If you’re from the UK, then this year may seem a bit high to you as there was a high number of British celebrities scoring minor success over there through their name recognition which clogged up the British charts and no doubt led to music piracy that lasted well into the 00s. The rest of the world continued showing their love for the genres that dominated their respective music scenes. However, there was a bit of crossover this year as we Aussies started embracing rnb as well as the Kiwis embracing edm.
She may not have ever had that chart topper in NZ with any of her singles, however at least Celine Dion was able to find plenty of success with her albums back in the day given how this Grammy award winning album was indeed one of the biggest hits of the decade over there.
Unlike in Australia where this had to work its way up to success, the debut album from the Spice girls was an instant success in NZ likely due to the second single being released on schedule over there as opposed to it being delayed here for reasons I can’t seem to fathom.
This wasn’t as inescapable over in NZ as it was here in Australia, I’m guessing because there wasn’t a farewell concert that the trio performed for the kiwis shortly before its release like the one they gave at the Sydney opera house around this time. Still, it was a massive success over there given how much more popular the trio was there than they were here throughout the decade.
This was POT USA’s only successful album in NZ, I’m guessing because they kiwis only fell in love with their sense of humour for one album before getting bored with it for their next album. At least the songs were slightly bigger hits over there compared to how they did here which technically makes this more successful over there.
This was a very bittersweet success for the band in question as the lead singer had already died of a drug overdose by the time it was released over in NZ this year. I’m not sure why this wasn’t released here in Australia as posthumous albums have always seen plenty of success down under throughout history, I’m guessing because they were usually from well established artists such as Roy Orbison or Jeff Buckley.
Unlike in Australia where this needed the runaway success of the third single for the album to be a success, No doubt had initial success in NZ due to the buzz the lead single created over there. Although once that third single did become a worldwide success, the album was a massive hit over there as well.
This was a flop in NZ upon its initial release over there, this is even after the fact that it had taken the Australian charts by storm thanks to the family group’s blend of adult contemporary and traditional Celtic music. It was given a second chance this year when the band embarked on a highly successful Australian tour which convinced the kiwis to check out what all the fuss was about.
Well, this proved to be even more of a success for the Fugees in NZ than it was here in Australia, although the fact that this spawned a huge hit worldwide was bound to make it a success everywhere that allowed for hip hop to make it in the mainstream. Who knows if the trio would be able to continue their popularity if they made another album together.
Well given how this orchestral album based on renditions of Split Enz’s back catalogue was a massive success for the supergroup Enzso here in Australia, it only makes sense that this would be at least somewhat more successful in NZ for the group in their homeland thanks to the star power of the performers on the album.
I guess the kiwis were a bit intrigued with these guys earlier in the decade given how their debut album did create some buzz for them over in NZ that certainly didn’t happen here in Australia. I’m not sure why this album in particular took off over there given how the kiwis seemed to have a vibrant indie scene, I guess they took a look at the Triple J year end list for 1996 and noticed their presence on there which convinced them to give the band a second chance.
I get the feeling this was a success in Australia and NZ due to the success of the spin off band of these guys Green jelly from earlier in the decade, yeah it turns out Maynard James Keenan had multiple projects throughout his career including these two bands and A perfect circle in the new millennium.
Unlike in Australia where these guys had some buzz thanks to Triple J heavily promoting them back in the day, they only managed to crossover to NZ purely thanks to them having a surprise hit over in America with “Glycerine” which incidentally was the only song of theirs to chart in NZ back in the day. I think the kiwis know these guys best nowadays for Gavin Rossdale who married Gwen Stefani shortly after this time.
This was a huge success for George Michael in NZ, I should note that these albums are ranked the same way as I rank the singles which is that I prioritize entries the longer they remained in the upper echelons of the charts rather than their overall success. I bring this up because though it left the upper echelons of the charts quickly in NZ, it stuck around for a fairly long time in the lower half of the charts due to the success of the singles.
This was the first successful album that Ben Harper had anywhere in the world, I’m guessing it was a success due to him becoming the new (then) modern Jimi Hendrix as much like Lenny Kravitz, he two was a musician of colour who was from the hard rock scene from the 90’s.
There was little doubt this was going to be a success for Simply red in NZ given how it was a massive hit for them here in Australia, although like Australia they didn’t find much success over there after this album despite it spawning a hit with one of its bonus tracks.
This was a massive hit for the band as opposed to it being a mere modest success here in Australia, again likely due to how much stronger the kiwi’s alternative scene was in the 90’s than it was for us. Despite this being a massive success overall, it was the band’s final album for a while as they would break up after this in order to pursue other projects, most notably Audioslave for Chris Cornell.
This was more of a success in NZ this year, I’m guessing because the kiwis didn’t feel that the band had lost their magic like most of the world did or simply didn’t care that they had changed their sound on this album. These excuses didn’t carry over to their next album which was a flop regardless of where in the world you’re from.
While it failed to spawn a charting single in NZ like it did here in Australia (likely because the kiwis didn’t know who Underworld were) this soundtrack to Trainspotting was nonetheless a success over there likely due to the success of the film which was one of the surprising number of non-Hollywood films to make it big worldwide throughout the 90’s.
Well, this album being a success in NZ was to be expected given how the lead single was arguably the biggest hit of the decade over there, although it did rebound on the charts once it was released in the UK likely because the Brits had a different album cycle for him over there which resulted in him having different hits throughout Europe that saw minor crossover success in NZ.
Evidently the lead singer of Bread had a solo career even though it didn’t appeal to anyone (at least from what I can gather) that didn’t prevent him from finding success with this greatest hits album with his former band members even after the success of the band’s greatest hits album two years prior over in NZ.
Carl Doy was still able to find success in his homeland this far into the 90’s, not bad for a guy first made it big at the end of the previous decade by stealing the success that Richard Clayderman had over there.
This was originally released the previous year following the finale of season one for the popular TV show Friends (which I regret to inform the internet the I’m a huge fan of even though I personally prefer Frasier when it comes to 90’s sitcoms.) I guess this picked up steam in NZ this year due to the show having several of these tracks play over that season which the kiwis appreciated enough to check out this album.
This was more of a success over in NZ likely due to how much more popular rock and alternative music was over there than it was over here, I’m not sure how this even happened unless the kiwis had their own equivalent of Triple J which helped them discover these types of artists like we Aussies did.
Jimmy Barnes had decent success in the 90’s over in NZ, as such it makes sense that this greatest hits package of his would do fairly well over there similar to how it did over here to commemorate the twelfth anniversary he broke apart from Cold chisel to embark on his solo career.
I think this was one of the earliest signs that the kiwis were ready to incorporate EDM into their mainstream given how it charted higher over there than it did over here back in the day for Robert Miles, true it wasn’t quite as big there as it was here, but it was a sign of good things to come for the genre over there.
This was a moderate success for Metallica in NZ, mainly for the good will they achieved earlier in the decade with the black album as the singles over there were noticeably less successful than they were here in Australia. People will complain that they sold out here, however it’s more their songs were more radio friendly than them selling out entirely.
This was another album to find more success in NZ than it did here in Australia from an alternative band this year, although it was still a bit of a disappointment over there compared to the band’s previous effort likely due to the fact that what they had to say wasn’t as compelling on here as what it was on their earlier effort.
Their popularity was on the decline in NZ the same as it was here in Australia, although Pearl jam were still able to find success with their albums over there until the end of the decade, just like they were over here.
If you thought it was confusing that this album became popular here in Australia the following year, apparently the same thing happened over in NZ this year for what I can only imagine to be similar reasons.
This was equally as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia for Michael Flateley, I’m slightly confused why though given how the Riverdance craze was more of a thing here in Australia than it was over there.
This was the last time Bryan Adams troubled the NZ album charts given how his popularity had dwindled over there to the point where this feels more like a last hurrah for him than anything else. As least he had some better success with his singles right till the end of the decade, although those were pitiful compared to what he achieved down under.
Much like it waws here in Australia, this was only barely a success for Enigma in NZ, again likely due to the controversy that their previous album sparked with its big hit “Return to innocence” two years prior.
This was the last successful album that Tina Turner had in NZ, admittedly it’s with an album I’m sure most of her fans outside of NZ wouldn’t even realise existed given how little remembered this album is in recent memory. In fact, it was a success mainly due to a successful tour she had with the album which boosted its sales over there.
Following the success of their previous album Broadcast, the Strawpeople were able to continue their dominance in their local music scene with this album that sadly didn’t receive any love from Triple J like their previous album did which is why it remains in obscurity outside of their native NZ.
Given how this was the biggest EDM album of the decade in America, I can only assume that its success on Billboard encouraged the kiwis to check out what all of the fuss was about despite it being the only one of these albums that failed to spawn a single hit over there this decade. At least the likes of Culture Beat and Corona scored a few minor hits over there in exchange for those albums underperforming.
This is a bit odd to talk about, mainly because the kiwis were well ahead of the curve when it came to making Korn a household name worldwide given how their debut album was a massive hit over there this year even if it was two years after its initial release. This means that their later entries found less success over there than they did internationally as the kiwis likely found them to be sell-outs compared to this.
