If there’s one word to describe this year, it’s colourful as there was no shortage of colour both with the music and the visuals that accompany said music. Some will say that this year is overrated as naturally the songs with the wackiest music videos were pushed to the top of the charts, however they simply helped with a songs success as this was long before watching a video counted towards its popularity meaning that people still bought the songs, they were attached to which consisted of new wave, funk and diva pop.
This proved to be an even bigger success in NZ than it was in Australia (if that was even possible) likely due to the songs being bigger hits over there which suggests that the kiwis were more in love with heartland rock around this time than us Aussies were (again if that was even possible.)
Unlike in Australia where these guys needed the success of their biggest album Little creatures in order for this soundtrack to find success, it was an instant success in NZ due to the band already being a household name by this point over there with their previous album Speaking in tongues.
Well at least the kiwis were able to instantly recognise this as one of the biggest albums of the decade, then again, these guys already saw massive success in the 70’s with their first two albums over there so this being a huge success there is less surprising and more proof that it wasn’t a bigger hit here.
This was the biggest album that Madonna had in NZ as was the case throughout the rest of the world, it even allowed her debut album to become a success over there throughout the year finally allowing the kiwis to see what all the fuss was about when it first came out.
While she didn’t see much success earlier in the decade in NZ with her band Yazoo, Alison Moyet more than made up for it by having her debut album be one of the biggest hits of the decade over there due to how much the kiwis seemed to love her voice on this album. Their love for her continued with her next album which was also a massive success for the English vocalist.
This proved to be even more successful in NZ than it was here in Australia, although it’s worth noting that her next two albums wouldn’t be as successful over there likely due to neither of them having a big hit for her there like she had in Australia and from this album.
Unlike in Australia where this needed the runaway success of one of the singles to be as such on Billboard for it to be a success, the kiwis instantly gravitated towards this debut album from Sade due to the lead single being an instant success over there upon its initial release.
I guess the kiwis weren’t as put off from the arrogant marketing towards these guy’s debut album as us Aussies were, although seriously the way British ads marketed the title track as their next UK number one even before it was released was one of the more arrogant things I discovered while going over those old top ten charts from TOTP you can come across on YouTube. As with everywhere else in the world, their next album was a huge flop for them in NZ.
There should be no surprises with this entry given how U2 had already achieved massive success in NZ with their album this live recording is based on, indeed this allowed their career to pan out the same was in NZ as it did in Australia and their native UK by them having massive success with their next album.
This debut album from Cyndi Lauper had a similar run with its success in NZ as it did in Australia, namely it was a modest success at first despite spawning three of her biggest hits over there only for it to become a best seller when she embarked on a highly successful world tour a year after its release.
Given how he found success three years prior with Hey in NZ, it only makes sense that Julio’s first English speaking album would be a massive hit for him over there just like it was here in Australia. Unfortunately, this would be his final successful album in the southern hemisphere, meaning his son Enrique would go on to have way more success than him in the 21st century in both countries.
This was the first album to chart for INXS internationally, I’m guessing because the kiwis weren’t interested in what these guys had to offer until the lead single from this album became a huge success over there for the band. Out of the three albums that made it big internationally this decade, this was by far the least successful over there as each of their albums became bigger as the band’s popularity grew.
I have no idea how Billy Idol managed to be so much more successful in NZ than he was in Australia, after all he appeared on Countdown with the title track of this album, broke through earlier here than he did over there and even came from the new wave crowd which was more successful here than it was over there.
I’m a bit surprised this wasn’t even bigger in NZ considering how massive the singles were here in Australia, indeed the singles weren’t even among the biggest of the decade (barring George Michael’s solo entry) meaning this was far from the most unavoidable album of the moment back in the day over there.
Well, if you thought that “Take my breath away” was a bad representation of what these guys had to offer, you’d be correct as they were a new wave band who scored a massive hit in NZ with their second album this year. Interestingly this had the potential to be big here in Australia as the band did appear on Countdown this year to promote the album.
This was the second and final album to come from DD Smash (Dave Dobbyn Smash for short) a new wave band best known for making Dave Dobbyn a household name before he took the NZ music scene by storm with his solo material. It was a huge hit due to it spawning multiple singles on their charts, as were most of their local albums that did well over there.
This was the biggest album that Prince had in his career worldwide, in NZ it was even bigger than Diamonds and pearls from the 90’s which had his biggest hit of his career with “Cream.” There’s no surprise that this was a success back in the day given how it’s the soundtrack to an autobiographical film about his rise to stardom that was a critical and commercial success.
You’d think that this would be a much bigger success for the Thompson Twins in NZ given how popular their previous album was the previous year, alas it only proved to be equally as successful over there as it was here in Australia which goes to show that their popularity was on par there as it was throughout the rest of the world. Their next album would be even bigger over there despite its commercial disappointment internationally.
This was the debut album from Bronski beat, and LGBT band from the UK who along with Culture club, helped normalise queer music in the music industry by having songs about love and acceptance without coming off as too flamboyant like the Village people before them. I’m not sure why this album flopped in Australia, although it did very well in NZ and their native UK.
This was far more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, I guess the kiwis had more love for this one album from Stevie Ray Vaughan upon its initial release given how it had no issue with finding success upon its initial release over there as opposed to it being a sleeper hit at best over here.
Whereas this had to settle for being a bonus entry on the Australian side of my site, this was more of a success for Duran Duran in NZ due to it rebounding on their charts when they released their bond theme several months after they released this. Just like in Australia, this was their final successful album over there as we Aussies and kiwis didn’t appreciate the more grounded music videos after this.
There were no surprises when it came to this album’s success in NZ, OK there was one when the title track became a surprise success over there months after it was originally released as the second single in order to promote a release of the video album which contained the videos of both singles as well as live footage of the band performing them.
Whereas this was only a success here in Australia thanks to Twisted sister appearing on Countdown, it appears the kiwis were more impressed with the antics of Dee Snyder and company to allow it to be a genuine success here as well as its singles. It’s hard to say what attracted them to their music, was it the image? The videos? The kiwis having a crystal ball with how hair metal would turn out? It’s anyone’s guess.
Well, these guys were a killer band live, that in addition to how inescapable they were in NZ throughout the 80’s meant that this live album would be a shoe in for the NZ side of my site.
This was equally as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia, in fact everything about this soundtrack matches its success in both countries from how big it was to the popularity of its one and only single to even the peak positions of both the album and the single.
Well, the soundtrack might not have been as inescapable in NZ as it was here in Australia, however I feel the kiwis made up for that by having it spawn more songs on their charts as two of the tracks were able to chart over there and not here in Australia. This is a film I respect far more than I like due to its themes.
Well, he already had massive success in NZ during his lifetime, so it was inevitable that this greatest hits package would be a huge success for Bob Marley in NZ this year. One thing of note is that the two songs that charted with this albums release were originally released on his 1977 album Exodus.
This was originally a flop for Madonna when it came out the previous year in NZ, in fact the reason why I’m using a different album art is that when it became a success over there, it was repackaged as The first album which is how it was sold internationally given how it originally wasn’t even released in most parts of the world due to how much it failed everywhere except for Australia.
Following the success of their earlier entry on this list, Berlin were able to find success with their debut album in NZ from two years prior even though it was more of a sleeper hit over there this year. This completely went ignored here in Australia given how the band didn’t see their breakthrough until two years later when they appeared on the Top gun soundtrack.
Well in case you felt these guys weren’t that successful in NZ, I’m here to tell you otherwise as this follow up to their previous album was a massive success for the band likely due to the lead single becoming their biggest hit over there in their career. They would continue to have success in NZ all throughout the 80’s, proving how much the kiwis loved the Scottish band more than anyone else in the world.
I guess the Jam did have some moderate success earlier in the decade in the southern hemisphere, so I shouldn’t be too surprised that Paul Weller’s second band the Style Council saw massive success in NZ with their second album. Admittedly it was set to be a minor success but rebounded when the second single became a huge hit over there for the band.
Again, I could be wrong with my assessment for this album as it’s surprisingly hard to look up information about this Irish duo, what I do know is that this was way more of a mainstream success for Foster and Allen in NZ likely due to the singles becoming one of the most success of the decade over there following its sleeper success here in Australia.
This is the last album that Split Enz released before they went their separate ways, they were on the cusp of breaking up when this came out, which is why it didn’t do very well here in Australia as they barely even promoted it like they presumably did in their homeland where it was more of a success for them.
This was another successful album that the Psychedelic furs managed to achieve in NZ this decade, although it wasn’t quite as big as their previous album Forever now likely due to it failing to spawn that big hit that they had with “Love my way” from two years prior. This was the last time the British band troubled the charts anywhere in the world.
This was the last successful album that Joe Jackson had in his career over in NZ, although it was much more of a success over there than it was over here hence why it managed a higher placement on this list compared to its Australian counterpart.
Even though Cats wasn’t a phenomenon in NZ or Australia like it was in the northern hemisphere, it appears its main star Elaine Paige was well liked by the kiwis as her performance in the stage show allowed her to find massive success with her third album with them this year which was a rarity for theatre actors this decade.
This was a big hit for the Mockers this year, a band who would achieve massive success with the lead single of their next album by the end of the year which was an album that didn’t achieve much success over there.
Unlike here in Australia where this was a hit twice and therefore one of the biggest sleeper hits of all time, in NZ this was more of an immediate success for the Pointer sisters as it reached the upper echelons of their charts for quite some time over there. I do need to point out that when I say immediate success, I mean when the singles caught on worldwide as this sat on shelves for nearly a year ignored.
Given the success of their album Maggie (which we’ll get to in a bit) Foster and Allen were able to find massive success with this follow up in NZ just like they did over here in Australia this year. Unlike here in Australia where we gave up on the duo after this album, the kiwis kept them around for many years as they occasionally pop up in the upper echelons of their charts even in recent years.
I should point out that Hall and Oates were far less successful in NZ prior to their hit “I can’t go for that” than they were here in Australia, as such, it makes sense that this greatest hits album managed to be more popular over there than it was over here as they rediscovered the duo’s back catalogue they initially passed up on.
While this wasn’t anywhere near as successful for Elton John in NZ as it was here in Australia, it’s apparent that the kiwis still had enough love for this album to make it a success over what was to come during the second half of the decade for the English piano man.
Even though their previous album saw considerably more success in NZ than it did here in Australia, that wasn’t the case for this follow up mainly because it didn’t rebound on their charts like it did here in Australia. Admittedly it rebounded here due to them appearing on Countdown in the middle of their world tour.
