This year might seem a little low on this list if you’re not from Australia, however we Aussies had an issue with diversifying our music tastes outside of sherbet, Abba and bay city rollers this year which does hold this back in my ranking. The rest of the world made up for this by having disco explode in popularity as well as having the introduction of rock operas, which would explode in popularity during the second half of the decade.
Well, there’s no surprise that Rod Stewart would be a huge success in NZ this decade, this is also his biggest album over there due to the kiwis falling in love with his ballads which are still successful on oldies stations to this day.
The kiwis were just as enamoured with this greatest hits package as we Aussies were, again this was due to the success of a bonus track from the album becoming one of the biggest hits of the decade over there.
I can’t say if the Eagles were among the biggest bands of the decade in NZ during the first half of the 70’s, however they did see even more success over there with their Australian breakthrough album One of these nights than they did here which makes this greatest hits album success over there make more sense.
This was more of an immediate success in NZ than it was in Australia, as such it managed to have a higher peak over there despite doing as well in both countries as each other for the iconic guitarist.
This proved to be an even bigger hit in NZ than it was in Australia, I’m guessing because their third album wasn’t quite as huge over there as it was over here which means the inevitable burnout from the Swedish foursome didn’t occur as quickly over there as it did over here.
From what I can gather, these guys did have success in NZ with their previous album due to “Killer queen” being a massive hit over there according to the Listener charts right before the RIANZ charts launched. Even so, this was a massive step up from their previous efforts which resulted in it remaining as their biggest album to date in their career (not counting their greatest hits packages that is.)
As far as the RIANZ charts are concerned, this was the first successful album that the Rolling Stones had in NZ. Admittedly it’s nigh impossible for me to determine if their earlier material was successful over there due to the Listener charts not having an albums chart like they did with a singles chart.
Given how there wasn’t a Countdown equivalent in NZ (to my knowledge at least) this allowed Neil Diamond to have even more success over there than he did over here which feels like a more accurate representation of how big he was throughout the second half of the 70’s worldwide.
Wings were certainly not yesterday’s news in NZ when they released this album, in fact since there wasn’t a local music scene that had to compete with over there, the singles on here managed to become hits where they weren’t here in Australia.
OK the album wasn’t quite as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia (to say nothing of how much bigger it was in Stevie Wonder’s native America) however at least it still managed to be a success for him back in the day over there hence why it is making another appearance on this site of mine.
Unlike in Australia where these guys at least had some success during the first half of the decade when they were a jazz rock band, I doubt that was the case in NZ as they didn’t have any successful singles and this album was the best they could do on the album chart which suggests they weren’t much of an album’s band either.
For whatever reason, this album didn’t so much as chart here in Australia despite it being one of the biggest albums of the decade in NZ, mainly through the lead single which incidentally was one of the biggest singles of the decade over there as well despite that also failing to chart for JJ Cale here in Australia.
This was also initially a flop for George Benson in NZ like it was here in Australia, although the kiwis were more open to making this a success than we Aussies were which is why it managed to appear much higher on this side of my site even if its road to success over there is identical to what it was over here.
I guess the kiwis really wanted to hear more from this guy’s back catalogue as he found success with an album that serves as a direct sequel to his greatest hits album he released from the previous year which was also a massive success for him over there.
Well, this is a surprise given how this was the band’s least successful album here in Australia, I guess the kiwis were a little ahead of the curve when it came to the rock opera scene as this was the band’s venture towards that genre which became a massive hit for them over there but not over here.
This was an album that I thought was released exclusively in America, however it turns out it makes for a good greatest hits album given how it contains all of the band’s biggest hits they had from their first few albums internationally. Indeed, the kiwis treated this as such which allowed for it to be a massive success for them over there.
It was a bit of a surprise that this was only barely a success here in Australia back in the day, fortunately the kiwis were way more impressed with the works of Supertramp during their heyday which is why this manages to not only have a much higher appearance on this side of my site, but also multiple appearances given how long it charted for over there compared to over here.
From what I could gather, these guys did have minor success during the first half of the decade on the Listener charts, so it’s possible they would’ve been popular enough for this greatest hits package named after one of their signature tunes would be a massive success over there.
This was more of a success in NZ than it was here in Australia for Led Zeppelin, again this was due to a lack of competition the band had over there as the kiwis didn’t have a strong local music scene like we Aussies did throughout the decade.
Well, this is a surprise, out of all the albums to become a success from the Bay city rollers, it had to be the one which didn’t spawn a charting single for them which I suppose explains the absence of “Give a little love” on their charts at the time.
I guess there was potential for Genesis to be a huge success with Peter Gabriel on lead vocals back in the day, that’s the best explanation I have for the first album with Phil Collins on the vocals to be a huge success in NZ as I’m sure the kiwis would’ve heard about them prior to the change in singers.
This was another live album to inevitably find success in NZ this year, after all this was tied to their highly successful album Wings at the speed of sound which proved that Paul McCartney and company were still on top of the world during the second half of the decade.
Steely Dan was popular from the start in NZ it seems, this was another successful album they had over there that was only barely a hit here in Australia likely due to our local music scene pushing this album out of the competition down under.
Well, you may have noticed a suspicious absence from Santana when going through this side of my site, that’s because the Californian band didn’t have much success in NZ over the years save for their 1999 comeback Supernatural and this effort from their original run in the mainstream. I don’t even know if they had any success prior to this album over there, meaning they were likely a one album wonder for many years.
It was a Beatles compilation, no matter how many of these that exist, they will always be a massive success upon their initial release worldwide proving how much audiences love their music years after their initial breakup.
This is where it all began for the Alan Parsons Project, I guess the kiwis were on top of this group from the start if this managed to be a modest success for them this year given how it was a huge flop for them here in Australia.
To my knowledge this was the final country album that Livie released throughout her career before her pop makeover she underwent from her involvement in Grease later in the decade. We Aussies were done with her country image; however, the kiwis weren’t as this and the title track was a major hit for her over there.
This also had a bit of a delay to its release over in NZ, mainly because the previous entry was also delayed a release over there due to how long it took for the band to take off in their music scene due to there not being a Countdown equivalent to help introduce the kiwis to their music.
This was less popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, or at least I assume it was given how it peaked during the summer period of 1976/1977 which is the longest time that the charts have ever been on hiatus since the Listener charts launched a decade prior over there.
This felt like a good place to recap Neil Diamond’s success so far in his career, I’m sure this would’ve been a success here in Australia as well had we not pushed aside his catalogue in favour of local acts promoted by Countdown.
This was a greatest hits package covering the works of all of the Osmond family, meaning this has the big hits from the band, Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond throughout the first half of the decade. It was a big success in NZ given how Donny and Marie were able to score hits over there as opposed to here in Australia, however those hits dried up after this became a success for the family.
Although these guys didn’t find any success with their albums following their reunion (at least not whilst Louisa Wisseling was the lead vocalist) here in Australia, they were able to score a massive hit in NZ with this entry likely suggesting the kiwis wanted to hear more form the Australian group even with the absence of Judith Durham.
This proved to be more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia for Elton John, I guess the news of him retiring by the end of the year must have compelled the kiwis to support him anyway they could back in the day which is as good an explanation as any for why this did so well over there.
I’m guessing the reason why Bob Dylan had so much more success in Australia than he did in NZ was due to the success of the lead single from this album he had over here, I’m sure if it had of been a hit over there, he too would’ve been able to be considered one of the most inescapable artists of the decade there.
To my knowledge, this is the only success that Status quo had in NZ over the years, although it’s possible one of their earlier albums found success over there as I don’t have access to their album stats prior to 1975. Assuming this was the only success they had; it means that the kiwis really didn’t like these guys as opposed to us Aussies who loved them at least throughout the 70’s.
