This year would be higher if I based it solely on what it had to offer, it was the height of the indie boom of the 00s after all as well as some great alternative rock dominating our airwaves. Unfortunately, this is cancelled out by Australian idol dominating our mainstream, which resulted in the rise of digital piracy here back in the day. Thankfully, digital downloads were made legal by 2006. Otherwise, the accursed reality show would’ve killed off our music industry down under.
It appears the kiwis were also interested in having Green day reinvent themselves from punk rockers singing about masturbation (among other things) to becoming politically active against the American government on this album, in fact I get the feeling this was more of a surprise comeback over there than it was here given how none of their albums since Dookie had any success whatsoever prior to this.
Much like the rest of the world, the kiwis weren’t interested in this debut album from Maroon 5 upon its initial release in 2002, however they changed their minds also like the rest of the world when the second single began making waves on the radio. While the band did have their naysayers back in the day, at least it was mainly from people who merely found them overrated as opposed to what everyone thinks of them now.
Much like everywhere else in the world, this had a bit of a slow rise to its popularity given how Gwen Stefani had attained a fanbase during her time with No Doubt who likely weren’t ready to see her go in a pop friendly direction on her first album away from the group. Indeed, I don’t think the kiwis were truly as on board with her change in direction as the rest of the world was, however that didn’t prevent the album from being a success over there regardless.
This was even more successful in NZ than it was here in Australia, once again proving that tampering with an album’s release schedule with its singles does little in incentivise people into checking out said album. Here Usher was able to have uninterrupted success with his album about his relationship with Chilli from TLC in NZ due to the singles not having the threat of being pulled from their shelves.
This was even more of a success over in NZ for G’N’R, mainly because the band did have more success during their heyday in the late 80’s and early 90’s over there which would explain why the kiwis were eager to revisit their back catalogue when this was initially released. I can only imagine their disappointment once Chinese democracy finally dropped later in the decade.
Well, I did mention that the lead single of this British opera band was from NZ, so naturally this meant that both of their albums proved to be more successful over there than the band’s native UK (where they both duly flopped.) Even though the band was inescapable in George Sewell’s homeland, it appears that wasn’t enough for them to stay together as they called it quits later in the decade.
I did say that this was a much bigger success in NZ than it was here in Australia on that side of my site, this is likely due to the album not being pushed aside over there in favour of a reality show taking over their music industry which was the case over here. It could also be the kiwis genuinely loved their brand of glam/hair metal much more than we Aussies did as they certainly had their detractors back in the day.
By far the most successful rapper from NZ was Scribe, at least if we’re looking at how well they’ve all done here in Australia he is given how this album managed to appear on the Australian side of this site. Predictably, it was a massive success in his homeland given how it managed to spawn two of the biggest hits of the decade for him over there that even saw minor success down under.
Naturally this would be more of a success in the homeland of the Finn brothers than it was here in Australia given how they’ve both retained their popularity years after the demise of both Split enz and Crowded house, it further benefitted from NZ Idol not dominating their mainstream like the Australian equivalent did, which means it had little competition from reality stars over there like it did over here.
Just like her previous album, Norah Jones was able to find more success with her sophomore album in NZ than she did here in Australia, I’m guessing because in addition to throwback jazz being more in vogue over in NZ than it was down under, there also wasn’t much competition she had to face given how NZ idol didn’t completely dominate their music industry when it premiered this year like Australian idol did for our music industry.
There was no shortage of classical music making it big in the NZ music scene this decade, here we have the debut album of Yulia Beredenko who was a Russian born teenage opera singer who won over her fellow kiwis with this album enough to make it among the most successful of the decade over there. She managed to have a second successful album later in the decade before she faded into obscurity.
It may have been panned by critics and audiences alike, however that didn’t prevent this album from Eminem being a massive success for him worldwide likely due to it having a trainwreck feel to it to the point where many people (me included) speculate that it was deliberately sabotaged in order to scare off people who considered him to be a martyr for their childhoods.
Not only was this predictably more of a success for Ray Charles in NZ given the kiwis fondness for RNB over us Aussies, but it also appears that it was an immediate success over there as well given how it appears on more than one of these lists which was the case for the Australian side of this site.
This is the second time this album became successful in NZ throughout the 00’s, it was a much bigger improvement over its initial release from two years prior given how much higher it appears on this list compared to my 2002 list.
This managed to be more of a mainstream success for Joss Stone in NZ than it was here in Australia this year, perhaps because it like many other entries on this list that appeared on that side of my site didn’t get side-lined over there in favour of the Australian Idol phenomenon which resulted in this years being very negatively received by music historians as far as the Australian music landscape was concerned.
Given how many hits this debut album from Adeaze managed to spawn in their homeland, it would’ve been bizarre had the album failed to become a hit over there like it did for the duo. Even with all of this success however, the duo didn’t release another album for the rest of the decade and only did so in 2011 when their hype had long died out.
Hip hop was certainly the genre of choice during the midpoint of the decade in NZ, as such we have this breakthrough album from P-Money who gathers some of the biggest names in his local music scene as well as some international artists as well (including Akon of all people) which became a predictable success for the producer thanks to the success of its lead single.
Well, I did mention that this breakthrough from John Butler Trio here in Australia did manage to achieve massive success over in NZ this year, I’m guessing the kiwis wanted to have at least one album from the Australian alternative scene to be a massive mainstream success and so passed up the opportunity to make the lead single another case of being a bigger hit over there than it was over here as a result.
This was a hit again during the midpoint of the decade in NZ, further proving how much the kiwis loved UB40 even going into the new millennium (or at least their back catalogue.)
Given how Jack Johnson was one of the biggest names in music worldwide, it only makes sense that a contemporary of his would follow in his footsteps which is where this album from Donavon Frankenreiter comes in as it managed to do just that over in NZ for the folk singer. It was the only success he had anywhere in the world, likely due to audiences preferring Johnson’s material.
Given how NZ Idol wasn’t clogging up the charts in NZ, this debut album from Franz Ferdinand had more success overall in the upper echelons of their charts compared to here in Australia. It was a bit of a shock to be to see how this was pushed aside here in Australia back in the day given how anthemic the album remains to this day, although this formula didn’t work out for the Scottish band with their subsequent releases.
I mentioned on my 2001 list that the success these guys had over in NZ mirror what they achieved here in Australia, as such we have their second and final album making a reappearance on this list which became popular over there thanks to how inescapable Eminem was throughout the rest of the world.
Unlike in Australia where this was an inescapable success for Robbie Williams, it was only a decent success in NZ likely due to his earlier catalogue already been discovered by the kiwis with his first greatest hits package from the start of the decade and this feeling a tad unnecessary given the success of his previous three albums over there.
This saw equal amounts of success in NZ as it did here in Australia, I guess it’s fitting that the popularity of Bono and company had become more homogenised worldwide by this point in time given how they had become a legacy band by this point in their career despite still being able to compete with the hottest new names of the moment.
Given how A: Norah Jones was experiencing way more success in NZ than she was in Australia and B: the NZ idol phenomenon didn’t come at the experience of what else was happening in the mainstream this year, it only seems natural that Katie Melua would find more success over there than she did over here with her breakthrough album.
It was obvious that this would also be a success in NZ like it was here in Australia, true it didn’t reach the dizzying heights of success over there that it achieved over here, however these guys were one of the biggest bands of the 90’s in the southern hemisphere which this album celebrates.
At least the soundtrack to the second Shrek film managed to be a success in NZ, I’m not sure why the first film’s soundtrack didn’t even chart over there as from what I can gather, the kiwis loved the franchise just as much as we Aussies did, and the soundtracks are a large reason as to why the franchise is so well beloved even to this day.
Korn had a pretty good run during the 90’s over in NZ, so it makes sense to me that this greatest hits package of theirs would be a success over there when it wasn’t over here in Australia even though they did have at least once successful album over here with Follow the leader.
I’m a bit surprised that the Ray Charles biopic wasn’t more of a success in NZ than it was here in Australia back int eh day, although I guess this was more of a Jamie Foxx album given how he had covered each of the tracks on this album for the film which naturally led to his academy award for his performance.
This was far less popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, although I’m not sure why as both Jay-Z and Linkin Park found more success over there than they did by this point in time as did anything related to MTV. I guess it was less popular due to it failing to spawn a hit with “Numb/Encore” like it did over here.
This is a bit of an odd entry, namely because the brothers Gibb hadn’t released a new album since their last greatest hits album from three years prior due to the death of Maurice Gibb nearly two years prior to when this was released. That didn’t prevent the kiwis from making it a success likely due to their nostalgic love for the trio as well as their renewed popularity from the late 90’s over there.
There was a greatest hits package that Neil Diamond released in 1985 with this exact title that was a success over in NZ, that wound up being more successful over there than this was even though this was also a decent success around this time where it was a flop over here in Australia.
This is another album that failed to appear on the Australian side of my site despite debuting high on our charts, it would’ve had the same fate for this side of my site except it rebounded on the NZ charts this year likely due to media coverage that this band had. For the uninitiated, this is a supergroup which includes Scott Weiland from Stone temple pilots on lead vocals and Slash from Guns n roses among others.
Nelly released two albums this year, this was by far the more successful given how it had two out of the three big hits he had during the midpoint of the decade worldwide. This was another near miss from appearing on the Australian side of my site, kind of like how the other album he released Sweat was a near miss from appearing on this list.
This was released following the news that Creed was calling it quits, I guess the kiwis were a bit upset with this news given how big this was over there despite it being a massive flop here in Australia for the band. They would eventually reunite as the decade came to an end to very little fanfare.
This was shaping up to be an excellent decade for British jazz artists in NZ as Jamie Cullum was the latest to find massive success over there with this album from the genre, although it remains his only successful album in his catalogue despite having a long career in his homeland. Still, it’s one of several albums on this list to find more success over there than it did over here thanks to a lack of competition from reality stars.
This was an excellent time to have nostalgia for MJ given how this managed to become a moderate success following the release of his own greatest hits package from earlier on this list. Indeed, his Essentials entry from Sony would include some of his work with the Jacksons that also appears on this album when that was released the following year.
Considering how many classical artists to make it big in NZ that have appeared on this list alone, I would’ve been dumbstruck if Diana Krall wasn’t able to retain her popularity over there with this album even if it was noticeably less successful over there than her other album from earlier in the decade.
We featured their sophomore album on the Australian side of my site (it’s still to come on the following list) however it appears the kiwis were willing to give these guys a chance early on in the year given how their debut from two years prior managed to crossover due to the surprise success that “Perfect” had around the world.
Well, this is certainly a different side of Incubus compared to what we’ve already seen, apparently, they decided to make their equivalent of the Beatles magical mystery tour as that’s the best way I can describe this album as it incorporates elements of psychedelia in a way that’s very reminiscent of the fab four. It was a huge hit in NZ and even a minor success here in Australia this year.
This was more of a sleeper hit for Simple plan in NZ than it was here in Australia, I guess the kiwis weren’t as open to allowing these guys to crossover but briefly changed their minds when the lead single to their sophomore album became a massive hit for the Canadian band over there.
