The year I was born, you’d think I’d rank this at number one given how much sentimentality I’ve shown on this list so far. Alas it only ranks as high as it does due to this being the year that grunge broke through onto the mainstream as that was such a breath of fresh air compared to the adult contemporary that dominated the charts worldwide this year. I guess the remnants of the 80s that were still around also boosted this in the rankings given how audiences didn’t want adult contemporary to be what defined the decade even at this point in time.
It appears the kiwis were more touched by the emotional concert that Eric Clapton gave on MTV unplugged, so much so that it was an even bigger success over there than it was here making it easily one of the most successful albums of all time over there.
As with most alternative albums from the 90’s, this album from R.E.M managed to be twice as successful over in NZ than it was in Australia likely due to the two lead singles cracking their top ten over there when they flopped here. One thing to note was that the big hit from the album “Everybody hurts” in Australia was only a modest success over in NZ for the band.
Even though this managed to spawn a hit for Boyz II Men in NZ upon its initial release, it still was a flop for them over there until their theme to the Boomerang film starring Eddie Murphy broke records worldwide. It was included in the rerelease of the album which allowed it to become a massive success there as well as spawn two additional singles from the album.
From what I can gather, the Commitments was one of those foreign films that was a bomb in America but a massive worldwide success. Even so it took the kiwis a bit of time to gravitate towards the first soundtrack given how it was already a massive success in Australia by the time it began charting over there.
At least this debut album from Pearl jam was more of an immediate success in NZ than it was in Australia, although like Australia it was a hit several times throughout the decade due to how the band’s popularity grew with each subsequent album in the 90’s.
This was the first signs of Abba’s re-evaluation in the 90’s after over a decade of them being mocked by rock snobs for popularising the trends of the 70’s, of course like Australia this would also be a success multiple times over there due to the different ways people realised the band was actually good this whole time.
I should point out that while it wasn’t well received even upon its initial release, the Bodyguard was one of the most commercially successful films of all time worldwide which no doubt played a huge part in the soundtrack being a huge success for its star Whitney Houston.
Well Simple minds were one of the biggest bands of the 80’s in NZ, so it stands to reason this greatest hits album would be a massive success over there just like it was over here from around this time.
It looks like the kiwis were also waiting patiently for that fourth solo album from Lionel Richie, just like the rest of the world they got bored waiting as it was a massive flop when it finally came out later in the decade, meaning this greatest hits album was the final success he had anywhere in the world.
This proved to be more of a success in NZ than it was in Australia, mainly for the singles which were much more successful over there for Diesel than they were over here for some reason. Although this was a massive success over there for the Australian rocker, it proved to be the last the kiwis would hear from him as his subsequent follow ups would be massive failures over there as opposed to moderate hits here.
This was a massive hit for the Mutton birds in NZ, I’m guessing they were able to benefit from the strong alternative scene that NZ had throughout the 90’s much like many other bands that either had more success over there or otherwise failed to score any success here in Australia.
There haven’t been that many successful albums from Joe Cocker in NZ over the years (at least from what I can tell given how RIANZ didn’t cover the early 70’s where he was at his commercial peak) so it’s somewhat fitting to see this album see massive success over there given how it barely made an appearance on the Australian side of my site.
Paul Young had much bigger success in NZ than he did here in Australia, as such this greatest hits album was no doubt going to be more of a success over there and even slightly sooner than it was here for him.
Given how Joe Cocker was experiencing arguably the peak of his career over in NZ around this time, it makes sense that this greatest hits package of his managed to be a huge success over there like it was over here back in the day.
Much like here in Australia, this was a comeback for the Cure which is odd considering that the band were coming back to the mainstream from two very different albums from the 80’s. In Australia it was the Head on the door whereas in NZ it was Faith from well over a decade prior at this point, I of course don’t count their greatest hits package that they released around the time of their big Australian success.
It looks like the kiwis were more interested in checking out the back catalogue of RHCP than we Aussies were given how this was more successful over there than it was over here for the band, indeed the band in general found way more success over there back in the day likely due to their funk influences.
This is another greatest hits package that I’m surprised was a success in NZ considering its mediocre reception here in Australia, I guess the kiwis really wanted to atone for sleeping on the catalogue of Belinda Carlisle when this came out and we Aussies feeling we already knew her back catalogue resulting in its failure here.
This album’s success was inevitable in NZ, although it was a success only the same time it crossed over here in Australia so perhaps it was a result of them winning best new artist at the Grammys this year. This win did allow their songs to become much bigger this year over there which set them up for so much hype for their next album that they failed to meet.
Named after their signature track from their 1980 album Remain in light (despite that never being a commercial success anywhere in the world) this greatest hits package from Talking heads proved to be a huge hit for them over in NZ despite it being a massive flop for them here in Australia for some reason.
While it may not have been as inescapable as Eric Clapton’s concert from earlier on this list, this concert from Mariah Carey on MTV unplugged was a rather poignant one given how it was her first live performance she made in order to silence those who thought she was a fake in the music industry.
Well, these guys were one of the biggest bands of the 80’s with their previous album so much more so in NZ than they were in Australia, so perhaps they didn’t even require the assistance of that awful CGI music video for the lead single in order to make it big over there this year. Their popularity would quickly decline worldwide as the trends shifted away from them.
This had the same approach to its success in NZ as it did in Australia, namely it was released two years prior to deafening silence likely due to audiences being initially put off by her coming out as a lesbian (the 90’s were different people) before getting a second chance this year due to the success of a long-forgotten Uma Thurman film she provided the soundtrack to.
Neil Diamond was indeed one of the biggest names in music over in NZ during his heyday, although like Australia it had been a decade since he last troubled the charts over there prior to him scoring massive success with this greatest hits album. Unlike in Australia his 1996 effort was a flop over there.
This was a live recording of Queen’s performance at the Wembley stadium back in 1986 for their album A kind of magic, it wasn’t released at the time likely due to the band being controversial for performing at Sun city when they weren’t supposed to (and by that, I mean they legally weren’t allowed to as were any western band or artist) but it finally saw the light of day this year due to Freddie’s tragic passing.
I’m a bit surprised this wasn’t even bigger in NZ than it was here in Australia given how much of a winning streak AC/DC were on over there compared to over here, at least it spawned a minor hit with its lead single even if it was likely more due to nostalgia than anything else.
This was a huge flop here in Australia, although I could say the same for many of the new entries from these greatest hits albums that have appeared on this side of my site, suggesting the kiwis were much more nostalgic for older artists around this time than we Aussies were.
I’m not sure why the kiwis didn’t gravitate towards the Eurythmics final album We too are one, but at least they came back for Annie Lennox once she embarked on her solo career given how successful this album was over there for her. You’d think it would’ve done better though given how it was her foray towards sophistopop and how much the kiwis loved that genre throughout the 80’s.
Unlike here in Australia where it was more of a success upon its initial release and was a mere modest success when it rebounded in the new year, the opposite was true in NZ where it was a mere modest success upon its initial release only to reach its true success in the new year for whatever reason.
Following the success of the Levi’s add that revived the popularity of “Should I stay or should I go,” the Clash’s former label issued a greatest hits package that became a huge success for them in NZ and their native UK as fans rediscovered the back catalogue of one of the most important punk bands of the 70’s and 80’s.
Much like the rest of the world, the kiwis could only tolerate Billy Ray Cyrus for one album as his subsequent follow ups failed to make an impact over there despite the album popularising the line dance craze of the 90’s. The success of his singles was also largely the same as it was in Australia, although that’s only the case if you were to cut the lead singles success in half and apply that success to the second single.
Given how they managed to have more success in NZ throughout the 80’s than they did here in Australia, I would’ve been flabbergasted if this greatest hits package from ZZ top flopped over there this year. Even so, it didn’t do nearly as well as it did down under likely because the kiwis were already familiar with the band’s work.
This was the live album that Genesis released following the conclusion of their Way we walk tour, it was a huge flop in Australia likely because we Aussies were done with anything affiliated with Phil Collins, however it was a massive hit over in NZ likely because of how much the kiwis loved their (then) latest album We can’t dance.
Well, that is one edge title to give your album (at least in the pre internet age where this is par for the course) we have this comeback album from a band previously known as the Dance exponents who scored massive success eight years prior with their debut album in the new wave scene. Here they’ve adapted to the earthier sounds of rock which allowed them to chart along the likes of U2 and Crowded house in their homeland.
This was the second greatest hits package to become a success for Supertramp since their last successful album which as this point in NZ was from the late 70’s, I guess the kiwis really did have fond memories of their heyday if they had two successful best of albums over there despite the band not releasing any new material since the first one was released.
From what I can gather, Kantuta was a band from NZ who scored a massive hit with their self-titled debut album this year due to it being a blend of Latin and rock. I’m guessing if they had of broken out during the Latin craze later in the decade this would’ve been even bigger over there than it already was.
I think this was the album that was meant to become a success on the Australian side of my site, I included a reissue of their 1980 album because that’s what appeared on the weekly charts I used when compiling these lists. Either way, this was the second greatest hits package from Dr Hook to become a success in the southern hemisphere.
I guess the kiwis weren’t as big of fans of Michael Crawford as we Aussies were as both of his albums from the 90’s saw far less success over there than they did over here, this in particularly was a disappointment given how it was his big breakthrough outside of the theatre world here and in his native UK.
This was the second greatest hits package to be released from the Police since their breakup in 1984, I guess it became a success this year in NZ to mark the tenth anniversary where the trio had called it quits even though this was released two years prior from their label.
Well, she did have a ton of success in the 80’s with her first two albums, so it only seems fitting that a greatest hits album from Ruby Turner becoming a success this year was in order.
The kiwis were far more invested in the post death career of Freddie Mercury than we Aussies it seems, not only did he score a huge hit posthumously with an opera singer from his 1987 album, but he also saw huge success with this greatest hits package over there which was more or less his two solo albums compiled together for one convenient release.
Cher was certainly on a winning streak over in NZ during the first stretch of the decade, so much so that this greatest hits package she released proved to be a huge success over there despite it being a massive failure here in Australia as was the case for several of these new entries on this side of my site.
This is a sequel to Neil Young’s solo breakthrough Harvest from two decades prior, naturally it was a success in most parts of the world including NZ as it’s able to make an appearance on my site because of how much the kiwis loved it this year. Curiously it bombed here in Australia, I guess we Aussies didn’t have much nostalgia for Neil’s catalogue around this time.
Given how the first volume to the Commitments soundtrack was released late in NZ, it only makes sense that its second volume would also have a tardy release even if it wasn’t as tardy which resulted in it competing with the first volume over there.
I honestly would’ve been surprised if this was a flop for Sade in NZ given that it managed to be a huge success for them over here in Australia, once again, it’s low placement on this list is more due to it being a sleeper hit as it could’ve easily appeared much higher on here had it spent more time in the upper echelons of the NZ charts.
It’s a bit weird that these guys waited thirteen years to release a sequel to their 1979 greatest hits album, so weird in fact that I’m more surprised it was a hit in NZ than I am that it bombed everywhere else in the world.
I did mention this was a minor success in NZ when we looked at their far more lucrative album from the previous list, indeed this did just as well over there as it did over here for the Black Crowes, making the failure of their third album Amorica all the more puzzling in both countries.
Unlike here in Australia where this saw a massive surge in popularity the following year due to the success of the band’s cover of a Lionel Richie classic, it wasn’t quite the case in NZ where it only briefly popped up in their top ten before plummeting on their charts. As such, this won’t be appearing on the following list like it did on the Australian side of my site.
This was too minor of a success to appear on the Australian side of my site, likely because Gary Moore seemed to have worn out his welcome amongst us Aussies by the time this came out. This didn’t seem to be the case with the kiwis who allowed this to be a moderate success over there, thus giving him one more entry on this side of my site that he had on the Australian side.
