here because this was written by Maria McKee (of “Show me heaven” fame) and that his other hit “You little thief” was written by her ex Benmont Tench which means this guy was singing the ups and downs of their relationship throughout his album. I’m guessing this is why said album was a commercial success for him.
1985 26 weeks
Want to know something interesting about these guys? It turns out that they ruined the early crossover appeal that Roxette had with their album from around this time due to this being a huge success in the UK at their fellow Swede’s expense. I guess it’s easy to see how they did it given how this has become a sporting anthem over the years thanks to those iconic synths, and hey these guys did score a second hit on Billboard with “Carrie.”
1987 26 weeks
I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I used to like this song from Limp Bizkit, admittedly I wasn’t aware of the original version from the Who until much later in life which should be a testament to how well written the song is when even Fred Durst manages to find some meaning in it thirty years after the original was released. I’m guessing that’s how this managed to be such a huge hit for the band back in the day.
2003 26 weeks
Well, who needs to come in first place on a reality show to find success in the mainstream of music anyway? Here we have Paulini who came in third place on the first season of Australian idol and was able to score a massive hit with her cover of a Jeff Healy ballad from the late 80’s which was far more successful here than the original was anywhere in the world combined.
2004 26 weeks
Well, we’ve certainly come a long way from when this type of RNB was shunned by the Australian public haven’t we? Here we have the one and only hit that Mario had outside of his native America as we have this tender ballad he made to the love of his life which touched the hearts of many a listener upon its initial release. Unfortunately for him, none of his other Billboard hits managed to connect with an international audience.
2005 26 weeks
OK we have to talk about a song where even as a kid I never got the appeal of, I know that people tend to mistake these guys for Aqua but at least Aqua played their own instruments and thus had artistic integrity. These guys on the other hand copied their formula superficially and made music that was meant to be part of a lore where it’s played exclusively on their bus which they’ve declared the fun nest place on earth.
1999 26 weeks
If you thought that artists fighting for aboriginal rights is a recent phenomenon, then allow me to introduce you to Goanna who were fighting the good fight four years prior to when Midnight oil gave the marginalised group their voice with Diesel and dust. Here they are with their one and only hit in Australia which admittedly led to them having a highly successful album before they sadly faded into obscurity.
1982 26 weeks
Behold the one and only hit that Pink Floyd were able to achieve during their time together (OK so “Learning to fly” also charted in Australia but still) there was little doubt this was going to become a huge hit for the band given how instantly relatable the lyrics have been to every generation of children since its initial release. Even the video is amazing as it brings these lyrics to life through stylised animation that was later used in the album’s theatrical adaptation.
1980 26 weeks
This was easily Janet Jackson’s biggest hit in Australia largely due to her hopping on the new age bandwagon with her album the Velvet rope (sort of at least) resulting in her connecting with a wide range of audiences at the time of the album’s release. It may surprise you to learn that this was a difficult process in making the album considering its themes of spirituality and self-empowerment.
1997 26 weeks
These guys had been active in the music industry for well over a decade before they finally got a massive hit in the form of this classic, there was no way this was going to fail anywhere in the world given how it tells an interesting story about how the narrator knew a girl before she became a glamour model, or a centrefold as he refers to her as.
1981 26 weeks
To think that this E.P was the only notable success these guys had on the Australian charts, although seeing as though it contains live renditions of two of their more iconic songs “Whip it” and “Girl you want,” I guess you can consider this entry to be for those two tracks even though this is why they were popular here.
1981 26 weeks
This guy had been active in the music industry for almost two decades before he finally saw massive success with this ballad, I’m guessing this was due to him singing the second verse in Spanish to help appeal to those who find the language to be the embodiment of sexy. I have to say that this is another vocalist whose voice I never really cared for, I just find it too pitchy on his biggest hits.
1975 26 weeks
This was the debut single for one of the more prominent bands this decade, I would say bands that emerged this decade except this came out just as the 70’s came to an end in their native UK. Nowadays this song is best known for its usage in TV commercials, specifically that for the breakfast cereal Special K due to how the word special is used throughout its runtime.
1980 26 weeks
So, the Party boys were a supergroup comprised of several big names in the Australian music scene who got their start earlier in the decade with a mixtape called Live at several 21st’s. Fast forward four years and they score a massive hit with this cover of the John Kongos track that led to them sparking interest in the UK which didn’t end up with much success there.
1987 26 weeks
This is the ballad that serves as the emotional core of the film Beaches, were it not a cover of an obscure track from Roger Whitaker (of “The last farewell” fame) I’m sure it easily would’ve won an academy award for best original song for Bette Midler. This has sadly come under fire over the years due to the admittedly cheesy lyrics which divorced from the context of the film, are admittedly a lot to stomach.
1989 26 weeks
It appears we Aussies had finally embraced RNB of all types into our mainstream as this track from the British girl group Honeyz wasn’t even the most successful track of theirs in their native UK. I’m guessing we gravitated towards these guys following the demise of Eternal around this time, although we quickly discarded them once TLC rolled out their third album.
1998 26 weeks
Following his departure from Bronski beat, Jimmy Sommerville formed this duo and seemingly picked up where he left off two years prior with his first bands album Age of consent. Here he also recruits female vocalist Sarah Jane Morris in order to semi duet with him, presumably to give him an excuse to show off his falsetto throughout the track which in turn further strengthened his queer audience.
1986 26 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2007 26 weeks
So, we’ve all seen Star Wars, right? Apparently Meco had seen it over forty times back in the day and loved it so much that he decided to make a disco rendition of the opening title sequence. Here he didn’t just remix the original track, instead he got an orchestra to rearrange the melody to fit in with the disco trends that were emerging this decade which resulted in it being a huge success for him.
1977 26 weeks
Although they found plenty of success with their albums up until this point in Australia, this was the first genuine hit that Simply red had here as none of their singles lit up our charts like this song did throughout the decade. Their success would continue to grow in the new decade as their next two albums would break records for them in their native UK.
1989 26 weeks
To think this was the only success En vogue had in Australia as a lead artist, thankfully they did have a massive hit earlier in the decade as the featured artist on Salt n Pepa’s “Whatta man” because they would’ve been one hit wonders with this theme to the film Set it off otherwise. I guess they owe their success here to the hip hop trio and the Hollywood flick now that I think about it.
1997 26 weeks
It looked like there were no signs of Britney Spears’s career slowing down as this second single from her debut album proved to be a huge hit for her, that is except for her native America as funnily enough, she didn’t have a huge hit on Billboard again until “Gimme more” almost a decade later. At least the rest of the world was here for her every step of the way, through both the good times and the bad.
1999 26 weeks
If you didn’t know, Rocky Burnette is the son of the late Johnny Burnette who had a string of hits in the early 60’s until his untimely death in 1964. Fast forward nearly thirty years and we have his son scoring a massive hit with the type of rockabilly that made him a household name during the height of his career, making this a huge success as well as a touching tribute to Rocky’s late father.
1980 26 weeks
Oh, Bloodhound gang, you were a bunch of very naughty boys indeed as you made this track which came complete with a music video that was clearly meant to shock and horrify audiences from back in the day. Of course, this was going to be a huge success for the band given how this was back in the day where people were rewarded with being provocative in the mainstream rather than shunned.
1999 26 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2005 26 weeks
