Well, this wasn’t the most successful album of the decade in NZ, although it was still a massive success for the king of pop over there despite it also needing to find an audience with how audiences were put off with its lead single.
Unlike here in Australia where this album needed the success of the band’s iconic hit “Legs” to even chart, in NZ this was a modest success upon its initial release only for its popularity to explode a year later when their aforementioned track became a massive worldwide success for them.
This is another album that wasn’t quite as successful in NZ as it was in Australia, although it was still inescapable over there largely through the strength of the second single becoming his first big hit in the UK which in turn made it his biggest hit throughout most parts of the world including in the southern hemisphere.
This was an album that was a success multiple times throughout the decade in NZ, the first time was upon its initial release given how well received Phil Collin’s solo material was during the first half of the decade. It lingered around the lower half of the charts for the next two years (hence its lower placement on this list) before skyrocketing in popularity due to the success of “Home by the sea” over there around the time Invisible touch was taking over the charts worldwide.
This was a success twice in NZ, the first time was upon its initial release due to the Talking heads already having success over there in the late 70’s with their album More songs about buildings and the second time was when the big hit from the album on Billboard became as such over there several months after its initial release.
Well at least David Bowie was able to achieve more success with his biggest album over in NZ than he did here in Australia, again this was due to the singles from the album being even bigger hits over there than they were here which is a growing trend when comparing the success musicians had in both countries back in the day.
I guess the kiwis weren’t as interested in listening to the positive vibes of Culture club as they weren’t as inescapable over there as they were over here, that said their second album was a huge success given how it spawned four top ten hits over there.
Elton John’s popularity remained rather consistent in NZ over the years as opposed to Australia where there were many peaks and valleys, this album might not have had that inescapable hit over there like it did here but that didn’t prevent the album from being a massive success even with a slightly different release schedule.
This was more of an immediate success over in NZ given how the singles proved to be much bigger over there than they were here, as such it managed to be even more successful overall which no doubt set Paul Young up for success he didn’t end up achieving with his subsequent material over there.
Although this was heavily delayed in NZ, this solo debut from Billy Idol was a massive success over there due to the singles becoming mega hits for him despite the lack of success he had in his native UK at the time. I guess the two big hits he had over there have remained iconic to this day here in Australia, however they didn’t exactly light up our charts back in the day which is why the album failed here.
Well, this proved to be even more of a success in NZ than it was in Australia, likely due to the singles being bigger hits over there but also due to the British invasion having more of an impact on their charts than it did on the Australian charts this decade.
This was the biggest album that the Police had over in NZ, admittedly these guys weren’t as popular over there as they were here in Australia despite A: them having little issues with crossing over initially in the late 70’s over there and B: them having reggae influences in their sound and that they kiwis love their reggae in music.
Much like in Australia and their native UK, this was the album that finally caught the attention of the kiwis in NZ which resulted in it being a massive success for them around this time despite lacking that inescapable hit that their subsequent albums would spawn throughout their career.
This was the debut album for a band known as Dance exponents, although they would become known as the Exponents in the 90’s when the NZ pub rock band rebranded themselves for the new decade. This was a massive success for them due to how much hype went into its release, although as it failed to spawn a huge hit for them over there, it failed to crossover to Australia despite easily fitting into our music scene.
This was more of a success for Led zeppelin frontman Robert Plant in NZ than it was here in Australia, likely due to this album spawning a huge hit over there with its lead single which is a good way of an album finding success in the southern hemisphere back in the day.
Although this was a massive success for Lionel Richie in NZ, it was mostly a sleeper success which is why it’s a bit lower on here than you would otherwise expect. Yes, it was massively popular, however it was more due to the two big hits that came from there as the album would linger in the lower half of the charts throughout the rest of its run on the album charts over there.
This was a surprisingly good time for Grace Jones on the NZ charts, mainly because she had been active since the 70’s in the music scene and yet it was her 80’s material that the kiwis gravitated towards. This was more of an immediate success that she had over there compared to her previous album which had to work its way up the charts before it became a massive success for her.
This was a huge success over in NZ as it was here in Australia, again the second single was even bigger over there due to the kiwis not allowing album sales to detract from the success of singles over there like we Aussies did back in the day. Much like in Australia, each of their albums would progressively be more successful than the last due to their popularity growing with each album.
It appears that Bob Dylan had a resurgence in popularity throughout the 80’s in NZ, this is interesting because his popularity was close to non-existent anywhere else in the world due to people not caring for him adapting the trends of the decade in his music.
At least Kenny Rogers was able to score one successful album in NZ back in the day, although I would’ve been surprised if this was a flop over there given how its lead single was one of the most successful hits of the 80’s worldwide. His popularity all but died out after this year even in his native America.
This was a slightly more contemporary sounding album compared to their previous effort, which is perhaps why it managed to be slightly bigger worldwide than their debut album given how more pop friendly it is. This would also describe their next two albums respectively which is why each of them proved to be more successful than their earlier catalogue.
This was more of a success in NZ than it was in Australia, likely due to the album rebounding when their biggest hit was released as a single which is something that didn’t happen for the band down under. Indeed, they would struggle to find success after this album aside from a few singles here and there, although they had better luck internationally.
This was more of an immediate success for Lionel Richie in NZ, this is despite the fact that the lead single didn’t do so well over there and that it was the success of the second single which got the album off the ground at the time. Whatever the case, it proved that audiences were interested in what he had to offer, although they certainly appreciated him going in a more interesting direction on his next album.
Well, they didn’t have that much success in NZ during their heyday, but at least Air supply was able to have some success with this greatest hits package again likely due to it having a bonus track that many consider to be their best work in their career.
It looks like the kiwis were more on board with having white boy rapping in their mainstream this year given how much more successful this debut album from Wham was over there compared to what it was over here, although it could also be due to the singles not doing as well over there as they did over here which would explain the albums lack of success on our charts.
This had a bit of a delay to its release over in NZ compared to here in Australia, I’m guessing because the lead single was performed here in Countdown which encouraged its earlier release here the previous year which enabled the duo to see crossover success with it and the album in the early months of this year.
While it certainly wasn’t as inescapable in NZ as it was here in Australia, this second album from Men at work was a success thanks to the singles being quirky enough to intrigue the kiwis into checking out what the band had to offer on this album. This didn’t work out for them on their third album which caused them to break up a few years later.
Although Prince had success prior to this album in NZ, this was the album where he really took the world by storm largely thanks to the title track which curiously wasn’t the lead single over in NZ like it was internationally. The kiwis went with “Little red corvette” as the lead single instead which is perhaps why the album performed even better over there despite the singles not being as big.
These guys proved to be far more successful in NZ than they were in Australia, likely due to the presence of Alannah Currie who prior to joining the band was a NZ journalist based in the UK as a correspondent which made the kiwis more than familiar with her involvement with the band. They began as a much bigger band before being reduced to a trio where their music career finally took off.
Unlike here in Australia where this was the biggest album that Pat Benatar had, it appears that it was only a modest success over in NZ likely due to the bonus track not being one of the bigger hits of the year over there like it was over here.
Even though I love the film, I will admit that the famous critic quote “basically it’s a series of rock videos” is one of my favourite negative reviews of a film I’ve ever read. They’re not wrong, I just fail to see how that’s a bad thing in this context. It appears this swayed the kiwis a bit as the soundtrack wasn’t as inescapable over there as it was here, possibly due to Jennifer Beals not promoting the film on a Countdown equivalent over there.
This was a massive success for Van Morrison this year in NZ, likely due to him embracing his Celtic heritage on the album during a time where Celtic music was among the most popular trends in the mainstream over there. Somehow this wasn’t enough to impress us Aussies who seemed to be determined in leaving this guy in the 70’s, although he did find success here with his greatest hits package in 1990.
This was released in NZ not long after it became a success in Australia for Midnight oil to minimal success, likely because the band wanted to try and make it big over there without releasing a song to promote it which almost never works for bands and artists outside of classical music and prog rock. They eventually released their big hit over here as the lead single which allowed the album to finally be a success almost a year after its release here.
It’s interesting that this wasn’t any bigger in NZ than it was here in Australia given how Sharon O’Neil did achieve moderate success in her homeland earlier in the decade with her debut album, although she did perform the standout track from the album on Countdown which allowed it to find an audience here in Australia even if this was far from the most popular album of the year over there.
This was much more of a success in NZ than it was here in Australia, this is curious because the band didn’t achieve much success over there during the 70’s. In fact, the bonus track from this album was the only hit they ever had over there as even their albums didn’t do so well at the time.
This was also a success for Pink Floyd over in NZ, regardless of what was going on behind the scenes at the time, there’s no denying that this was more of what the fans wanted from the band and that they were going to make it a success for them regardless.
You better believe that Tim Finn was able to score massive success with his first solo album in NZ, although the success was largely limited to its initial release over there given how it lingered for quite a bit here in Australia due to the album spawning multiple charting singles here which kept its life on our charts going for over a year. He would see varying degrees of success throughout his solo career over there.
Perhaps this second album from Yazoo was what convinced the kiwis into thinking that Alison Moyet was a talented vocalist, I’m not sure why it wasn’t their first album from the previous year but I guess better late than never. This spawned the duo’s biggest hit in their native UK as well as in NZ as the lead single managed to top the British charts as well as crack the NZ top twenty.
While these guys did have success with their earlier albums in NZ, it was this album which made them a household name over there much like it did in the UK. None of their albums did particularly well here in Australia, however you can expect to see a bunch of them moving forward on these lists given how much the kiwis loved these guys.
Even though they’re considered a one hit wonder outside their native Canada with this album’s lead single, it appears that the kiwis were able to give these guys a chance as a legitimate new wave band given how it was a success over there as opposed to us Aussies who immediately wrote them off as a novelty act seeing how it bombed over here.
This was the only success that Joni Mitchell had in NZ throughout her career (“Big yellow taxi” was a flop on the Listener charts) it’s a bit weird that this was her big breakthrough over there considering how it was released when MTV had taken over and left her brand of folk rock in the dust throughout the rest of the world.
This was the third and final album to come from Altered images, it feels weird that their biggest album would also be their last given how this was also their biggest hit in their native UK as well as over in NZ this year. I guess there were behind the scenes drama that the band endured during its production which led to them going their separate ways by the end of the year.
Much like here in Australia, this was a welcomed comeback for Bonnie Tyler due to the strength of its lead single which allowed her to escape the one hit wonder bin in NZ that “It’s a heartache” had threatened to trap her in back in the late 70’s. She had a bit more staying power in the 80’s over there as she scored a hit with Shaking Stevens with “A rocking good way” the following year.
Although she already saw massive success in NZ with her album from the start of the decade Me myself I, this album spawned her biggest hit over there in the form of its lead single which is more or less the same story Joan had here in Australia when it came to both of these albums. The one difference is that her earlier entry was more successful over there as opposed to this being the bigger of the two down under.
I mentioned this was a massive success over in NZ, this is certainly the case as the kiwis fell in love with the lead single to this album as well as the overall idea of Mike Oldfield featuring vocals on his albums even if his long-time fans objected to this when this first came out. As such, it became a huge success for him, likely his biggest success too as Tubular bells was released before the kiwis tracked popular albums.
He did begin the decade with a successful greatest hits album, so naturally James Galway was able to score a huge hit with this album in NZ this year proving that the kiwis were really into flutists around this time.
I would’ve thought this would’ve had more success in NZ than it did here in Australia given how the lead single was a genuine hit for the Rolling stones over there where it was a flop over here, it turns out it was only equally as popular in both countries which suggests the winning streak of the band was coming to an end at this point.
This was the only big album that New order had in NZ, I’m guessing because it took the kiwis a while to realise that their big hit “Blue Monday” doesn’t appear on here which I’m guessing is why it was a massive flop for the band here in Australia. The band was well known for not including any of their singles on their studio albums during their heyday.
Although they never had that big hit in NZ like they did here in Australia, at least Big country managed to have more success overall with the kiwis largely due to how much bigger their debut album was over there compared to over here at the cost of it spawning them a hit single over there. Indeed, they would have much better luck with their subsequent follow ups largely due to the vocals of Stuart Adamson.
Whereas Elvis Costello was a one album wonder in most parts of the world with Armed forces, in NZ he had a bit of a comeback with this album which has one of his most iconic songs in his catalogue as its lead single. Despite that, “Everyday I write the book” bombed over there, likely because the kiwis passed it up for the album instead.
After going through the Listener charts, I can sadly confirm that Marvin Gaye is a one hit wonder in the southern hemisphere with the lead single to his final album. At least said single helped the album become a success over in NZ due to how inescapable it was over there.
