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.
Although Whitesnake had achieved moderate success in their native UK prior to this ballad, this was what made them an overnight sensation internationally due to it nearly topping the Billboard charts due to it being their first song they released in the hair metal genre. This led to their earlier entry becoming a massive chart topper in America for the band and putting them on the level of Bon Jovi and Def Leppard in America.
1987 20 weeks
This was the first of two hits that British singer/firefighter scored here with a cover of a 70’s track (yes, we have a firefighter scoring hits in Australia.) Here Newton resurrects the camp classic from Jigsaw (or British Jigsaw as we Aussies called them) for an even campier dance hit that became a huge success on our dance floors. He would score an even bigger hit the following year by covering Dan Hill.
1995 20 weeks
This was Joe Cocker’s last hit in Australia, although at least his career went out with a bang as he scored a minor sleeper hit with this cover of the Ray Charles classic from the early 60’s. Indeed, these covers of soul classics is what the English rocker is best known for throughout his career, although his biggest hit was with his Oscar winning ballad from earlier in the decade.
1987 20 weeks
This feels like something the band released as a single to bait the people who don’t like them into making angry rebuttals to them (I certainly have over the years, but I digress) given how this was back in the day that people went out and bought music, this means that enough people enjoyed this track to make it a success for the band here in Australia.
2005 20 weeks
Ric Ocasek was the lead singer of the Cars who at least internationally was one of the biggest bands of the decade, as such it makes sense that he would score a solo hit this year with the lead single to his second album even if this song flopped in NZ and his native America where his band was the most popular. This would be the last hit he would have both solo and with his band as his subsequent follow ups flopped.
1986 20 weeks
One of the better animated films of the decade was the Prince of Egypt, it’s an adaptation of the story of Moses from the bible which tells the story in a way that makes both Moses and Rameses sympathetic to the audience which made it become a critical and commercial success upon its initial release. The theme song came from two of the biggest divas of the decade which ended up winning an academy award for the film.
1998 20 weeks
This is the final hit that the Pussycat dolls were able to achieve anywhere in the world, it was always intended on being the fourth single from their second album but was pushed back from its planned release due to the surprise success of their earlier entry with A.R Rahman on this list.
2009 20 weeks
This was the second hit that Silverchair achieved from their sophomore album this year, it was a moderate success for the band as it was a more mature version of their original sound from their debut album.
1997 20 weeks
This was the only hit to come from jazz musician Lucas, a Danish musician who made a song which I think is meant to be a theme song to a show he was planning on making given what the lyrics are on here. I guess people wanted something to offset all of the EDM that was getting big this decade, and this appealed to them before the likes of RNB and hip hop in Australia.
1994 20 weeks
This was the debut single from Fox which they rereleased following the success of their earlier entry on this list, it became a big sleeper hit here in Australia given this was technically the follow up to that chart topper they had even though it had already been a massive success over in the UK over a year prior to its eventual success down under.
1976 20 weeks
Maureen Elkner was a cast member from the Australian production of Rocky horror show, although from what I can gather her only claim to fame these days is this novelty track where she “responds” to the narrator of the Newcastle song from Bob Hudson by providing her perspective of what happened in that track. In a way, this was the “FURB” to Bob’s “F**k it” made thirty years prior.
1975 20 weeks
You’d think that the album cycle to J-Lo’s second album would’ve been more successful for her given how she was one of the most successful celebrities at the turn of the new millennium, although I think in this case, it was due to a part where she goes “play my motherf**king song” which of course had to be censored in the radio and also led to rumours that she was little more than an entitled diva.
2001 20 weeks
This is a bit of an odd entry given how we have a classic two for one deal here, it’s also odd since both of these songs made the cut for this list but not “Love dimension” which was the second single from Kate Ceberano’s solo album from the end of the 80’s. I guess all three songs are about as big as each other were you to separate these two from each other in terms of popularity.
1989 20 weeks
I did mention this was a modest hit here in Australia back in the day when I featured it on the NZ side of my site, I should elaborate in that it was a big sleeper hit here even though both JoJo and Bow wow managed to achieve success prior to this song’s release here. Heck it was even released on time over here, further proving that tardiness is a good way of finding success in the southern hemisphere.
2004 20 weeks
This was the one song from Eminem’s Encore that received universal acclaim from even the most diehard of haters from the rapper, mainly because it was a song about how he feared that the youth of the day would eventually become conscripted into fighting for the American army given the questionable politics of the (then) American president George Bush. It also received praise for sampling “Toy soldiers” by Martika in a tactful manner.
2005 20 weeks
Well, everybody’s got to begin somewhere in the music industry, for Eminem it was this novelty track which serves as a literal introduction to his music given that the lyrics are about who he is as a person. This looked like it was going to trap him in the one hit wonder bin due to how much of a novelty it remains to this day, however his next album would become the first big seller hip hop album in the industry.
1999 20 weeks
This was yet another double release that became a hit in the late 90’s in Australia, although at least there’s nowhere in the world where either of these songs were released individually so it’s not like we Aussies bundled them together because we wanted to or anything. I guess “Who do you think you are” is the lead single from this release given how it’s a disco revival track whereas “Mama” is one of the more subdue tracks that often slips under their radar.
1997 20 weeks
This was the only hit that American singer Amerie was able to achieve not just in Australia but anywhere in the world, I guess she was unable to compete with the likes of Ashanti and Ciara in the realms of female RNB save for this one hit which showcases a provocative side of her that few could ignore. It’s a pity that she wasn’t bigger because I personally think she had the best voice of these three I mentioned.
2005 20 weeks
Well, this seemed to be tailor made to be made fun of by music nerds, after all there isn’t a year of the cat in the Chinese zodiac and yet British singer Al Stewart made an entire song about that concept that was a hit for him worldwide. It was even bit over in America to give you an idea of how many people bought into this.
1977 20 weeks
This was the lead single to John Mellencamp’s biggest album the Lonesome jubilee, it feels weird that this was the big hit off the album when “Cherry bomb” and especially “Check it out” receive a ton more airplay on oldies stations these days over this track. Then again this is one of his bigger hits overall despite him having a ton of other songs that didn’t see this level of success that receive love nowadays over this.
1987 20 weeks
This was the only version of the 30’s ballad that was able to become a hit over the years in most countries, although Americans had Robert John score a hit with his version from a decade prior. As this was the dawn of MTV, this version is more bombastic and, in your face, compared to other versions which is perhaps how it managed to become a huge success for Tight fit but also leaving them as a one hit wonder.
1982 20 weeks
I’m dumbstruck as to how this wasn’t a bigger success here in Australia back in the day, sure it charted for quite some time which is why it appears on this list, but surely this Billboard chart topper and staple on oldies stations deserved to at least crack our top ten right? In any case, this title track to Bruce Hornsby’s debut album was able to make waves thanks to its timeless piano riff amongst all the sophistopop of the moment.
1986 20 weeks
This was originally a hit for Duane Eddy back in the late 50’s, in fact this is more or less a remix of that version as the Art of noise simply took the original recording and turned it into a dance track by having Duane rerecord his instrumentation to better fit the beat they were going for. This led to them having a second hit later in the decade with a cover of Prince’s song from earlier on the list with Tom Jones.
1986 20 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2006 20 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2008 20 weeks
This was a hit for both British DJ Tim Deluxe and Irish singer Sam Obernik here in Australia but not in their native UK, I’m guessing it was due to their fellow Brits finding the production too irritating to realise this was actually a female empowerment anthem due to Sam standing up to the person who’s supposedly trying to chat her up. That’s honestly my assessment of the song and why I don’t enjoy it despite its good intentions.
2002 20 weeks
This is to date the final hit that Blink 182 has been able to achieve in their career, it came from what was originally meant to be their final album as the band would temporarily breakup after the album cycle was completed in order to pursue other projects away from each other. They would eventually reform by the end of the decade where they’ve since resumed releasing new material together.
2004 20 weeks
This was originally released as the B-side to Don McLean’s second single from his American pie album “Vincent,” however for some reason it was given its own life a decade later which allowed him to score a hit with the song again here in Australia this year. This allowed fans to rediscover his back catalogue as a greatest hits album from the start of the decade suddenly became popular when this was released.
1982 20 weeks
Shortly before they scored their final top ten hit with “Go west” here in Australia, the Pet shop boys were able to score a sleeper hit with this lead single to Very which suggested that the EDM duo was here to stay following the purge of 80’s bands and artists that took place around the time these songs were released. Alas these songs being a success here was more of a last hurrah for the band than anything else.
1993 20 weeks
I’m guessing we Aussies didn’t quite appreciate this cover of the Samantha Sang classic as much as the kiwis did given how it was among the trio’s least successful songs in their catalogue here, although there did seem to be enough nostalgia for the original for this to be a sleeper hit for them here regardless of what the fanboys of the original had to say back in the day.
2001 20 weeks
This was commissioned for the fifi world cup this year; it combines the works of Queen with the popularity of the Crazy frog which explains its success even if I know many Queen fans are screaming at this entry as they read it. If it’s any consolation for those people, this was the song which killed the Crazy frog phenomenon as it didn’t have any more hits after this.
2006 20 weeks
This was an interesting year for Whigfield as she was able to score a second hit here in Australia and nowhere else in the world, I’m guessing because the rest of the world had moved on from her brand of dance pop whilst we Aussies had only just discovered her despite her massive success she had in Europe earlier in the decade.
1997 20 weeks
This was the first big hit that Chynna Phillips was able to score here in Australia this year, again I get the feeling we Aussies were feeling nostalgic for her bands one and only hit from the start of the decade and decided to give her two more hits this year to compensate for us ignoring Wilson Phillip’s other American hits back in the day.
1996 20 weeks
Although it wasn’t a top ten hit here in Australia like it was internationally, it appears we Aussies still had enough room in our mainstream to allow this second hit that Enigma had in their career to become as such upon its initial release. I’m guessing you can blame the strong album sales for why this didn’t do as well here as it did in NZ and America.
1994 20 weeks
While this didn’t have any chance in topping our charts like it did on Billboard and nearly did in NZ, this was regardless a huge success for Boyz II men here in Australia likely due to how influential they had become by the time it was released here. In a way, it’s bizarre that this wasn’t as big here as some of the other songs that were influences by the quartet that have already appeared on this list.
1997 20 weeks
These guys were on a roll when they released their third single as Disco Montego as this managed to stick around for quite some time back in the day even if the absence of vocalist Katie Underwood is felt on here, unfortunately it appears that’s what it took for their audience to abandon them after the fact as they failed to score any further success once this fell off the charts.
2002 20 weeks
We have another sleeper hit for this list that I feel was as such due to it coming off as a guilty pleasure for us Aussies rather than out of genuine enjoyment for the song in question, although it appears the kiwis were more in love with this track unironically given its placement on that side of my site. With this entry, I’ve officially evened out Chingy’s representation on both sides of my site.
2004 20 weeks
Although it didn’t spawn multiple hits like her second album did, Tina’s third album did manage to spawn a huge single in the form of this gem which likely would’ve been even bigger here had it not been relegated to said album’s third single over “If I didn’t love you” which was a massive bomb for her here. It remains her final big hit here even though she’s had varying degrees of success with her albums since.
1998 20 weeks
I guess we Aussies weren’t as kind towards Shania Twain’s third international album as the kiwis were given how this was only a sleeper hit here despite being another entry on this list that debuted high on our charts. At least this was an eventual success here which is more than I can say for any of the other tracks from the album, I guess that explains her fifteen-year hiatus she took after making the album.
2002 20 weeks
Although it doesn’t say so on the album cover, this is in fact a duet between Donna Summer and the short-lived American trio Brooklyn dreams. In fact, this is technically their song as this doesn’t appear on any of Donna’s albums and was instead the lead single to their second album which was a massive flop for them even in their native America, I’m guessing because even back then people didn’t realise this was their song.
1979 20 weeks
This is another song that I would’ve thought had been bigger this year, it goes to show how fierce the competition was this year when some of the most noteworthy songs only barely made the cut for my list. In any case, we have the one and only hit from American band Animotion about the obsession the two vocalists have for each other, they play off each other really well which is why it remains a classic.
1985 20 weeks
Tom Robinson and company are best known for their queer anthem “Glad to be gay” which as far as I can tell, is the earliest song to become popular that’s meant to be a coming out anthem for those trapped in the closet. Naturally we Aussies passed that up in favour of this much more conventional track from the band which even then, struggled to find its audience with us Aussies due to the stiff competition of the moment.
1978 20 weeks
Well, I did mention this was a sleeper hit here in Australia, naturally it would make this list even though I’m still shocked that it didn’t make my 2004 list proper on this side of my site. I guess we didn’t have that much room for emo rock for it to compete with all the Australian idol contestants when it first came out otherwise it would’ve seen some level of mainstream success with us Aussies.
2004 20 weeks
This is another entry that could’ve make the cut for one of my lists had it not peaked during the Christmas period of 1984, although I was willing to write this off as a victim of high album sales given how it’s the fourth single from Cyndi’s debut album as well as it being the second ballad from said album. Even so, it remains one of her most iconic songs in her catalogue due to its critical acclaim.
1984 20 weeks
It appears our love for Alison Moyet was mostly confined to her solo debut album as well as her time with Yazoo as this lead single to her second album wasn’t that big of a success here in Australia for some reason. I guess this was due to the lack of sophistopop that made it big this year in our music scene as this was a much bigger deal over in NZ and her native UK around this time.
1987 20 weeks
It looked like Kasey Chamber’s third album would be a mere modest success when it was released the previous year, however it received a boost in popularity this year when this track from the album became a surprise hit during the early months of the year.
2005 20 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2009 20 weeks
It’s not that surprising to me that this was only a sleeper hit here in Australia given how the album this comes from was a massive success for Santana and company here back in the day, what’s really surprising is that this was the best the band could do for nearly three decades when it came to their singles given how inescapable “Smooth” would be over twenty years after this came out.
1977 20 weeks
Although Pocahontas nowadays has a bad reputation due to its historical inaccuracy when it comes to depicting the settlement of America, back then it was a critical and commercial success due to the admittedly gorgeous visuals as well as the soundtrack being well crafted including this theme song performed by both the titular character and Vanessa Williams which won it an academy award.
1995 20 weeks
This was the only hit that Danish duo Junior senior was able to achieve here in Australia given how incessantly catchy the song remains to this day, indeed it was due to its catchiness that it found itself in just about every commercial you can think of which only lengthened its presence on our charts long after its initial release here.
2003 20 weeks
Yet another song I’m dumbstruck wasn’t more of a mainstream success here in Australia given how vividly I remember this being flogged on our radio; I’ve avoided bringing up digital piracy with the new entries on this list as the fact they stuck around for quite some time suggests that they were victims of the format change here back in the day. Still, it’s hard to come up with another explanation as to why they underperformed.
2004 20 weeks
So, this was the song that Sinitta decided to introduce herself to the world with, this feels like something the Village people would’ve released at the start of the decade which perhaps explains why it was such a huge success in her native UK as well as doing reasonably well here in Australia upon its initial release. What makes this track hilarious is that she would be the long-time mistress of one Simon Fueller, which I guess is what this song is about.
1986 20 weeks
It looks like David Dundas was able to score a second hit here in Australia following the massive worldwide hit he had from earlier on this list, although this wasn’t attached to a commercial (at least that I’m aware of) so it wasn’t the inescapable hit that “Jeans on” proved to be for the English singer/songwriter.
1977 20 weeks
George Benson is best known for being a jazz artist in the music industry, so to see him score his one and only hit here in Australia with a disco track is a bit of a surprise especially given how it was released during the supposed dark ages of disco. He had better luck in NZ with his singles given how this wasn’t his only hit over there, although this seemed to come at the expense of how well his albums did.
1980 20 weeks
For those who didn’t know, Tamara Jabber was the main vocalist for the Popstars group Scandal’us, meaning that this was the song she released following the group’s demise from earlier in the decade. I guess she wanted to present herself as the more sexually charged version of Sophie Monk on this track, this did somewhat pay off as it was a bit hit for her but only for this one song.
2005 20 weeks
This is one of those songs that’s way more intelligent than you’d otherwise realise given how the lyrics are very political but are hidden in what many will describe as highly irritating production even for the mid 80’s (I’m sadly inclined to agree on this point.) This was the only hit for the American duo Sly fox, although it was a huge international hit for them as well as on the Billboard charts.
1986 20 weeks
Even though she only had the one massive hit here in Australia with “So yesterday,” Hilary Duff was nonetheless able to retain some level of popularity here even during the midpoint of the 00’s where many of her Disney colleagues failed to have any presence in the music scene. That said, her time was starting to come to an end even on our charts as her subsequent releases after this all bombed here.
2005 20 weeks
We have one final hit from Leo Sayer to feature on this site of mine, I get the feeling this would’ve been an easy top ten hit for him had it come out around the same time as his final top ten hit “Have you ever been in love” given how much on a roll he was on prior to when MTV forever changed the music landscape against his favour.
1983 20 weeks
Although this wasn’t a mainstream hit for Herb Alpert like it was in NZ and his native America, this lingered around long enough here in Australia to qualify for this bonus list of mine which means that the instrumentalist is finally able to have some representation on this side of my site. For what it’s worth, he was a massive deal back in the 60’s here just like he was everywhere else.
1979 20 weeks
It looks like we Aussies were only mildly amused by this novelty track from Corey Hart, although it’s worth noting that it stuck around for quite some time on our charts which made it eligible for this bonus list of mine. Many people (including me) are convinced this is a rip-off musically of the Eurythmics, that combined with the premise of the lyrics resulted in this song’s infamy.
1984 20 weeks
It turns out we Aussies were a bit moved by this Oscar winning duet to make it a sleeper hit back in the day, although we didn’t make it a mainstream success like the kiwis did likely due to us not knowing who Celine Dion was as well as forgetting who Peabo Bryson was from his 1983 hit “Tonight I celebrate my love.”
1992 20 weeks
I did mention this was a minor hit for All saints here in Australia on the NZ side of my site, indeed it was a hit over here albeit mainly in the lower half of our charts given how ewe Aussies were clearly ready to move on from the girl group by the time the new millennium rolled around.
2000 20 weeks
Not only did this guy manage to score a massive hit here in Australia with his earlier entry, but he also managed to escape our one hit wonder bin this year with this entry proving once and for all that teen pop was far from dead by the midpoint of the decade. Granted it certainly wasn’t omnipresent like it was when it began, however there was still plenty of love for this type of music regardless.
2005 20 weeks
It appears we Aussies gave these guys a second hit after all (technically third as their earlier entry was a two for one deal here) this time they had the full endorsement of Nelly who provided a guest rap for the RNB group at the height of his popularity which no doubt was what enticed us Aussies to make this a sleeper hit for the group.
2001 20 weeks
One of the shorter songs to become a hit over the years (that is until more recent times) this was the lead single to Ixnay on the hombre which really struggled to remain on our charts despite having a strong debut upon its initial release. Indeed, were it not for it lingering for quite some time on the lower half of our charts, it wouldn’t have qualified for this list of mine.
1997 20 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2006 20 weeks
This was more of a hit on our digital charts this year, as such it has the distinction of leading off this bonus part of my list as it likely would’ve flopped here in Australia had ARIA not incorporated the digital charts onto their main charts. As for the song itself, it’s more of Ne-yo’s RNB crooning that made him a household name throughout the decade.
2006 20 weeks
That’s right folks, the man who brought us “Black superman” managed to get himself out of the one hit wonder bin here in Australia as well as his native UK where this wound up being a bigger hit for him in his homeland. Admittedly this isn’t attached to a famous boxing world champion (at least that I’m aware of) so it doesn’t have the same level of infamy as his earlier entry on this list has.
1976 20 weeks
Given how the original version was one of the bigger hits of the 70’s here in Australia, it makes sense that this remix from Ben Liebrand would be a decent success here at the start of the 90’s even if it didn’t quite reach the dizzying heights of success it achieved over in NZ.
1990 20 weeks
This guy isn’t the bassist for Queen despite them sharing the same name, instead he was an Australia TV composer who scored his one and only hit for the TV show Rush which was a popular Australian crime show from the 70’s that was remade in the late 00’s. From what I can gather, it was the Magnum P.I of its time, making this another occasion that American media stole from Australian media throughout history.
1974 20 weeks
Well, I did mention that this was a huge hit for Sherbet earlier in the year when we looked at their other big hit they had this year, so let’s look at this title track to Sherbet’s third album which indeed confirmed them as a household name a year after “Cassandra” from their previous album put them on the map. They did have minor success during the first half of the decade; however, this was where they made it big.
1974 20 weeks
This was the only hit that Maria Muldaur managed to achieve in her career anywhere in the world, it’s a folk ballad detailing a steamy date she went on which was guaranteed to be a success for her due to the level of details she provided connecting with audiences of the moment.
1974 20 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2009 19 weeks
Although his earlier song outranked this when it comes to their respective chart runs, this second single from Hot shot was actually the biggest hit of Shaggy’s career in Australia likely due to it sampling both “Angel of the morning” (specifically Juice Newton’s cover from 1981) and “The joker” from Steve Miller. It’s also the second hit that he had with Rayvon who previously collaborated with him on his cover of “In the summertime.”
2001 19 weeks
If this song feels like it was ripped from the 70’s then there’s a logical explanation for why, this and the album it came from was clearly meant to be released following the success of Meat loaf’s first Bat out of hell album but wasn’t due to him falling out with Jim Steinman who was the driving force of both of these albums. The two men patched things up earlier in the decade which resulted in this sequel coming out.
1993 19 weeks
Although this song has a relatively low placement on this list, this is mainly because it was slightly delayed here in Australia and then released where it became Kylie’s biggest hit in her career despite having a relatively short chart run. This was a practice that had ruined the Billboard charts throughout the 90’s and would have similar damage to the ARIA charts throughout the 00’s.
2001 19 weeks
As far as non-Australians and kiwis are concerned, this was the debut single from Kylie Minogue as the updated version of “The locomotion” was released as the third single from her self-titled album released this year. As well respected as she is nowadays, critics and audiences from back in the day were rather harsh on her, going as far as to call her the singing budgie likely due to her chipper vocals here.
1988 19 weeks
You may think that this songs appearance on this list was due to how much we Aussies love it during the 1979 Eurovision, until you realise that this wasn’t the song they performed on there (that being “Dschinghis Khan” for the record.) No this was a number one hit in Australia due to it being chosen as the unofficial theme to the Moscow Olympics this year here in Australia during our coverage of the controversial sporting games, and the less said about them on this blog the better.
1980 19 weeks
Following the demise of No doubt, Gwen Stefani decided to embark on a solo career which began with this track which is about taking chances in life. I’m guessing this was chosen as her solo debut as a plea towards the fans of her band to give her solo direction a chance which they obviously headed as her solo album proved to be a huge success for her largely due to the success of this lead single.
2004 19 weeks
This was the theme song to the show of the same name, technically it’s existed since 1998 when the show premiered, however it was only released as a single in 2000 when the show became one of the most popular children’s programs of (then) recent memory. I’m guessing the show didn’t become as popular here in Australia until this year (I was too busy watching Cartoon network to notice) which explains its popularity this year down under.
2001 19 weeks
This is one of those ironic songs where the melody is upbeat and happy, but the lyrics are actually about a relationship being on its last legs as Andre 3000 sings about the woes of his love life. It was the lead single to the duo’s double album which actually comprises of two solo albums where the duo eased fans into the fact that they were thinking of splitting up which is what happened later in the decade.
2003 19 weeks
Although this can easily be seen as a typical breakup song (which is highly unusual coming from a boy band) this was actually a diss track towards the group’s former manager who had screwed them over with their royalties during the early phase of their career. Although they had a big hit here in Australia the previous year with “I want you back,” this was the song that finally put them in the league of the boy band wars here.
2000 19 weeks
This was the debut single for one of the more popular artists to emerge from Disney’s new Mickey mouse club which ran throughout the decade, and I think it’s safe to say that compared to her main rival Britney Spears, Christina had the more prominent vocal presence in her music even if she wouldn’t fully demonstrate it until her second album. In the meantime, we have a cute introduction to her discography.
1999 19 weeks
This was the only other hit that Atomic Kitten managed to achieve in Australia, I’m guessing because they interpolate the Blondie classic of the same name in the chorus while they provide their own verses which makes the song their own. Like many British groups of the late 90’s and early 00’s, they were much more popular in NZ likely due to the kiwis following the British charts as opposed to the American charts like we were.
2002 19 weeks
This was released mere months after the MTV music awards where Madonna kissed both Britney and Christina Aguilera on stage, meaning that moment was meant to hype up this lead single to Britney’s fourth album In the zone which it did as it became the biggest hit of the decade for her in most parts of the world. Admittedly Madonna doesn’t add much to the track as she’s mostly there to bring up the lesbian aspect of the track.
2003 19 weeks
Well it looks like this was an excellent year for European DJ’s (or in this case a group of German DJ’s) to dig up older songs and put their own spin on them for the clubs of the day, this time we have Scooter who dug up the Supertramp classic of the same name and scored a massive chart topper here in Australia with this formula much like DJ Otzi did earlier on this list.
2002 19 weeks
This was indeed a good year for Shaking Stevens as his second single proved to be equally as big as his first single despite this being an original track while his earlier entry was a cover of a 50’s rockabilly tune. I guess this is the formula to his release schedule, mixing up his original tracks with covers of songs in order to provide old and new experiences for his audience.
1981 19 weeks
This was the E.P that contained “Twisting by the pool,” a song people feel divided on as they’re unsure if it’s meant to be an homage or parody to the surf rock trends of the early 60’s. I personally don’t care either way as Dire straits looking back with nostalgia on an older genre is still awesome in my book and it appears audiences of the day agreed as this was a huge success for them.
1983 19 weeks
Although Midnight oil holds the distinction of having the first entry to debut at number one on the Australian charts, the honour for the first song to debut at number one goes to this third single from Kylie’s debut album which should tell you how much anticipation there was for said album here in Australia. The anticipation was met as it was one of the more popular albums from the late 80’s.
1988 19 weeks
This was one of only two hits that Kanye West had as a lead artist here in Australia, the other would be “Stronger” from two years later which had him sampling Daft Punk of all people for a self-empowerment anthem. Here he recruits Jamie Foxx who was fresh off his Oscar winning performance as Ray Charles to provide him a chorus to connect his verses about a woman who’s only into him for his wealth.
2005 19 weeks
This was a bit of a surprise hit for A flock of seagulls, mainly because it wasn’t that big in their native UK and only became a hit in America after it crossed over to Australia. I’m guessing we Aussies latched onto this track because of the video which even by the standards of new wave videos, is strange and bizarre to watch. It cemented the band as a one hit wonder despite them scoring a hit in the UK with “Wishing I had a photograph of you.”
1982 19 weeks
This is the final hit single that Billy Joel has been able to achieve in his career, although that might be due to him failing to release another album after the album this is named after despite said album being a huge success for him back in the day. I guess he wanted to end his non touring career on a high note as he’s been touring extensively since he released this.
1993 19 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2009 19 weeks
We’ve seen plenty of success stories to emerge from Neighbours in the music industry over the years, however after Kylie Minogue and possibly Delta Goodrem, Natalie Imbruglia wins the award for having the most international success from the cast given how inescapable this ballad was over in America. She accomplished this by going the Alanis Morissette route on her album by channelling her inner angst for a wider audience.
1997 19 weeks
One of the more critically divided films of the decade was Disney’s adaptation of the Three musketeers, mainly due to it watering down the novel it’s based on for a more mainstream audience while still being messed up enough to make you wonder why Disney made the film. Even its theme song divides audiences as though it was a huge success back in the day like the film, it features three rock legends who were admittedly past their prime inserting themselves as the titular musketeers on the track.
1994 19 weeks
There didn’t seem to be any signs of Usher’s popularity slowing down here in Australia or anywhere else in the world as he scored the biggest hit of his career (at this point at least) I guess it was because RNB was at the height of its popularity and that Usher had fully matured into an adult by the time he released this and his album 8701. Of course, his biggest hits were still to come much later in his career.
2001 19 weeks
Following the success she had with “Breathe again” from two years prior, Toni Braxton no longer had any issues with scoring a hit in Australia with her subsequent releases which means she was able to find massive success with this sex jam that continues to titillate audiences to this day. This feels like a bit of an outlier in her discography as she’s mostly known for her power ballads rather than her sexual nature.
1996 19 weeks
This was the first UK chart topper Mariah Carey had, I’m guessing because the Brits still had fond memories of the Harry Nilsson original who just so happened to pass away shortly before this song was released. In fact, there’s a theory that this was not meant to be released as a single given how it was bundled with “Never forget you” but was in order to cash in on his recent passing.
1994 19 weeks
This was the third big hit in a row for Aqua in Australia, although in some parts of the world “My oh my” was the third single meaning that we were among the first to have this be a huge success for them. I guess if there was a reason to dislike this song, it would be that it began the trend of comparing sex to candy given how the lyrics are sexually driven if you’re familiar with double entendres.
1998 19 weeks
This was the debut single from the KLF, that’s right, a band that would go on to make some of the most well respected EDM tracks of the 90’s began their career as a novelty duo who made this joke track about the Doctor who franchise. Maybe if you enjoy picking on nerds, you’ll get a chuckle out of this track.
1988 19 weeks
