Well, here's a nostalgia bomb for everyone who grew up during the late 90's, we have the breakthrough single for the Italian trio Eiffel 65 as well as one of the first hit singles to incorporate egregious usage of autotune which even at the time seems to have driven people up the wall. Then there's the strange music video complete with the awful CGI used for the aliens.
I know Britney isn't exactly what you would call a seasoned performer, however I can't help but admit this was a fantastic debut single for her thanks to how amazing it sounds even to this day. Her career has seen many ups and downs over the years, however it's clear that she still commands a loyal fanbase even to this day.
It had been two decades of silence from Santana when they released this lead single to their comeback album Supernatural this year, it's hard to say if the album would've been a success without this track given that many people attribute this as a Rob Thomas solo project more than a Santana track with Rob's vocals on it. What I do know is that it made both Santana and Matchbox 20 international superstars.
This was a humungous hit for Boyzone, possible due to it being written by both Jim Steinman and Andrew Lloyd Webber meaning that this was the boys attempt at appealing to fans of rock operas which would explain why their last album was so successful in NZ as well as their native UK. They decided to end things on a high note which meant that they broke up shortly after this became their biggest hit.
This was the big hit off of Shania Twain's biggest album Come on over in Australia, admittedly this is mainly due to how long this ballad about Shania being there for the love of her life stuck around on our charts upon its initial release more than anything. I'm guessing this ballad was what encouraged her to release a pop version of her album.
This was a huge surprise for Pearl jam given that they hadn't had a hit since their initial breakthrough from the other side of the decade, although many people feel this was the start of their sellout period given that they had long abandoned their grunge roots in favour of an adult contemporary sound.
This was a huge comeback success for the Offspring following the mediocre reception of their previous album, it appears fans wanted to hear these guys talk about how much of a loser they believed to be so much that it not only became one of the biggest hits of the decade down under but also topped the Triple J year end charts for 1998.
This was the only noticeable success from Jennifer Paige throughout the world, which I find to be a shame because this was such a breath of fresh air from all of the kiddie pop of the day that I'm sure that was the reason why it was so big for her. I'm guessing this made it big due to an endorsement from the Lilith Fair crowd given how popular music made by women was around this time.
While this wasn't the debut single from Vanessa Amorosi (that honour goes to "Have a look") it was the song which made her a household name given how it was considered to be the unofficial anthem for the 2000 Sydney Olympics with how inescapable it was upon its initial release. This resulted in the song being a huge success over in NZ and even sparked interest for Vanessa throughout Europe.
One of the catchiest female empowerment anthems to ever be released, this debut single from Madison Avenue created plenty of international success, so much so that it managed to top both the NZ and UK charts despite it getting stuck behind Eiffel 65's entry from earlier on this list here in Australia. Sadly, the duo ruined their good will at the 2000 ARIA awards when Cheyne Coates appeared to be intoxicated while performing on stage.
Another comeback to come in Cher's very rocky career, this time it comes with the introduction of autotune in the music industry as this becomes the first hit single anywhere in the world to incorporate the vocal effect which helped it stand out from its contemporaries back in the day. Nowadays this is known as the Cher effect, primarily by her haters who believe that she was never a good singer.
This song and the album that it serves as the lead single to almost didn't happen, mainly due to the girls needing to declare bankruptcy from their previous album despite how much of a success it was worldwide due to poor management of their earnings. Fortunately, the girls pulled through from that stumble and came back with what I and many others consider to be their best song.
This is a song many people like to label as problematic due to all of the ladies Lou Bega mentions throughout the song, personally I feel that this song is too harmless to find any offense with as the charisma and catchiness of the production more than make up for any problematic nature of the lyrics here.
OK we have to talk about a song where even as a kid I never got the appeal of, I know that people tend to mistake these guys for Aqua but at least Aqua played their own instruments and thus had artistic integrity. These guys on the other hand copied their formula superficially and made music that was meant to be part of a lore where it's played exclusively on their bus which they've declared the fun nest place on earth.
It appears we Aussies had finally embraced RNB of all types into our mainstream as this track from the British girl group Honeyz wasn't even the most successful track of theirs in their native UK. I'm guessing we gravitated towards these guys following the demise of Eternal around this time, although we quickly discarded them once TLC rolled out their third album.
If you're wondering why there was such a gap between when this advanced single from Affirmation came out and the album itself, that's due to this being the theme to a romantic comedy known as the Other sister. Needless to say, that this track has done better to stand the test of time than the film itself given how obscure that film is nowadays. As with all of their other songs that weren't Billboard chart toppers, the production on here is savage and lives up to their name.
This was the only noticeable hit for Sixpence none the richer throughout their career, primarily due to it being used in Dawson's creek as well as She's all that which were two of the bigger pop culture artifacts to come from this year. The song was originally released the previous year to deafening silence, likely due to the band being strong Christian and audiences being done with contemporary Christian music by this point.
Oh, Bloodhound gang, you were a bunch of very naughty boys indeed as you made this track which came complete with a music video that was clearly meant to shock and horrify audiences from back in the day. Of course, this was going to be a huge success for the band given how this was back in the day where people were rewarded with being provocative in the mainstream rather than shunned.
Well, if nothing else, this is equal opportunity when it comes to calling out both sides of the gender spectrum who mooch of their significant others minimum wage while that person works hard to provide for them. It's easy to see how this struck a chord with audiences given how the name of the song is what we often shout at to people who seem to just mooch off of those around them for a living.
This was the first song Ronan Keating released when Boyzone announced they were going their separate ways, it was written for the film Notting hill starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts and is one of the better romantic comedies of the decade to boot. This was also included as the advanced single from Ronan's solo album and strangely enough, also as a bonus track on Boyzone's greatest hits package.
This was the debut single for one of the more popular artists to emerge from Disney's new Mickey mouse club which ran throughout the decade, and I think it's safe to say that compared to her main rival Britney Spears, Christina had the more prominent vocal presence in her music even if she wouldn't fully demonstrate it until her second album. In the meantime, we have a cute introduction to her discography.
This was the debut single for Joanne, an Australian singer who discovered an obscure track from Bluezone who is nowadays best known as the band that launched Lisa Stansfield into the spotlight. In order to honour the original (given how there was another version by someone known as Redzone around this time) Joanne credited herself as a featured artist with Bluezone as the main artist.
It looked like there were no signs of Britney Spears's career slowing down as this second single from her debut album proved to be a huge hit for her, that is except for her native America as funnily enough, she didn't have a huge hit on Billboard again until "Gimme more" almost a decade later. At least the rest of the world was here for her every step of the way, through both the good times and the bad.
This is a song that's slightly different depending on which version you're referring to, if we're looking at the version from the album then it's a pop country track whereas the single version is more of a straightforward pop track with additional lyrics to help it boost the sales of the album it spawned from. It paid off as said album was by far the most successful of the decade because of this.
This was the debut single for a woman who had already conquered Hollywood with her stunning performance in Selena as the titular Latin performer, given how she was well received for her vocal abilities in the film, it only makes sense that she would launch a singing career which began with this track. J-lo has proven herself to be a capable singer over the years, even though she hasn't always given the best vocal performance in her songs.
This was the lead single to Backstreet boy's third album Millennium, an album that was meant to signify the beginning of a new era given how they felt confident that they had won the boy band wars before they were even over (to be fair they absolutely did win the wars overall.) The lyrics are a bit strange on this track, however I don't think many people care about that anymore and I doubt many people did to begin with.
Stars on 54 were a supergroup comprised of Ultra Nate, Amber and Jocelyn Enriquez, only one of which managed to find success in Australia prior to this collaboration and yet it was a huge success here. I'm guessing it was due to it being attached to the film 54 which I haven't seen but I've heard isn't very good, that or it could also be due to it being a cover of a Gordon Lightfoot track.
It looked like that Bryan Adam's time in the spotlight had come to an end when he released his third album this decade, mainly because he really did take his sweet time in releasing new music this decade despite him easily being one of the biggest artists of the 90's. This managed to take off for him more due to the presence of Sporty Spice who was all of the news around this time due to the drama going on with her band the Spice girls.
This is another song I don't particularly care for, mainly for the vocals as Ann Lee seems to be completely devoid of any joy or happiness on this track which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that this is meant to be a dance track presumably meant for the dance floors. Obviously, I'm in the minority here as this remains a classic to this day even if it's Ann's only hit single anywhere in the world.
There weren't any signs of these guys slowing down in round two of the boy band wars, heck they even had some support in America as they were able to achieve success on Billboard during a time that was becoming increasingly hostile towards British artists. Here they double down on their hip hop influences with the lead single of their second album which also remains their most successful in their career.
This was originally released the previous year worldwide for Monifah; however, it appears we Aussies were interested in this sex jam from the RNB singer and thus allowed it to become a massive hit when it finally hit our shores this year. It was such as success down under that she even scored a minor hit with her next release which is a double A-side of "Bad girl" and "Suga suga" before she faded into obscurity.
This was the second single to be released from the Vengaboys which just like their debut from earlier on this list it was a massive success for the Dutch group due to the song continuing their gimmick of their music being the best the world has ever seen. The album itself was a huge success for them, proving that at least at the time, this was a band to whose music was considered the coolest to exist.
This was one of only two hit singles this sister duo managed to achieve in Australia, although it's easy to see why this succeeded given how it's an affectionate track about how they'll always be there for each other. Unfortunately for them, their legacy has since been overshadowed by another duo from Australia comprising of twin sisters that since went on to have massive international success, that of course being the Veronicas.
While "Cup of life" was the first song that Ricky Martin released in English from the previous year, it was this song that finally got him a crossover hit in America as this become a Billboard chart topper for him. The lyrics describe a crazy night out with a woman and how it ruined his life, I'm guessing it was a man in real life but he gender swapped him to allow it to find a more mainstream audience.
This was the other Billboard chart topper that Savage Garden had, although it's worth noting that this wasn't a number one hit in Australia likely due to how inescapable the album itself was upon its initial release. Another fun fact about this song concerning the American charts is that it was the final chart topper for a while for anyone who wasn't from North America or Jamaica as the next person to top the Billboard chart outside these demographics was James Blunt with "You're beautiful" in 2006.
This was incredibly hard to come up with commentary, mainly because it's hard for me to talk about this family group without coming off as snarky and mean given how much I don't like their music. I guess if I had to say something positive about them, it's that their music is ultimately harmless as though their Celtic influences are egregious in their music, it's not like it makes their songs unlistenable.
Much like James Blunt after him, Shawn Mullins was a singer/songwriter who began his career serving his country before making music that would appeal to the more pacifist leaning music lovers. Here we have his one and only hit made for people who seem to be down in the dumps, it's a song that like "Bad day" has been criticised for its faux positivity in the lyrics.
It's easy to forget that Y2K was a thing leading up to the new millennium, for the uninitiated, this was a fear that the world would end due to a potential glitch involving the dates changing from 1999 to 2000 where technology would go haywire. This glitch was solved before that had a chance to happen, making this lead single from Silverchair's third album that much more hilariously dated.
This was the only hit single that Faith Hill managed to score in Australia, although it's worth noting that I do remember hearing her 00's songs on the radio quite a bit so it's possible she was the victim of digital piracy going forward into the new millennium. It could also be that this was the only song shoved in our faces from the radio that we were receptive to as it's a sweet upbeat ballad.
Following his dismissal as the manager of the Spice girls, Simon Fueller formed a new group in the form of this teen pop band that came complete with a TV series to help them stand out from the increasing number of teen pop groups making it big around this time. I will say that this is incessantly catchy even if it's clearly made for the youth of the day and nobody else (which I was admittedly a part of back then.)
I get the feeling that Madonna wanted to play Felicity Shagwell in the second Austin Powers flick, that would explain why she was chosen to make a theme song to the film as they likely went with this as compensation for her being denied the acting gig. It proved to be a fantastic theme for the film despite it only playing in one scene where Austin is trying to figure himself out now that he was back in the 60's.
This is one of the more memorable songs as the decade was coming to an end, likely due to the dreamy atmosphere the song creates with the heavily reverbed vocals as well as trance production meant to simulate how sweet this person is that the duo finds. The uncredited vocalist on here is Sharon Woolf who does a fantastic job at bringing this gem to life which resulted in the British duo's success.
If you can believe it, there was a time where this had nothing to do with the Shrek franchise as this was originally written for the film Mystery men, hence why there's a version of this music video with clips of that film inserted randomly throughout its runtime. Even since this was included in the opening scenes of the Dreamworks flick, it's unfortunately become a meme for the band which harmed their career.
There were plenty of boy bands competing in the boy band wars this decade, these guys stood out because they played their own instruments which even then wasn't a unique requirement as we had Hanson and our own Taxiride that also filled this bill. This was the British band's only hit single in Australia, which I feel was only the case to give them a shoutout among the other contestants.
Although this was always intended to be the second single from J-Lo's debut album, the fact that it was marketed as the theme song to the new millennium (despite needing to come out the following year for that to happen) likely helped it become a huge hit for her despite the mediocre reception of her album. Indeed, it looked like her popularity would come to an end after this dropped off the charts, however as we all know, it didn't.
This was released three years prior throughout Europe to deafening silence, in fact I'm not even sure how this managed to become popular here in Australia other than it being an incessantly catchy EDM track from a talented vocalist that was never given her proper due back in the day. It nothing else, this being a massive hit here must have been some form of consolation for the singer in question.
This was the debut single for a band who was promised so much success both critically and commercially and yet seemed to have gotten nowhere once they released their second album. Their first album was showered with praise and success (rightfully so in my opinion) thanks to Ella Hooper's powerful vocals as well as the catchy instrumentation of the band.
It looked like that Lenny Kravitz would be yesterday's news following the commercial failure of his fourth album Circus, indeed his fifth album titled 5 (clever name mate) looked set to fail until he scored a surprise hit with this radio juggernaut. This no doubt led to him covering the 70's classic "American woman" which he submitted for the Austin Power Spy who shagged me soundtrack.
Well so much for Ginger Spice wanting to get away from the spotlight, although I don't think it's uncommon knowledge that she just wanted to get away from the Spice girls given all the behind-the-scenes drama that was going on at the time (to say nothing about the revelations revealed year later.) It makes sense that her first hit single would be akin to a cabaret number as she was the vaudeville performer in the group.
Delerium was a Canadian EDM duo who scored massive international success with this track featuring the vocals of Sarah McLaughlin, Sarah herself was a popular Canadian artist who made adult contemporary ballads that helped her stand out in her native Canada. Neither artist saw any international success outside of this dance track, in fact this mainly became a success due to the multiple remixes that were floating around at the time it its release.
This was the second single from Backstreet boy's third album Millennium, and it's a song that's notable for two reasons. The first is the guitar solo which was a more common troupe in teen pop from around this time (likely to spark outrage from rock snobs) and the second is for its music video which was one of the most expensive to ever be created, the price tag certainly shows with its high budget CGI.
We almost went through the entire decade without there being a "Girls just want to have fun" equivalent, so here's Shania Twain filling in that void with this track which became her fourth hit from Come on over during the height of its popularity worldwide. It comes complete with a video that is the reverse of Robert Palmer's "Addicted to love" as we have her as the lead vocalist with guys as her backing band.
This was meant to be a farewell track to Ginger Spice following her departure from the band during their Spiceworld tour, although given the behind-the-scenes drama, I doubt the girls had much love for her when they originally recorded this track even though they do sound heartfelt on this track. This is often considered to be the final song in their catalogue that displays any sort of personality from any of them.
The original version of this track was a fun dance pop number about how a boy that Britney's into is driving her crazy due to having conflicting emotions about these feelings, naturally this wasn't a strong enough premise for this to be a huge hit, so it was given the remix treatment to help it achieve the success her earlier entries on this list had. Suffice to say I'm not a huge fan of this remix as it kills the groove for me.
My UK readers will likely recognise this track as credited to Puretone, I'm not sure why this song was rebranded as such, but it ended up working out as this became a huge success for Josh Abrahams and vocalist Amiel Daemon. Amiel is perhaps best known for her hit single "Love song" from 2003, a hit she scored a year after this became a hit for her and Josh throughout Europe.
We have another double entry for this list, this time it's the lead single from Lauryn Hill's solo debut as well as her cover of the Frankie Valli classic which were both needed to have her crossover to Australia despite her already having success earlier in the decade as the main rapper/vocalist from the Fugees. This no doubt helped her album become a huge success here as that too wasn't a hit upon its initial release down under.
Brandy might not have been one of the more popular artists of the decade in Australia, however at least both of her signature ballads managed to be a huge success here. There's honestly not much more I can say about this ballad in particular, it was a massive hit for her before she became yesterday's news as the decade was coming to an end.
This was the final hit that TLC were able to achieve in most parts of the world, and if their earlier entry was this albums equivalent of "Creep" from their previous album, then this was the albums equivalent of "Waterfalls" as this was a self-empowerment anthem meant to uplift the spirits of those who were feeling down when listening to it. Sadly, this would be it for the girls as Left eye Lopez would die in a car accident in 2002.
These guys were certainly on a roll going into the new millennium given how they were able to finally score a number one hit in their native UK with this second single from their sophomore album Invincible. It seemed like they would be moving away from their hip hop roots going into the new millennium, however their third single traded in these roots in favour of a dated cover of a Queen classic.
This was the theme to the first film that many feel was a dud in Will Smith's filmography, that being the theatrical adaptation of the TV series Wild wild west which race swaps the main character to justify his casting. The film was a box office success likely due to nostalgia of the 60's western, however it was torn apart by critics and even had the theme song be the only one to be nominated for worst song at the Razzies for 1999.
This was the lead single from a covers album that Tom Jones released just as the decade was coming to an end, it's notable for A: helping the Cardigans escape from the one hit wonder bin and B: helping the Talking heads original finally find an audience here in Australia after almost two decades of complete obscurity. This was the only hit from the album Reload, although I would've thought "Sex bomb" would be a big hit as well.
Boyzone were indeed one of the biggest boy bands of the decade, so why not have these guys take over from them once they called it quits this year? This was their debut single and the first of many UK chart toppers for them which of course led to them gaining a bad reputation in the UK due to how inescapable they were. Their popularity wasn't as big here in Australia, although they did better than Take that for what it's worth.
It looked like that Billie Piper wasn't going to find any crossover success here in Australia with her debut album, that changed when the fourth and final single from the album became a success here which funnily enough also serves as the title track from said album. This meant that she no longer had any issues with finding success here which led to her biggest hit the following year with "Day and night."
The 90's might have been wrapping up this year, however that didn't mean its trends were as we have this trance track from this German DJ becoming a massive worldwide success after a full decade of successful European DJ's making it big with EDM. I guess this is one of the more popular instrumentals of the decade as well as most of the big hits from the genre in Australia had vocals attached to them.
While this wasn't their debut single by any means, it was the song that made Sugar ray into a household name thanks to them ditching their nu metal sound in favour of a more pop friendly direction starting with this track. Lyrically it's about how Mark McGrath is finding out he's been cheated on with his girlfriend, although instead of confronting her about it he's going to get even with her by sleeping around himself.
This was the only hit for the New radicals, mainly because it was only a success worldwide due to it being big in the UK as this for some reason flopped in their native America. I'm guessing it flopped on Billboard due to the final verse where the band suddenly makes a bunch of shout outs to people they didn't like, none of these people were flattered by these shout outs for obvious reasons.
Your guess is as good as mine as to why Eternal's ballad from the previous year flopped here in Australia, although Monica was able to make it a success with her rendition this year likely due to her having a string of Billboard chart toppers following the success she had with Brandy on "The boy is mine." This would be her last hit in Australia as she wouldn't have any success in the new millennium.
This was the final hit that Cher was able to score here in Australia, admittedly this comes immediately after her earlier hit on this list as it served as a huge comeback for her after a rather dormant period in the mainstream. I guess this song and the rest of the album was devoid of any autotune to reassure listeners that she could still sing at this point in her career, even though the usage of autotune has been called the Cher effect.
Well so much for these guys being in the running for the boy band wars in Australia, admittedly they would become worthy candidates on their second album the following year but in the meantime this early single from their debut album took nearly two years to find an audience here in Australia for the main rivals of Backstreet boys. I guess it didn't help there was another song that shared this title around this time from Mel B.
This was meant to be the third single to be released from Five's debut album, although it was pushed back to be the fourth single likely due to them having the same "na na na's" as what Will Smith had on his hit "Getting jiggy with it" from the previous year. The similarities didn't prevent this from being a hit here in Australia for the British boy band, although I'm sure Will Smith fans weren't happy about this.
The legends are true people, Jennifer Love Hewitt did in fact have a singing career before she transitioned into acting beginning earlier in the decade as a teen pop idol similar to that of Alanis Morissette. Like the Canadian singer/songwriter, she transitioned into a more mature singer/songwriter with this track that was written for the second film in the I know what you did last summer franchise which she also happened to star in.
The song this live concert is paying homage to was originally released by Abba from their 1977 self-titled album which was clearly meant to be a homage to the music of the 40's and 50's given that was no doubt the music which made Abba want to become musicians. So basically, we have a live rendition of a song that was made in the 70's which in turn was paying homage to music from the first half of the century.
One of the better animated films of the decade was the Prince of Egypt, it's an adaptation of the story of Moses from the bible which tells the story in a way that makes both Moses and Ramases sympathetic to the audience which made it become a critical and commercial success upon its initial release. The theme song came from two of the biggest divas of the decade which ended up winning an academy award for the film.
Well Sisqo's success the following year had to come from somewhere, so here's the final hit that his band Dru hill had before he embarked on a solo career which began with his infamous song "Thong song." This has nothing to do with the Bee gees classic of the same name, I'd just thought I'd mention that here as there were two RNB covers of that track throughout the decade from Portrait and Take that.
Apparently, this cover of the Bangles classic was meant to be a tie into a Happy day's musical that premiered this year, although I doubt anyone even remembers this and likely thinks this was just the big hit off their second album which was named as a way of counting down to the new millennium. They would have further success in the 00's still as a boy band before switching over to being a throwback group.
This was a surprise hit for west coast rapper Terrance Quaites AKA TQ considering it was released the previous year to massive success worldwide except for Australia, I guess the popularity of 2Pac from beyond the grave convinced us there was still merit to be found in west coast hip hop in the final year of the 90's. He wasn't able to achieve any other hits worldwide, making him a one hit wonder with this track.
Although their previous album One hot minute was a huge commercial success for the band (regardless of what the A.V club will tell you) it didn't spawn a hit for them which makes this lead single from their album Californication a comeback for them on the singles chart. This was a return to their sound from earlier in the decade now that John Frusciante was back in the band, and they weren't political anymore.
This was the final hit single that Celine Dion was able to score in her career in most parts of the world, mainly due to it being the perfect book end to a highly successful decade as this serves as the lead single to her pseudo greatest hits package All the way a decade of song that also has enough new tracks to qualify for a studio album. I guess she could've had more success if she didn't embarrass herself at Vegas in 2002.
This was another American DJ to not find any success in his native America but have tons of success worldwide, indeed Armand Van Helden managed to go to number one on the UK charts with this track which no doubt helped him find an audience around the world including here in Australia where EDM was still at the height of its popularity.
Five were so inescapable this year that they managed to score a fourth hit in a row from their debut album, which meant that they scored a total of six consecutive hits here in Australia with all of the entries we've looked at so far on this site. That's impressive given how the band would be yesterday's news within a few years into the new millennium.
This was originally the second single from Chris Isaak's biggest album Forever blue, it flopped here likely due to how inescapable the album was but was given a second chance four years later when it appeared in the film Eyes wide shut. The film is notable for being the last one to be directed by Stanley Kubrick before his death and also for being the third to star husband and wife Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
This could've very well been the last hit single that Mariah Carey had in Australia given what was about to come next for her in the new millennium (we won't be discussing it here.) Fortunately, she was able to return with her 2005 effort the Emancipation of Mimi which we'll get to on the 2005 list. For now, we have this anthem about sticking it to the cheating scumbag that Mariah was dating at the time complete with a huge budget music video.
Tina Cousins originally released her debut album to deafening silence in her native UK the previous year, however thanks to her involvement with the Abba tribute from earlier on this list, said album was given a second chance in Australia where it spawned two big hits for her beginning with this dance track about how she feels alone without the love of her life. The video highlights the feeling of emptiness in the lyrics by having he be stranded on an island that appears to be abandoned.
This was the son of Randy Bachman, the lead singer of Bachman Turner Overdrive who scored a massive hit with "You ain't seen nothing yet" around the time Tal would've been six years old. Fast forward 25 years and he scored his own hit with this track about how the love of his life is like that of several feminist icons throughout history, it became overused in films due to the lyrics and the sound of the track.
This was the debut single for Vanessa Amorosi, it's a more conventional teen pop song about how she realises what a nasty person she was in a relationship only after her ex has moved onto someone else. She was only young at the time, so I feel that she gets a pass for having this as her debut when the rest of her early catalogue is far more mature.
We have another contender for the boy band wars of the 90's, this time it's Taxiride who like Hanson and Ultra played their own instruments which helped them compete in the market for teenage girls who appreciated these types of musicians. This was their second single after the commercial disappointment of their first single "Get set," both of these songs being well remembered years after their relevancy died out.
This was the last hit that Living end scored in Australia for quite some time, I get the feeling they were the victims of digital piracy throughout the 00's as their next hit wouldn't come until "White noise" almost a decade later when digital downloads were well and truly legal in Australia. This was the third single from their debut album, which is why it managed to become a hit this year.
This was another double feature that was available in the late 90's, this time we have two songs from Steos which were bundled together to boost the popularity of the band right as the decade was coming to an end. The first track was a song tailor made to get to number one in their native UK for the Christmas period (it worked of course) the second was their cover of the Bee gees classic from 1979.
Well, everybody's got to begin somewhere in the music industry, for Eminem it was this novelty track which serves as a literal introduction to his music given that the lyrics are about who he is as a person. This looked like it was going to trap him in the one hit wonder bin due to how much of a novelty it remains to this day, however his next album would become the first big seller hip hop album in the industry.
While this wasn't the first hit that Enrique Iglesias had in his career, it was the first one he had in the English-speaking market given how it was his first song he recorded in English. I guess the Latin craze wasn't as successful here in Australia given how he would only be a bestselling artist here with his next album, specifically when the lead single became the unofficial anthem for 9/11.
This was a two for one deal as Fuel were among the more popular international bands to emerge from Triple J's recommendations as the decade was coming to an end. As such we have their two songs "Shimmer" and "Sunburn" which were both popular enough to have this double track be one of the longer running hit singles of its time.
Billed as the world's first digital supergroup, we have this CGI nightmare scoring a massive worldwide hit thanks to the novelty of their existence as well as it being an update of the popular Greek track from the 60's which I'm sure many older audiences were having fond nostalgia for as the decade was coming to an end.
This was the advanced single for Smash mouth's second album Astro lounge, although I feel this was more a success due to it being a cover of a Four seasons track which apparently was a popular thing to do around this time. This was the last song they released before they appeared on the Galaxy quest soundtrack with a song that has forever solidified them as a meme.
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