As this year was the last year of its decade, it felt more like a last hurrah of the big artists of the 00s more than anything else, pair that with the rise of the club boom this year and we have an overall annoying and rightfully forgotten year in music.
Just as the decade was coming to an end, Gin Wigmore managed to get out her debut album which proved to be a huge success during the final months of the 2000’s as well as well into the 2010’s, proving how popular NZ indie music was during this time period.
There’s little surprise that this would be a massive success for Taylor Swift over in NZ as the decade was coming to an end, although it’s worth noting that it wasn’t released over there until the lead single became a massive worldwide success for the (then) teenage country star. Rest assured that if I were to look over the albums of the 2010’s, she would have the most entries out of any other artists on this site.
This was equally as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia for Lady Gaga, it’s funny how things would turn out for her throughout the decade given how this and her debut album promised her inescapable popularity like her obvious influence Madonna had in the 80’s and 90’s.
There were no signs of these guys slowing down going into the new decade, in fact, I’m willing to bet the disappointment of their next album came as a complete surprise to fans of the group given how even they struggle to defend the Beginning which was what they released shortly after this fell off the charts worldwide. Indeed, this would spell the end for the group despite all the good will they had at the time.
It appears the kiwis were more on board with this guy becoming an international phenomenon than we Aussies were given how this not only was released on time but was more of an immediate hit over there than it was over here, I guess they really felt he was ripped off when he only came in second place on American idol in 2009.
Much like here in Australia, the kiwis ended the 00’s and began the 2010’s with this album at the top of the charts, proving that reality TV would be a massive factor in the success an album would receive in both countries as the decade rolled out.
While this wasn’t the inescapable success that their debut album was from earlier in the decade, there was little doubt that Fat Freddy’s Drop would see failure with their second album coming out of the 00’s given how well beloved they’ve become in the alternative scene worldwide.
I guess the kiwis were huge fans of the cinematic debut of Disney’s flagship series Hannah Montana to make it even more successful over there than it was here in Australia, although it could be they allowed anything related to Disney to be a massive success given how big the High school musical trilogy was throughout the decade over there. The film remains one of the worst reviewed Disney products to this day, even with all of the junk coming out of their studios in recent years.
It looks like the kiwis were really unimpressed with this album initially given how it only became a success over there once it finally took off here in Australia thanks to one of the songs performing quite well on Triple J’s year end list for 2009.
This was originally released to minor success for J Williams, however it exploded in popularity when the deluxe edition came out which contained some of the biggest hits during the first stretch of the 2010’s in NZ. Like Dane Rumble, this being J Williams only album remains puzzling to this day given how popular it and the singles were.
It appears the kiwis were more excited to see what else Green day had in store following the success of American idiot from earlier in the decade then we Aussies did, granted this was still a massive hit here, however it wasn’t quite as popular as it was over there for the trio. Indeed, this promised them a lucrative career going into the 2010’s, however that wasn’t to be due to that decade’s allergic reaction to rock music.
This is the final nail in the coffin that was Australian idol, so much so that it was barely a success here in Australia for Stan Walker despite it being a massive success for him in his homeland and the catalyst for a highly successful career over there that he couldn’t replicate over here despite initially finding success in our music scene.
This albums popularity in NZ was exactly the same as it was here in Australia, namely that it was a modest success upon its initial release four years prior only to explode in popularity this year upon the tragic passing of the king of pop.
This will remain as the most recent album I’ll be featuring on this site as I still refuse to go over the biggest albums of the 2010’s in either country due to how dull and lifeless that list would be (I’ve tried this and trust me, I’m not exaggerating.) At least Muse were able to squeeze into the end of the decade with this entry given how they finally managed to take the mainstream by storm worldwide.
This was more of a success in NZ than it was here in Australia for MJ, mainly because the kiwis were generally bigger fans of the king of pop than we Aussies were and have also historically been better at separating art from the artist given how even at the time of his death, people were bringing up all of the controversies in his life for bad faith reasons.
I guess the kiwis were bigger fans of the live action Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise than we Aussies were given how the soundtrack to the second film was a massive success over there and not over here.
It looks like the kiwis were equally as impressed with this album as we Aussies were, that is to say, it was well received by those who made Encore a success for him earlier in the decade and panned by those who wanted to see him return to form which he would do the following year.
This was initially a minor success for Isla Grant in NZ given how this was released around the same time as her breakthrough album over there (which we’ll get to in a bit.) It became a surprise success the following year due to a successful tour she had over there where this was rereleased as a special edition package that helped boost its sales.
This is another greatest hits album that was a success this decade years prior to the resurgence in popularity of the band in question, I guess the kiwis were always willing to pay their respects to these guys even prior to the release of their biopic in 2018 as opposed to us Aussies who made this a flop upon its initial release.
This is the only other appearance from Michael Bublé on this site of my site, I guess the kiwis really weren’t that impressed with his catalogue this decade as the rest of the world was given how this was more of a hit the following decade than it was during the final months of the 00’s. Heck it didn’t even spawn a hit for him like it did here in Australia and on the Billboard charts.
These guys had a bit of a slow climb to their popularity throughout their career given how this was their third album overall and the first to find massive success in their homeland, their popularity would grow throughout the 2010’s despite being an alternative EDM band, or likely because of it as they did seem to fit in with the club boom of the day.
I guess the kiwis weren’t as impressed with this second album from Lily Allen as we Aussies were, then again, her first album from three years prior was a minor success over there (too minor to appear on this site of mine) so perhaps this was more a disappointment to them as it failed to spawn a hit over there like her first album did.
I guess the kiwis were more on board with this E.P than we Aussies were, after all, the first official single from the album was far more popular over there than it was over here suggesting the kiwis were willing to forgive her for the theatrical abomination we look at earlier on this list.
This was another successful rock album to make it big as the decade was coming to a close in NZ, it was the debut album for indie band Midnight youth who made a massive splash in their homeland thanks to how they managed to connect with their local alternative scene upon its release. This is another band I feel would’ve thrived in the 2010’s had rock not become so unpopular.
Rod Stewart’s Motown albums this decade have had varying degrees of success throughout the world, the kiwis didn’t seem to be that impressed with any of them save for this album at the very end of the decade likely due to the nostalgia circuit still being in full swing as the 00’s became the 2010’s worldwide.
This was slightly more successful in NZ than it was here in Australia, I’m guessing because the kiwis were bigger fans of the Foo fighters given how this had Dave Grohl as one of its members. Admittedly this likely would’ve been their introduction to Josh Homme given how little success his band Queens of the stone age had over there up until this point.
This was equally as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia for the TV show Glee, although it clearly came at the expense of the singles over there as the series never had a single hit over there like it did over here.
This is the only successful album that Smashproof managed to achieve in their career, although they did take their sweet time in following this up as their second album wouldn’t come out for another five years, by which point, NZ hip hop had fallen by the wayside in favour of the rise in EDM over there.
I guess the kiwis had enough nostalgia for Annie Lennox’s career by this point in time that this greatest hits package from her managed to become a massive hit over there when it was a major flop for her everywhere else in the world.
Much like here in Australia, this album from Ronan Keating was deliberately released around Mother’s Day in order for him to capitalise off the holiday with this album, although at least it stuck around for slightly longer over there which explains its better placement on this list.
Much like here in Australia, this was only a modest success in NZ earlier in the decade for the king of pop, its true popularity wasn’t realised until this year when he tragically passed away from health complications.
This was the first major success that Scottish singer Isla Grant was able to achieve in NZ, I’m guessing this was because the kiwis were more open to the idea of seemingly ordinary people with impressive vocals making it big given the success of Susan Boyle worldwide from earlier on this list.
This was far more popular over in NZ than it was here in Australia, I’m guessing this was because the rock curfew that the world had imposed at the turn of the decade took a while to take affect over there which allowed this to further thrive thanks to the success of “The only exception” that year. Who know how much more popular they would’ve been had rock music been able to thrive throughout the 2010’s.
This was unfortunately less popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, I’m not even sure why that is as the Foo fighters were way more popular with the kiwis than they were with us Aussies throughout their career. This hasn’t even stuck on the charts since the incorporation of streaming data in the mid 2010’s like it has on the ARIA charts.
Well, he did score a massive hit during the midpoint of the decade in his homeland, that and nostalgia had really taken over the mainstream in NZ by this point in time. It makes sense that Dave Dobbyn would have another greatest hits package to become a success over there, although it appears this includes some of the big hits he had with his former band DD Smash as well as his solo material.
It looks like the kiwis were also fans of the biopic about pirate radio in the 60’s this year that they allowed the soundtrack from the film to be a massive success over there, either that or it was a success due to it being a convenient way of discovering many of the songs and artist that appear on the track listing.
Much like everywhere else in the world, this is the final Pearl Jam album to have any impact over in NZ as the 2010’s proved to be rather hostile towards rock music unless it was A: from a specific record label or B: it had heavy promotion from an indie source such as Triple J or Pitchfork.
Vera Lynn was one of the few notable success stories during the first half of the twentieth century, as such she was able to make a name for herself during some of the roughest times in modern history which the kiwis no doubt wanted to pay their respects to with this album just as the decade was coming to an end.
Even though they were all panned by critics, the Transformer films made by Michael Bay were all huge commercial successes likely due to the high scale explosions each of them had. It could also be their soundtracks as they usually managed to spawn a hit or two whenever they were released, the second one being by far the most popular of the bunch.
We have one more greatest hits package to feature from UB40 on my site, indeed the kiwis couldn’t get enough of these guys even though they’ve had almost as many of these albums as they’ve had studio albums on here at this point.
This was also a success in NZ just like it was throughout the rest of the world for U2, it wasn’t inescapable like their other entries on this site, however at least it serves as a last hurrah before they were side-lined in the mainstream in favour of the club boom just like every other rock artist in existence.
For a guy that only has two hits anyone’s ever heard of (those being “I don’t believe in if anymore” and “The last farewell”) Roger Whittaker has had quite the success as a legacy artist if the success of his greatest hits packages is anything to go by.
Unlike here in Australia where this rebounded the following year due to how big the singles were, it appears the kiwis ignored this album for the most part despite how well the singles were doing over there likely due to buying the singles for the featured artists rather than for David Guetta himself.
I’m guessing the reason why Simon and Garfunkel didn’t release a new greatest hits album for the fortieth anniversary of their breakup was due to this album getting a second wind as the decade was coming to an end in NZ and in several parts of the world.
This was one of the last albums to be released this decade, or more accurately the rerelease it had this year was. I’m guessing this is what encouraged the kiwis to reinvigorate their love for Fleetwood mac throughout the 2010’s given how inescapably popular they’ve been over the years.
