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.
For the longest time, this was Lady Gaga’s biggest hit given how it remains her most iconic work to this day. Of course, her biggest hit is now “Shallow” from a decade later, but that was more due to it rebounding on the charts due to it winning an Oscar for the pop star. There’s an urban legend that the chorus actually goes “fu fu f**k her face” as opposed to “po po poker face” which perhaps is why this remains her most iconic work to this day.
2008 104 weeks
Although this came bundled with her earlier entry on this list here in Australia, ARIA was kind enough to count this as a separate entry on their charts which allows me to include both of these songs on this list. I get why this song was a hit for Beyonce even though I personally find it irritating to listen to, it’s about how being single isn’t a bad thing and that one shouldn’t feel pressured into settling down when they’re not ready.
2008 98 weeks
This is where it all began for Lady Gaga, given how she would explode in the music scene with how quirky and some would say bizarre her music and especially videos would get, this debut of hers seems rather tame and ordinary compared to what was to come. This took its sweet time in finding success in her native America as her earlier entry had already topped the charts worldwide before this made it on Billboard.
2008 87 weeks
For a little while, this second single from the Black-Eyed Peas was the biggest hit of all time not just in Australia but throughout the entire world, this is mainly due to its refusal to die on the charts which is an early sign of two things. First was of course the club boom which would explode going into the new decade, and the second was how the internet refused to allow songs to completely fall off the charts.
2009 81 weeks
This was technically a hit twice in Australia, the first time was upon its initial release which was inevitable as this was during the height of Katy Perry’s worldwide popularity. The second time was when the reality show MasterChef premiered early in 2009 which chose this as its theme song and thus kept it on the charts longer than it otherwise would’ve been.
2008 78 weeks
This is the first entry on this list was a hit mainly due to its refusal to die on our digital charts, even then it was technically a hit twice as it was a sleeper hit upon its initial release and rebounded when it and the album it came from won a bunch of ARIA awards.
2007 76 weeks
OK fair warning that I’m no fan of Taylor Swift, this will be hard for me to contain when I’m covering the 2010’s given how she dominated the music scene, however I will admit that my dislike towards her music comes from her later material and not on her earlier work which is largely inoffensive at this stage of her career. Here in particular we have her imagining herself as a Disney princess which no doubt helped her find an audience outside her native America.
2008 73 weeks
To date, this is P!nk’s biggest hit largely thanks to how bombastic it remains in her catalogue which many fans (me included) feel is where she’s at her best. It was the lead single to her breakup album Funhouse which she made while she was separated with her husband, although the two managed to patch things up during its production which I guess makes it the opposite to an album like Rumours from Fleetwood mac.
2008 72 weeks
It’s easy to forget that this was the theme song to Step up 2, a dance flick that I’m sure many have forgotten about since the series was never a critical darling and seemed to serve as little more than a platform for Channing Tatum to become a Hollywood star. It appears we Aussies were a bit slow in making this a phenomenon like it was worldwide given how it wasn’t even released until this year despite it already being a success the previous year internationally.
2008 72 weeks
This was the first big hit that Silverchair had since the turn of the millennium, sure their fourth album Diorama was a huge success for them earlier in the decade, however it failed to spawn any hits for them here in Australia or anywhere else in the world. Perhaps if digital downloads were legal when it was initially released, it would’ve had a big hit like this lead single to their fifth and final album.
2007 71 weeks
This is another song that was technically a hit twice here in Australia as this rebound on our charts when the album it was pulled from was finally released. I was a bit surprised it wasn’t an inescapable hit on our digital charts given how much airplay it received at the time like many other hits on our digital charts.
2006 71 weeks
This is one of quite a few double entries we’ll be looking at on this list, although in this case both singles bundled together could easily be separated into two entries given how they both appeared to be as equally as popular as each other here in Australia. This is particularly curious as punk rock was never that big here, let alone from local artists and yet these guys broke down those barriers.
1997 69 weeks
This was one of two big hits that TV rock had in their short time together, both of these songs share a similar formula of spoken word vocals which I’m guessing is meant to be sexy in a similar way to how “I’m too sexy” was in the 90’s. I guess it paid off as this was one of the biggest hits of the decade in Australia, and even managed to crossover to NZ shortly after its release.
2006 67 weeks
It seems odd that Jack Johnson never had a hit outside his native America (although he was plenty successful with his albums) considering this guy managed to score a massive hit worldwide with this track that feels ripped straight from the folk singer’s discography. Evidently this guy had incorporated hip hop in his earlier work which perhaps explains why his only international hit was as stripped back as this.
2008 67 weeks
This song may seem low on this list due to how successful it was on the Australian digital charts; however, I’ve ranked these songs based on how well they did with their physical sales given how the digital charts were in their infancy when they launched this year and thus, had songs overstay their welcome on those charts. In any case, we have this lead single from Eskimo Joe’s third album which finally broke them through to a mainstream audience.
2006 66 weeks
This eventually charted on our main charts when digital only singles were eligible to do so, however it stuck on the lower half of the main charts given how it only became eligible a year after its initial release.
2006 66 weeks
Even though this only peaked at number five on the Australian charts, the fact that this managed to linger on our charts for 64 weeks (mainly due to the B-side “Pink Cadillac” being promoted on radio) ensured that this would be the second-best charting single of the decade according to David Kent, I ranked it a bit lower as I tend to not take into account stats from the lower half of the charts.
1984 64 weeks
Oh, wow do I remember hearing this nonstop in every commercial at the time of its release, I’m guessing this is how it managed to become such a huge hit for the Potbelleez as the Australian indie band didn’t have much support from Triple J at the time which is odd because you’d think the station would promote their music. This was big enough to gain minor success over in NZ shortly after it stormed our charts.
2007 64 weeks
We haven’t looked at a Coldplay song on this site since “Yellow” on my 2001 list, this is because they didn’t have much success with their singles here in Australia during the first half of the decade likely due to them being the victims of digital piracy throughout the decade. Fortunately, that was a thing of the past by the time they released their fourth album this year which allowed this Billboard chart topper to be a success down under.
2008 64 weeks
Two entries in and we already have a new appearance on this list as this also managed to stick around for a staggering 64 weeks on our charts even if it failed to appear in our top twenty back in the day. I’m guessing this was due to it the song being a success twice given how it charted around the time the film first came out and then rebounded once it won an academy award months later.
1981 64 weeks
Although this wasn’t a mainstream success for the Dixie chicks anywhere in the world, it was well received by those against the Bush administration given how this was a response to the criticism the trio received for denouncing his war on Iraq three years prior to its release. It’s also proof that a lot of the early adopters of the digital age are left wing given how well it did on our digital charts.
2006 64 weeks
This was initially released to deafening silence here in Australia due to Triple J failing to make these guys the next new thing (it even failed to appear on their 2008-year end list.) Somehow it managed to become a surprise hit throughout Europe and even in the UK which allowed it to get a second chance here following the success of their debut album.
2009 64 weeks
Technically this was the big hit off of I am Sasha Fierce here in Australia as “Single ladies” and “If I were a boy” were bundled together which allowed them to both be bigger on our charts, I can see how this was the standout track down under given how it’s a song about Beyonce finding the inner beauty of the person she’s singing to which admittedly is a nice change of pace from her other material.
2008 63 weeks
This was a song that was a massive sleeper hit for the band in question, as such it appears much lower on this list than its success would suggest given how most of its success came from the lower half of the charts. Still, it was bound to be a hit for the indie duo Empire of the sun given how they were a favourite on Triple J as well as the song being featured in many commercials here back in the day.
2008 63 weeks
Although “Stupid girls” was indeed a big hit from P!nk’s fourth album I’m not dead (it’s still to come on this list) it was this second single from the album that made her a household name here in Australia above anywhere else in the world due to it being a massive success here upon its initial release. This and “U + ur hand” (also still to come) only became a hit in her homeland the following year for some reason.
2006 62 weeks
This is one of only two hits that the Kings of Leon had in the mainstream, in Australia at least this was because of heavy promotion of their album Only by the night on Triple J which became the stations album of the year in 2008. This was a massive flop in their native America for some reason, it’s even more curious it bombed on Billboard considering the second single from the album was a huge hit over there.
2008 61 weeks
Rihanna certainly had success prior to this lead single to her third album, however it was the theme of friendship in the lyrics that allowed audiences to make this an inescapable hit and that she was in it for the long haul which wasn’t a certainty prior to the song’s release. Apparently, people have misinterpreted the song to be about sex, I guess I can see that although I won’t burden my readers with that thought process.
2007 61 weeks
This took its sweet time in finding success here in Australia, this is because it wasn’t promoted on our digital stores until the start of this year despite coming from an album that was released in 2005 (much like the previous entry.) In any case, we have this second single from the Fray which is about the narrator coming to grips with him losing a friend to depression and how he could’ve prevented that from happening.
2007 61 weeks
This was one of the first songs to greatly benefit from being released when the digital charts were incorporated onto the main charts as Wolfmother otherwise wouldn’t have had any success with their singles despite having one of the biggest albums of the decade with their self-titled debut. I’ve heard these guys described as a throwback band to the 70’s, I guess that’s why they had so much love from older audiences at the time.
2006 61 weeks
While this wasn’t a mainstream success for Duffy here in Australia like it was in NZ and her native UK, this did last for quite some time on the lower half of our charts due to how big her album was during the last stretch of the decade.
2008 61 weeks
Well, the title of this song has become toxic to the music industry these days, hasn’t it? Prior to being the name of a social media site that’s forever going to be blamed for the decline in the music industry, it was the title of Kesha’s debut single (as a lead artist that is) which was another example of how big the club boom was even in its infancy given how it was a huge hit during the transition from the 00’s to the 2010’s.
2009 60 weeks
This is the other big sleeper hit that Sneaky sound system had from their debut album here in Australia, again it was more due to how long it lasted on our digital charts as it quickly fell off our physical charts due to it not being hip with more mainstream listeners of the day.
2006 60 weeks
As it turns out, there is a version of this track that’s just has Alicia Keys on it known as “Empire state of mind II” meaning that this likely would’ve been a hit for her even without Jay Z commissioning her to provide him a chorus to how much he’s proud of being from the east coast. This would be the rappers last hit outside his native America, although Alicia would have one more hit with “Girl on fire” in 2012.
2009 59 weeks
Although the name Augie March would have you think they were a solo project, they were actually a band who scored their one and only hit with their breakthrough single here in Australia. Admittedly this was more due to how long it lasted on our digital charts as it quickly sunk on our physical charts like most indie tittles of the day.
2006 59 weeks
Even though this will be the only appearance of Sneaky sound system on this site, I should point out that their other two hits from their debut album “Pictures” and “I love it” were also very popular back in the day and that this was the only song from the album to reach the upper echelons of the charts upon its release. I think it’s because it’s a song about how the narrator saw a UFO and found it hard to convince people of her sighting.
2007 58 weeks
This is the last big hit that RHCP had here in Australia, although internationally that honour would go to “Snow” from the same album as this served as the lead single for which either way should tell you that this was the last album that they would be superstars with before their popularity evaporated going into the 2010’s. This song would’ve done alright with its physical sales; however, its success largely came from digital sales.
2006 58 weeks
This was a two for one deal as Fuel were among the more popular international bands to emerge from Triple J’s recommendations as the decade was coming to an end. As such we have their two songs “Shimmer” and “Sunburn” which were both popular enough to have this double track be one of the longer running hit singles of its time.
1998 57 weeks
This was a song that showcases a more sexually provocative side of Justin Timberlake given how it has lyrics alluding to BDSM which I’m surprised were unedited for the radio back in the day. It was an easy hit for the former N sync member given this was back in the day where former child stars moved into adulthood in the most sexual (and some might say tacky) was possible.
2006 56 weeks
This was the world’s introduction to Kesha, I bring this up because by the end of the year, Kesha reportedly begged her label to remove her credit on this track which tells you how embarrassed she was to be on here in the first place. I guess she didn’t like how she helped Flo Rida interpolate the Dead or alive track from the 80’s that this song is named after, although audiences this year certainly did.
2009 56 weeks
This is the one and only hit from the RNB duo Gnarls Barkley, a duo best known for its member Cee Lo Green who had a huge solo hit with “F U” in 2010 and for appearing as the Mummy in the Hotel Transylvania franchise (and a bunch of social media posts I won’t get into here.) This feels like a throwback to the 70’s which how rich the soul sound is even compared to the songs that inspired it.
2006 55 weeks
It appears that Christina Aguilera had always wanted to make a throwback album to the forties and that her collaboration with Nelly on “Tilt ya head back” wasn’t a fluke in that regard, as such we have the lead single to her third album which was a good indicator of what was to come on that album as it indeed attempts to be a throwback to the music that audiences were listening to in the first half of the twentieth century.
2006 55 weeks
This was the lead single to BEP’s third album with Fergie, it’s a song that’s meant to get the party started given how it was one of the first songs to make it big during the club boom of the late 00’s and throughout the 2010’s. I guess it succeeded as this was a massive hit for the quartet, although it was heavily criticised for being little more than scraps of other songs thrown together by the band.
2009 54 weeks
This was the only hit that the Scissor sisters managed to have here in Australia, although considering they named themselves after a sexual act often used between two women, it’s impressive they had any success in the mainstream at all anywhere in the world. Then again, it seemed like it was impossible for this to fail given how it’s a throwback to the 70’s disco (particularly in the style of Leo Sayer) which was all the rage at the time.
2006 54 weeks
This was a hit twice here in Australia for Mumford and sons, the first time was upon its initial release due to us Aussies being intrigued by their fusion of folk and country complete with using a banjo as their main instrument. The second time was when it was crowned the best song of 2009 according to listeners of Triple J which is what allowed it to become a mainstream success here and eventually worldwide.
2009 54 weeks
This was the lead single to P!nk’s fourth album I’m not dead, an album that reassured her fans that she wasn’t out of ideas and that she had new life in her music which seemed to be the case as she’s still going strong even to this day (as of this writing.) Here she has a message to girls to not follow the trends of the moment and that it’s a good thing if they consider themselves as outcasts.
2006 54 weeks
Also known as “Sexy chick” which was the version that played on the radio, this is a collaboration between French DJ David Guetta and Akon which became a massive worldwide hit for the two likely due to it being one of those songs that’s so ridiculous that it’s impossible to take seriously. Now that’s not to say that I like this song because I certainly don’t, however I can see why people enjoy this albeit ironically.
2009 53 weeks
There were no signs of Lady Gaga slowing down exiting the 00’s given how this lead single to her E.P The fame monster managed to be a huge success for her worldwide, it was a sign that she would be the biggest pop star of the 2010’s much like her obvious influence Madonna was throughout the 80’s and 90’s.
2009 53 weeks
This was the first of two singles to be released from the deluxe edition of Chris Brown’s second album Exclusive, an album that already did quite well here in Australia (a rarity for an RNB album here) but received a boost in popularity with this edition. It was also one of the last hits he had before he would have his public persona drastically altered due to an incident involving his then girlfriend Rihanna.
2008 53 weeks
Although these guys had minor success with “It’s too late” two years prior, it was this song that made them a household name likely due to it greatly benefitting from being released around the time that the digital charts had finally begun to be tracked in Australia. The two songs are very similar to each other (at least in my opinion) so perhaps “It’s too late” was yet another victim of digital piracy back in the day.
2006 53 weeks
This was one of only two hits that Owl city had in most parts of the world, the other being with Carly Rae Jepsen who was also a one hit wonder on her own worldwide. Here we have a song about his mindset which was so fascinating to listeners that it not only became a massive hit for him, but also had him confirm that he was neuro divergent which should be obvious when reading the lyrics.
2009 52 weeks
Following the success he had with “Love generation,” Bob Sinclar released this track which heavily samples “Gonna make you sweat” from C+C Music factory which became a hit here in Australia. I will say that it was a slow rise to its success given how it lingered in and out of the top twenty at first before finally reaching the upper echelons of the charts several months after its initial release.
2006 52 weeks
This was the first of three hit singles that Dutch DJ Fedde le grand managed to achieve worldwide thanks to having a provocative music video to accompany it going viral on YouTube, imagine how much bigger this would’ve been if the mainstream included YouTube views onto their respective charts.
2006 52 weeks
Given how this ranked very high on the Triple J year end list for 2007, it was able to find massive success this year for the band Faker even if most of that success came from the lower half of the charts this year. There’s not much more I can say about this track as it was one of those songs that likely would’ve flopped during the first half of the decade due to it being illegally downloaded.
2007 52 weeks
This was a huge surprise for Pearl jam given that they hadn’t had a hit since their initial breakthrough from the other side of the decade, although many people feel this was the start of their sell-out period given that they had long abandoned their grunge roots in favour of an adult contemporary sound.
1999 51 weeks
This was Fergie’s biggest solo hit from her solo album, it’s a song that showcases her talents as a vocalist which is perhaps why it remains her biggest hit despite it being far from the first song you think of when going over her catalogue. I guess if she had of released this as the lead single from the Dutchess then it would’ve not only been even bigger (if that was at all possible) but also a signature track in her catalogue.
2007 51 weeks
Although it wasn’t their highest charting single in Australia (that honour goes to “Hook me up”) this was indeed the biggest hit that the Veronicas had here which allowed it to become a massive international hit for the duo worldwide by the end of the decade. They remain a one hit wonder in the northern hemisphere with this track, I’m guessing due to audiences not getting the gimmick of them singing in unison on their songs.
2007 51 weeks
This had a bit of a slow rise to its peak in popularity here in Australia, I’m guessing this was due to it being huge in the indie sphere which had exploded in popularity around this time due to most of the digital downloads coming from that sector of the music industry down under. Once it did find its way to the mainstream, this proved to be one of the biggest hits of the decade for the NZ band.
2006 51 weeks
I feel like Newton Faulkner was the world’s warm up to Ed Sheeran given how this was similar to what his ginger haired counterpart would release from his debut album going into the new decade, it explains why the likes of “The a team” and “Lego house” was a success worldwide given how this would fit right in with those songs were they all to appear on an album together.
2008 51 weeks
This was a song tailor made to be used as a ringtone, after all you don’t make a chorus that goes “stop calling I don’t wanna talk anymore” and not have that be the purpose of your song. I guess in order to make it come off as a real song, Lady Gaga recruited Beyonce to play off her in the song and especially the video which would be a shoe in for my weird videos list if I could find enough of them to make one for this decade.
2009 51 weeks
This was released the previous year to deafening silence here in Australia, I guess we Aussies felt that we didn’t need a folk song from a Scottish woman even though Sandi Thom dominated our charts with her entry from the top of this list. It was given a second chance when it was featured in the film the Devil wears Prada which is considered one of the best rom coms of the decade.
2006 51 weeks
This was both the lead single to Linkin Park’s third album Minutes to midnight as well as the theme song to the first Transformers film, it also serves as the turning point with their sound as they moved on from nu metal into alternative rock which would only last for the remainder of the decade before they changed their sound again in 2010. It seems weird that they would recycle this song for “New divide” later in the decade.
2007 51 weeks
This is our final new entry on this list as well as the final new entry for my blog until I come up with new ideas for it in the future, it’s the debut single from the Fray which was too much of a sleeper hit to qualify for my 2006 list and indeed only made the cut for this list due to lingering in the top twenty for the digital charts for quite some time due to the success of their top entry on this list.
2006 51 weeks
This is one of the first hits to make it big thanks to the power of the internet, specifically how Scottish singer Sandi Thom uploaded this track she recorded in her bedroom to her Myspace account (remember when that was a thing?) which attracted the attention of her eventual management. It was a huge success here in Australia likely due to it being a love letter to how much she loved both punk rock and hippy culture of the 70’s.
2006 50 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2005 50 weeks
Here we have another song from Taylor Swift that seems inoffensive enough, sure you can say the lyrics are problematic, however there’s been plenty of songs with this premise over the years and I’ve found that people have taken everything in media way too seriously as of late. It was a massive hit for her likely due to the video which depicts the situation she describes in the lyrics.
2009 50 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2009 50 weeks
The Use your illusion era of Guns n roses career was already a huge success by the time they unveiled the video to this song, which fun fact was released months prior to deafening silence likely due to it being one of the more long-winded songs on both albums. The video was such as success that it quickly became not just their biggest hit but also one of the biggest hits of the twentieth century.
1992 49 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2006 49 weeks
I’m guessing this was meant to be the Oscar winning ballad from the Hannah Montana film, it was a massive hit for Miley Cyrus after all and was used in the film as her way of stepping away from the Hannah Montana persona and being herself. Unfortunately, the film was very poorly received for its cliched story line and worse than usual acting from its cast, particularly Cyrus who clearly didn’t want to be in it.
2009 49 weeks
This is another song that arrived a little late to the party here in Australia, I’m guessing because T-Pain wasn’t a big deal here in Australia until this year where this and Flo Rida’s track from the start of the list made him an overnight sensation despite both tracks having him without autotune. As for this song in particular, this was the lead single to Chris Brown’s second album which also remains his most popular in his career.
2007 49 weeks
The ballad which won Stevie Wonder an Oscar at the academy awards, although many will tell you that this is easily one of his worst songs in his catalogue due to how sappy they find the lyrics to be. I can’t say I’ve seen the Woman in red despite it starring Gene Wilder and Kelly Lebrock of Weird science fame.
1984 48 weeks
It looked like Shakira would be a one album wonder as her second album in English failed to catch on in the English-speaking market, however this bonus track from the album released this year saved the album likely due to it being a song about Shakira’s Columbian heritage complete with production and vocals from Wyclef Jean. It was a huge hit back in the day and likely would’ve been even bigger if it were released now.
2006 48 weeks
Leona Lewis was the winner of the 2005 season of X factor UK, although her debut album failed to make any waves outside of the UK likely due to international audiences finding it too dull to have any merit to it (that’s how I feel about her entire discography I’m afraid, but I digress.) She won a massive international audience with the lead single to her second album, heck it even became a Billboard chart topper for her.
2007 48 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2006 48 weeks
This is a song that had a bit of minor controversy upon its initial release as it sampled “Wanna be starting something” from MJ, the problem is that song originally sampled “Soul Makossa” meaning that Rihanna had no legal right to sample the Thriller track for this song even though MJ gave her his blessing to do so. I’m guessing it was due to this legal dispute that this song was a massive hit for her here in Australia and indeed throughout the rest of the world.
2008 48 weeks
This was the first of three big hits that Mika was able to achieve from his debut album worldwide, not bad for an artist who was widely criticised at the time for being a childish caricature of a teen idol by those who didn’t realise that was the appeal of his music (not that I blame his naysayers if I’m being honest.) This was a song about how showbusiness tends to screw up celebrities no matter how well adored they are.
2007 48 weeks
An interesting fact about Nelly Furtado’s third album Loose was that the album cycle was different depending on where in the world you’re from, as such this was the lead single to her album in the UK as opposed to her earlier entry which was the lead single in most other parts of the world including here in Australia and NZ. I’m guessing the Brits wanted to hear a female perspective of the Hall and Oates track of the same name.
2006 48 weeks
It seems weird that these guys had struggled for mainstream success earlier in the decade given how often I still hear songs from their debut album to this day, I guess if we had of tracked the digital downloads of those songs then we could have a better representation of how well they did back then. Oh well, we at least have this lead single to the band’s second album to represent their music on this list.
2007 48 weeks
This was the first of only two hit singles that Timbaland achieved as a lead artist here in Australia, the other was with Katy Perry at the start of the new decade which seems to be the opposite of this track with Keri Hilson as that song is about a post breakup while this was about two people hooking up with each other. This was Keri’s only hit here, although she had much more success over in NZ and her native America.
2007 47 weeks
You may be surprised to learn that Kid rock is a one hit wonder outside of his native America with this track, I’m guessing it was only a hit for him internationally due to audiences feeling nostalgia for both “Sweet home Alabama” and “Werewolves of London” which this track samples both of throughout its runtime. Even though I and many others only know him for this one track (and also his personal antics due to constantly being on the news) he was much more popular on the Billboard charts.
2008 47 weeks
There were no signs of Akon slowing down even here in Australia where he was considerably less successful than the rest of the world, heck this lead single to his second album proved to be more successful here than in most parts of the world likely due to the presence of Eminem who reduced himself to the odd guest verse during his hiatus from recording a new album throughout the second half of the decade.
2006 47 weeks
This was the other big hit that Kings of Leon had from their album Only by the night, it was also their one and only hit in their native America albeit months after it was a success internationally for the alternative band. I’m not sure why they weren’t able to retain their popularity going into the new decade even in places like Australia where rock music still has its place in the mainstream.
2008 47 weeks
Now I know I should hate this song for sampling “Tainted love” from Soft Cell, however that song is so good with its instrumentation that I don’t mind that it was used so egregiously by JR Rottem even if it did lead to a career of sampling other oldies for (then) modern songs to diminishing returns. I think this works mostly for Rihanna who has a lot of presence on here to make the sample work in her favour.
2006 47 weeks
Well, this is certainly a surprise, mainly because this was the first single that Westlife released without the presence of Brian McFadden and yet it remains their biggest hit here in Australia. Considering that Brian would go on to have more success on his own than what the band ever achieved, I would’ve thought his absence would sink the group.
2005 47 weeks
This was a bit of a mini comeback for Lady gaga from her debut album as it was the first song of hers to have an accompanying music video which went on to overshadow the song itself, in this case it was due to her going over the top with the visuals as she went out of her way to depict the paparazzi as both glamourous and villainous as she could possibly get away with which connected with audiences.
2009 47 weeks
This is the only other entry that Kanye West will be making as a lead artist on the Australian side of my site, although he’ll certainly have more of a presence on the NZ side and he did admittedly rack up a bunch of hits here as a featured artist on other people’s songs. Here he scores his biggest hit down under likely due to the song sampling Daft punk’s “Harder better faster stronger” for his empowerment anthem.
2007 47 weeks
While it was more of a sleeper hit this year, fans of Brendan Urie will be relieved to know that the debut single from his band Panic! at the disco was a huge success here in Australia which no doubt led to the success of My chemical romance’s hit from earlier on this list. They would have a second minor hit with “But it’s better if you do” (which won’t be appearing on this site) and wouldn’t score another for at least a decade.
2006 47 weeks
Talk about an E.P which refused to die on our charts back in the day, this was released in 2004 to deafening silence for Wolfmother and only makes the cut for this list due to it sticking around during the band’s album cycle for their debut album which lasted for over two years.
2004 47 weeks
(This is from the physical charts)
2006 46 weeks
This was the only hit to come from Gabriella Cilmi, I’m guessing for a number of reasons given how much of an overnight sensation the Australian teenage singer was with this song worldwide. The first reason was that this is a song that seemed destined to come from a one hit wonder even though her album was a huge hit for her, the second was her being drunk at the 2008 ARIA awards despite being underage.
2008 46 weeks
While I can’t say that I’ve ever particularly cared for this remix of the 1983 hip hop classic from Run DMC by Jason Nevins, I will admit that it does bring me joy that everywhere in the world outside of their native America hopped on board with this track and finally allowed the men who broke down barriers between rock and hip hop a decade prior with “Walk this way” finally became megastars.
1997 46 weeks
It looked like that Fall out boy finally managed to take the international charts by storm this year given how this and their earlier entry were both massive hits for the band despite them failing to dent the charts outside of their native America with their earlier material from the decade. To this day, I have no idea why they decided to name this song with all of the vowels taken out of the title.
2007 46 weeks
This was the sequel to “My humps” that apparently everyone was asking for back in the day as it once again has Fergie brag about how hot she is and Will I am validating her ego with his own verse, I guess she at least has more of a presence on here which justifies this being a solo single from her.
2006 46 weeks
This was a passing of the torch moment as it not only was the first of many hits that David Guetta would have in his career, but also the final hit that Kelly Rowland would have as she wouldn’t touch the charts in the 2010’s both solo and as a featured artist. It seemed like the French DJ had a bit of a death touch on his first album when it came to the artists careers he featured, although thankfully it was only for this one album.
2009 46 weeks
This is the second song from JT to address his failed relationship with Britney Spears, although this one seems much more caustic than “Cry me a river” mainly because it came out during the height of her meltdown which (in my opinion) says a lot about the type of person he really is in retrospect. I guess if you divorce the context of what this song is about, it’s easy to see how this was a huge success from him back in the day.
2007 46 weeks
This was another alternative track to make it big in Australia during the final stretch of the decade, in this case it’s from NZ indie singer Ladyhawke (named after the Michelle Pfeiffer flick from 1985) who had a big of a steady climb to its popularity here despite it ranking very high on the 2008 yearend list for Triple J. Its popularity here resulted in it eventually becoming a hit in her homeland throughout the year.
2008 46 weeks
If you’re wondering why this song only appears on this list and not the previous list, that’s because it wasn’t released as a single here in Australia until this year despite it being a massive worldwide success for Hinder the previous year. This is another song that’s gone down in infamy as one of the worst songs of the decade due to how melodramatic the situation is in the lyrics, although I don’t agree with this sentiment.
2007 45 weeks
Following the massive success of Rob Thomas’s solo album from two years prior, he re-joined Matchbox 20 who released this song from their greatest hits album which proved to be their biggest hit here in Australia likely due to it being explicitly about how far they had come in their career since their initial breakthrough. Sure, you can argue that it’s about a relationship, however that’s my interpretation of the song.
2007 45 weeks
So, Nelly Furtado’s second album was a huge critical and commercial disaster from 2003, so much so that she felt the need to go in a completely new direction with her third album by enlisting the help of Timbaland to be its executive producer. The results were an album which had her shifting towards an early prototype of the club boom starting with this lead single which had the producer/rapper provide a guest verse for her.
2006 45 weeks
Although Sam Sparro is an Australian artist, he initially found success in the UK with this EDM track before it crossed over down under for him likely due to him being stationed over there during this phase of his career. It’s a song whose popularity came from its quirky music video, meaning that it hasn’t had much of a legacy as even back then, it was a rather tame video compared to its competition.
2008 45 weeks
