The mid 90s was different depending on where in the world you’re from, the Brits were in love with Britpop, the kiwis loved their West Coast hip hop, Canada loved their rock and roll, Europe was all about Eurodance, America loved their rnb and we Aussies loved our edm. Naturally, this meant that anything with an electronic dance beat to it was fair game on our charts, which would be cool if that didn’t include dance remixes of movie quotes and older ballads of yesteryear.
This was an even bigger success in NZ than it was in Australia, possibly due to Smashing pumpkins already being mainstream by the time their third album was released over there which also explains how the album managed to spawn several minor hits for them where it only had the one down under.
Alanis Morrissette really struck a chord with listeners back in the day when she released her first album outside of her native Canada, although it’s worth noting that the singles on this album weren’t as inescapable in NZ as they were over here save perhaps for the second single which wasn’t that big over here.
This was a huge success for Oasis over in NZ, so much so that it allowed their debut album to finally became a success there too which is something that wasn’t able to happen here in Australia. I guess this means the kiwis were bigger fans of the Gallagher’s than we Aussies could ever hope to be.
Well, I supposed this albums placement on this list would seem more reasonable compared to its placement on the Australian side of my site, indeed this album was as inescapable over in NZ as it was in the band’s native America even if it lacked that huge hit there that it had here.
It appears the kiwis were too much in love with MJ to allow this greatest hits/studio album hybrid to be a flop this decade much like us Aussies were, regardless of how you feel about his personal antics you can’t deny he was an immense talent whose music still manages to resonate with audiences to this day.
I’m guessing this was a hit over in NZ due to how inescapable it was in Australia, after all the album didn’t have a single song from it to chart over there and its success was half of what it was here. That said it was still a massive success given how half of its success here in Australia is still twice as successful as what most albums can only dream of achieving.
There were no signs of Mariah Carey slowing down in the industry worldwide, in fact the success of this album was inevitable even before the second single became the longest running Billboard chart topper in existence (at least for the next quarter of a century) given how inexplicably popular she was throughout the 90’s.
The last time Tracy Chapman troubled the charts anywhere in the world was with her second album from the start of the decade, so to see her back in the mainstream with her fourth album was a bit of a heart-warming success for her given how she would’ve been deemed as yesterday’s news by this point in time. It didn’t have that inescapable hit in NZ like it did here in Australia, but otherwise it was just as successful over there.
This proved to be way more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia for Vanessa Mae, likely because classical music was more popular over there this decade than it was over here which seemed to be the case going into the 21st century as well.
This took a while to take off in NZ likely due to the album failing to produce a hit single over there as well as the kiwis lacking a Triple J equivalent to promote it, however once it did, it became a huge success for Garbage likely due to the unique vocals of Shirley Manson which helped add a female touch to the industrial rock crowd.
Pink Floyd had already broken up by the time their label issued this live album from them, it was a massive success in NZ proving that the kiwis weren’t ready to say goodbye to these guys even if some felt they were past their prime at this point.
Although Elton’s popularity in NZ wasn’t as big as it was over here in Australia by this point in his career, he did nonetheless score massive success with this love themed greatest hits package due to how much nostalgia the kiwis had for his ballads throughout his career.
Although “Creep” remains a classic to this day from the band (despite how much they hate that song) it didn’t lead to much success for their debut album Pablo honey anywhere in the world. Fortunately for them, their second album was much better received as they moved away from grunge and more towards Britpop which proved to be a big success for the band in NZ and their native UK.
These guys might have appeared on the Australian side of my site with “Shine,” however they only became a household name in their native America with this album that became a huge success in NZ a year after its initial release for some reason. I guess these guys weren’t too well loved on Triple J which is why this didn’t do so well here.
Well considering it was an Australian film released fairly late from the previous year, it makes sense that the soundtrack to arguably one of the best LGBT films ever created would only become a success in NZ this year when the film finally made it to cinemas. The soundtrack was also a huge success over there likely due to all of the remixes of the popular tracks featured in the film which still persist on oldies stations to this day.
This was also Simply red’s final successful album in NZ, although I would’ve thought these guys would retain their popularity going towards the new millennium given how this was a hit upon its immediate release over there as opposed to it needing to rebound on the charts here in Australia.
While EDM wasn’t very popular in NZ throughout the 90’s, it appears the kiwis made an exception to their rule of disallowing EDM albums to be a success by having this album from Real McCoy be a massive success over there. They would break the rules again for Aqua and the Vengaboys, however they had a gimmick to go with their music unlike these guys which were pretty straight forward with their marketing.
This was an inevitable success for Janet Jackson in NZ given how much more popular she was over there compared to Australia, heck her popularity was still stronger over there after this came out as her next album would spawn more hits there than it did here much like the rest of her catalogue.
This was also the last time Michael Bolton bothered the NZ charts like he did here in Australia, although it didn’t last as long over there as it did over here likely due to his popularity never being that big over there throughout the decade.
These guys were fairly successful during both phases of their career at this point, as such it makes sense that this greatest hits package they released around this time would be a huge success for them. They didn’t find any further success after this as was the case for most older bands and artists in the 90’s.
I guess the kiwis weren’t as big of fans of Dangerous minds as we Aussies were given how the soundtrack wasn’t quite as popular over there as it was over here, this is surprising given how Coolio was already an established rapper by the time his signature track came out from the film in NZ.
This was so much less successful in NZ than it was here in Australia, in fact after Shepherd moons, Enya’s popularity over there was close to non-existent as this only qualified for this list due to it having a rebound early in the year which allowed it to rack up enough points to make it on this list.
Well, this albums success in NZ was inevitable, fans weren’t ready to say goodbye to Freddie Mercury from earlier in the decade and posthumous albums have always statistically done well in the mainstream over the years.
There was little chance this was going to flop over in NZ this year given how Bruce Springsteen was now an academy award winning rock and roll legend, although he didn’t have any further success over there after this greatest hits album.
Well, this soundtrack’s success was inevitable in NZ given how three of its tracks managed to become three of the biggest hits of the decade over there, it did decently well here in Australia as well likely due to the success of the film which is a buddy comedy that is carried by the chemistry between its two stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
I bet you were beginning to think I forgot all about these guys on my site, it turns out that Weezer really struggled for mainstream success even in the southern hemisphere where the alternative scene was far stronger than that in their native America back in the day. Indeed, I’m not even entirely sure why this was a hit in NZ, let alone why it needed two attempts to connect with the kiwis.
This wasn’t quite as successful in NZ for Bjork as it was here in Australia, mainly because it didn’t spawn that runaway hit for her over there like it did over here which meant that it didn’t last as long into the new year when “It’s oh so quiet” was taking the alternative scene by storm worldwide. It did rebound a little over there, however it quickly fell off the charts when the song failed to catch on.
I’m not sure if this album was a success because of Silverchair’s popularity here in Australia or if the kiwis really do have an indie scene that can rival that of Triple J’s presence, either way this debut album from the teenage band managed to be a huge success over there thanks to how popular the two lead singles were from the album.
Well, this album didn’t need to wait as long in NZ to take off as it did here in Australia, mainly because it started spawning big hits over there upon its immediate release that didn’t have to wait months after they became a success in their native America to crossover there. This did cost the album from lingering on the charts as long as it did here, however it did chart higher which I feel it a neat compromise.
I guess the kiwis were more on board with Annie Lennox’s solo career this decade than we Aussies were, perhaps it was due to her wacky nature she displayed in the music videos or perhaps it was simply because they felt her brand of sophistopop worked in a way that many of her earlier contemporaries didn’t during the 90’s.
It appears this was what killed the winning streak that UB40 had with their original albums in NZ given how none of them managed to find success after Promises and lies from two years prior, although this was the second edition of an album that came out in 1987 that did gang busters for the band over there that year.
Roxette really struggled to transition from the 80’s to the 90’s in NZ which wasn’t the case here in Australia, that said, their greatest hits package was a more immediate success over there than it was over here which is why it appears on more than one of these lists despite it being more popular over here in the long run.
Well, this wasn’t as big a success in NZ as it was here in Australia, although it’s obvious that the kiwis still had enough for the album to make it a hit over there which is further proof I have that whoever wrote that article for the A.V club had a serious bias against this album when they declared it as one of the least essential of the decade.
It only seems natural that this would be more of a success in NZ than it was here in Australia for the Foo fighters, after all, Nirvana saw plenty more success over there than they did over here throughout the decade as did most alternative bands now that I think about it.
There were no signs of these guys slowing down in NZ given how this managed to be equally as popular over there as it was over here, it’s a bit of a comeback for the band given how their previous album Angel dust only briefly rebounded on their charts following the success of their Commodores cover.
Even though UB40 never broke up and would even go on to have another successful album by the end of the decade, it appeared that lead singer Ali Campbell wanted to try his hand at a solo career which was off to a good start with this album albeit on in NZ and his native UK. It’s curious this was as successful when it came out given how most of his early contemporaries did the same thing a decade prior.
It had been a while since Alison Moyet troubled the charts anywhere in the world, however she was able to score a massive hit in NZ with this greatest hits package likely to commemorate the eleventh anniversary of her solo breakthrough over there with Alf which remains one of the biggest albums to come out of the 80’s.
For some reason, this was a mere minor success earlier in the decade in NZ where it was a success here in Australia due to the biopic about the band that came out in 1991, however it became a success this year over there presumably for the same reasons it rebounded on our charts down under.
Given how Bob Marley has somehow been able to release new material in the fourteen years since he passed away, it only seems fitting that his label would issue a greatest hits album collecting the songs he released posthumously which the kiwis made a success out of this year.
Following the success of their remix album from the previous year, Deep Forest were able to score a massive hit in NZ this year with their second album which is impressive given how this underperformed here in Australia for the French duo. This would be their final successful album anywhere in the world as the new age craze began to wind down as the second half of the decade began.
This barely missed the cut from appearing on the Australian side of my site, indeed it even charted higher here but fell off much quicker hence why it failed to appear on that list. This just goes to show how fleeting Lenny Kravit’s popularity was throughout the 90’s, although he scored a massive comeback with his next album later in the decade.
Well at least Shaggy’s sophomore album was a success on time in NZ as opposed to it being heavily delayed here in Australia, although it didn’t seem to matter when he released the album as it was equally as popular in both countries even if the singles were more popular over there than they were over here. Apparently, he released a two for one deal the following year by bundling this with his debut Pure pleasure.
This was initially a huge flop for Bone thugs n harmony the previous year in NZ despite the lead single becoming a huge hit for them over there, naturally it reached its peak in popularity this year when the third single became a huge worldwide success for the hip hop quartet as it boosted its sales over there.
This was originally a flop for Tiny Tina in NZ upon its initial release, in fact I’m not sure if it was the original version or the international release that became a sleeper hit this year for her over there given how this only took off when “Show me heaven” became a massive hit throughout Europe for her (which interestingly wasn’t on the original release.) Sadly, this was the full extent of her success with the kiwis.
