It’s about time we had the 90s appear on this list, this is the worst year of the decade mainly due to how direction less it was as the general public were finally ready to move on from the 80s this year without having a clear indication of where to take the music scene. We evidently settled for reggae given how that was the most prominent genre this year. However, we quickly moved on to other genres the following year.
This was another inevitable reappearance for this site of mine, naturally the singles from Mariah’s third album were much bigger over in NZ given how much the kiwis had embraced both RNB and diva ballads by this point in time.
It looks like the kiwis were also intrigued with what U2 wanted to do with their sound throughout the decade, indeed their venture towards industrial music paid off for them as it was also a huge success over there as it was here in Australia.
Just like in Australia, this was the biggest album in Pearl Jam’s career in NZ following the huge success of their debut album from two years prior. Unlike in Australia, this managed to spawn a huge hit for them over there as did their next album which made them more of a singles band as far as the kiwis were concerned.
This was also a success in NZ back in the day, further adding insult to injury that the title track was never released as a single in America given how it seemed on only harm the albums sales over there. I don’t think it really matters as Billboard seemed more interested in breaking chart records throughout the 90’s than promoting the type of rock and roll to be found on this album.
This was more of a success for the Smashing pumpkins in NZ than it was here in Australia, mainly due to the singles being able to chart over there which they didn’t over here (save for “Disarm” which was the reason the album became a success in Australia.) Their next album would be even bigger due to the singles again being more successful over there.
This might be a shock to my readers, but Rage against the machine would up having one of the biggest albums of the decade in NZ with their debut largely because it spawned multiple hits over there (albeit minor hits save for the lead single.) They even had massive success with their second album later in the decade, making them the Faith no more equivalent of an American band who scored more success outside of their native America in NZ.
I’m not sure how he did it, but Kenny G really did take the southern hemisphere by storm this year with this album of his. Perhaps it was due to his instrumentals fitting in nicely with spa resorts who likely bought the album along with the new age albums from the time to fit with their ambience at their resorts.
Billy Joel had been struggling to retain his popularity over in NZ for almost a decade at this point, however he managed to score a massive comeback over there when this album became a surprise hit for him due to the title track being one of his biggest hits of his catalogue. Who knows if this comeback would’ve remained as he never released another album after this.
Like in Australia, things could’ve been better for Bryan Adams by this point in his career, although unlike in Australia this was as good as things would get for him as his popularity would begin to dwindle over there after this greatest hits album.
These guys were on a roll with this album as it proved to be a huge success for them in NZ despite it only being a modest success here in Australia and throughout most parts of the world. Then again, they did begin the decade with the mammoth success of their second Labour of love album without any input of how the Americans would react to the album from earlier in the decade.
Just a fair warning that when it comes to the east coast/west coast rivalry in the 90’s, the kiwis are on the firm side of the west coast as just about every west coast rapper had some degree of success over there back in the day. One of the earliest success stories was Cypress hill who admittedly needed a push for success which came this year when they scored a massive hit with one of the songs from their second album.
It was the sequel to the 1977 classic no one was asking for, but everyone was nonetheless grateful for when it came out due to it somehow recapturing the magic from the original fifteen years after its initial release. It was a massive success in NZ as it was everywhere else in the world proving that rock operas from the 70’s had held up remarkably well even during the age of RNB and EDM.
Boney M was one of the most successful bands of the 70’s worldwide, so of course this album would be a massive success in NZ this year. Curiously it wasn’t here in Australia despite the German band arguably being even bigger here, I guess we Aussies were still mad at Frank Farian for deceiving us with Milli vanilli.
It had been a while since Dave Dobbyn last troubled the charts in his homeland, however that didn’t prevent this greatest hits album from being a success over there which likely encouraged his comeback shortly after its release given how he scored a big hit over there following its success.
I’m shocked that Tom Petty never had much success here in Australia given how heartland rock was always one of the more popular genres here back in the day, fortunately he was much more popular in NZ which is why this greatest hits package from him and his band was such a huge success over there this year.
This was an even bigger success in NZ for Crowded house, suggesting that the kiwis preferred these guys the less they sounded like Split Enz (that or they just found their full niche over there in the 90’s rather than the 80’s.) It really does make you wonder why they decided to call it quits later in the decade considering how well they were doing in both countries in the southern hemisphere.
Unlike in Australia where this popped up multiple times during its chart run, this only popped up twice in NZ. The first time was upon its initial release where it was yet another easy success for Janet Jackson over there and the second was two years later when “Whoops now” became a surprise chart topper for her over there.
I’m sure if the 90’s wasn’t all about breaking records on Billboard, then these guys would’ve had their success on time worldwide as opposed to their debut album needing that one in a million shot of taking off through word of mouth back in the day. Indeed, the band was also successful in NZ because of this tardy approach, and their second album would be a flop the following year due to how unconventional it was.
Here’s a repeat entry from the soundtrack to that long-forgotten Uma Thurman film that KD Lang provided, like Australia it was this soundtrack that catapulted her success in NZ she had with her earlier entry on this list.
While they were never that huge anywhere in the world, the Cult did have moderate success in NZ which even included a number one hit which was all the incentive the kiwis needed into making this greatest hits album a success for the band this year.
This was one of those soundtrack/album hybrids that was very popular throughout the 90’s in the music industry, after all this was named after her biopic of the same name which became a box office success this year as well as a critical darling due to strong performances from Angela Bassett as Tina and Laurence Fishburne as Ike.
Although this saw less success in NZ than it did here in Australia, at least this was an improvement over his previous album over there given how you can blame a stiff competition from the Christmas season as to why it underperformed over there even though it came out on top of our Christmas season over here.
Although this didn’t chart as high in NZ as it did here in Australia, the trade-off was that this lasted much longer on their charts due to it spawning several minor hits over there in addition to their one inescapable hit they had around this time. Nowadays it’s only known for two reasons, it being the launching pad for frontwoman Linda Perry’s career as a songwriter and for how hated the lead single remains to this day.
Although her popularity in NZ wasn’t the same as it was here in Australia, that still didn’t prevent this greatest hits album from Bette Midler from becoming a huge success over there this year. Admittedly it didn’t linger on the charts over there like it did over here, so it wasn’t quite as inescapable there as it was here.
I guess there was a tradition for there to be a successful greatest hits album from the Little river band once every ten years in NZ, this was the second of three successful albums to come from the band in this vein despite their back catalogue not being a success over there like it was here in Australia.
This proved to be more successful in NZ than it was here in Australia, I’m guessing because it’s technically a NZ film as well as an Australian production and this was back when the kiwis really did look out for their own when it came to their entertainment industry. Aside from that, the trajectory this soundtrack had over there was the same as it skyrocketed in popularity when the film swept the Oscars.
If you’re wondering why David Bowie was able to find success with a greatest hits album a mere three years after his last greatest hits album in NZ, that’s likely due to the news that he broke up his side project Tin machine who even back in the day was panned by critics and loathed by his fanbase for tarnishing his discography.
It appears the kiwis were also on board with having Frank Sinatra find success with this duets album he released less than five years prior to his untimely death as we Aussies were, I guess there was a bit of a nostalgic factor to this albums success given how he hadn’t found any success in either country since the 60’s which coincidentally was a duet with his daughter about their (platonic) love for each other.
This was way more of a success in NZ than it was here in Australia for Nirvana as was the case for their previous album, I’m guessing this was because rock music in general seemed to be more popular over there which is odd given how Nirvana were among the first bands to truly gain success due to their exposure on Triple J down under.
Much like here in Australia, Lenny’s ambitions of being the (then) modern equivalent of Jimi Hendrix were certainly palpable to the kiwis. As such, they invested themselves in the genuine article with this greatest hits package which was as a reason as any for it to be a massive success for him.
Unlike here in Australia where this took its sweet time in finding success, it appears this was more of an immediate success over in NZ for the Rolling stones likely due to the kiwis having more nostalgic love for their back catalogue than we Aussies did around this time.
This managed to be an even bigger success for Van Morrison in NZ as in addition to him also having a bestselling greatest hits package this decade, he also managed to have a huge album exactly ten years prior over there which proves that the kiwis were always ready to hand the Irish crooner success.
I’m guessing the film was a huge success over in NZ considering how big both the soundtrack and the one single it spawned was over there, either that or the kiwis really did have nostalgia for John Paul Young’s one and only hit there which wasn’t even that big back in the day. It was likely because of this success that the film was released internationally this year where it became a critical darling.
From what I can gather, the Seekers did have moderate success on the Listener charts in NZ, meaning that this album which was released once Judith Durham re-joined the band becoming a hit over there does make sense.
Classical music was still one of the most popular genres in the mainstream in NZ this far into the decade, as such we have this classical album from soprano singer Dawn Upshaw who managed to score a massive hit over there with this album and even briefly charted here in Australia as well.
While this wasn’t as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia for Frente, it was nonetheless a huge success over there due to the success of its second single as well as the personality on display giving the album a sense of life to it for the listener (it does have feelings after all.) Sadly, the second album from the band wasn’t a success for them which led to them breaking up later in the decade.
Give how his solo debut She’s the boss was a massive success in NZ, it’s a bit strange to see that Primitive cool was a massive flop over there for Mick Jagger. It appears his third solo album managed to pick up its slack which is interesting given how it was a complete bomb here in Australia.
Although this charted higher in NZ than it did here in Australia, this ultimately proved to be far less popular over there than it was over here likely due to the kiwis not being on board with Bjork’s brand of alt pop like we Aussies were. Indeed, she never had a hit single over there like she did over here which further confirms this theory I have.
It looks like this was a bigger success for the Rolling stones in NZ than it was here in Australia, I guess the kiwis were willing to have these sorts of albums dominate their mainstream at the time even if I’m unsure how successful this album was upon its initial release 22 years prior over there.
This was a greatest hits package from Hot chocolate that became a success in NZ this year and nowhere else in the world, I guess the kiwis still had nostalgia for the band during their heyday from the 70’s and early 80’s.
This was slightly less successful in NZ than it was here in Australia, although considering it spawned the band a genuine hit over there, I don’t think they minded as much if this didn’t bring in the numbers that their earlier material did throughout the 80’s.
Following the commercial disappointment of his previous album the Soul cages in NZ, Sting was able to bounce back over there with this album which served to prove the kiwis that he was able to survive the transition from the 80’s to the 90’s after all which is something many of his contemporaries weren’t able to do at the time.
Of all the 80’s bands to still have success this far into the 90’s, The the wasn’t on my bingo list due to them finding little success in their homeland during the height of their popularity. It appears the kiwis were impressed with their fourth album enough for it to be a hit this year, however they didn’t show them any further charity with their subsequent follow ups.
I would’ve thought this covers album from Guns n roses would do better in NZ than it did here in Australia, they did see way more success over there than they did over here with their previous catalogue after all. Alas it appears the kiwis weren’t too happy with this album given how it was more popular over here for them.
From what I can gather, John McDermott is an Irish opera singer who scored his only successful album in the mainstream with this number, even then it was only a success in NZ where opera music seemed to thrive more so than it did throughout the rest of the world.
One of the wackiest films of the decade was Lasts action hero, a movie where a young boy is sucked into a TV and gets to live out the different scenes from action sets throughout cinema (it’s the film equivalent of Gex the gecko for game enthusiasts.) It was a commercial success despite a mixed critical reception, most of that success of course being affiliated with its soundtrack.
This proved to be a minor success for Jimmy Barnes in NZ this year, I guess the kiwis didn’t mind him returning to form for one last time with this album given how popular the first Soul deep album was over there.
While Britpop was slightly more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, I’m afraid there won’t be many new entries from the genre on this side of my site. Indeed, this debut album from Suede was the best they could do over there despite how inescapable the British band were in their native UK throughout the decade.
This really did struggle to make a reappearance on this side of my site given how unpopular Michael Bolton was with the kiwis throughout his career, however this did last long enough on the lower half of their charts to qualify here likely due to how popular this was here in Australia and his native America.
