NZ hits of 1984

By far the most colourful year in music, this was when MTV became such a cultural juggernaut that artists began prioritising their music videos over their music which resulted in some of the wackiest imagery one could conjure up from around this time.

Unlike in Australia where this was only a moderate success for New order, this was arguably the biggest hit of the decade due to its refusal to die on their charts for such a long time. Indeed, this song was so popular that it lasted well over two years on the singles charts which was unheard of by the 80's over there.

It appears that even the kiwis weren't able to resist the charms of Kenny and Dolly on this bit hit of theirs, I bring this up because neither of them had that much success over there prior to this point which makes this duet's success all the more heartwarming for them.

Well, this songs controversy would've been much more pronounced in NZ as "I want a new drug" was actually a moderate success over there shortly before the song's release (it won't be appearing on this site I'm afraid.) The two men settled out of court over a decade later despite it being obvious that the two melodies were almost identical to each other.

This was a massive success for Patea Maori club back in the day, so much so that it became a success again nearly thirty years later in 2010 proving how much the kiwis love this hybrid of new wave and traditional Maoris music. It remains their only hit over there, although given it was a hit twice, I don't think the band minds.

Well, there's no surprise that this was a huge success for Stevie Wonder in NZ, it won the Oscar for best original song for a movie I doubt even 80's afficionados care about these days which made it one of the biggest hits of the decade worldwide.

Much like in Australia, this was technically the first solo single from George Michael as it curiously wasn't credited to Wham despite it appearing on their second album as the final track. It was credited to Wham on the American release, likely to not confuse American fans due to this only being the duo's second single over there.

This was a massive hit in NZ this year, although it was only due to it being a sleeper hit here in Australia from the previous year as this was a flop in the duo's native UK upon its initial release two years prior. This was the last big hit over there to come from the Celtic subculture for the rest of the 80's.

There was little doubt that this second single from Culture Club's biggest album would be a success in NZ like it was throughout the rest of the world, even taking into consideration that they weren't as big over there as they were in Australia, this was a song that was too catchy for it to fail and came complete with a video that's still fun to watch even to this day.

From what I can gather, Audrey Landers was a failed American actress who scored a hit in NZ and throughout Europe with this European pop track in an attempt to launch her singing career. The song was a massive success for her; however, she remains a one hit wonder everywhere where this charted given how she wasn't much of a vocalist either.

While this had a somewhat delayed release in NZ, the kiwis more than made up for this by having it be a far bigger hit over there than it was here in Australia. In fact, the band was even able to score a second minor hit around this time with "I wanna rock," a song you may recognise if you're a SpongeBob fan as it was parodied in the first SpongeBob squarepants film.

While this was a bit late to the party in NZ for KC and the Sunshine Band, it was still a massive success for the band which was further proof that disco was still yet to be dead everywhere in the world except for America. There's a bit of minor controversy with the lyrics as they do seem a bit forward even with the implications of the person KC is hitting on wanting to be with someone for themselves.

Chaka Khan was a one hit wonder in NZ like she was here in Australia, I'm not sure why as some of her work from the 70's does find its way into oldies stations in both countries, but I guess she needed to cover a Prince track and have a guest verse from Grandmaster Melle in order to make it big in the southern hemisphere. I'm not sure why Grandmaster Melle isn't credited on this track other than perhaps rap features not getting credits back in the day.

This was the only success that the NZ band the Mockers managed to achieve in their homeland, it was a massive success for them but not enough to grant them any other hits there or a crossover success in Australia.

One of the most important political figures in history was Nelson Mandela, although his true achievements came after he was released from prison in 1989 where he led a campaign to put an end to apartheid which was an oppressive regime happening in Africa that I'm not going to get into on this site. Many protest songs were made during his imprisonment to have him released, this from the Special AKA being the biggest and most impactful of them all.

This was a massive hit for Duran Duran around the world back in the day, although I get the feeling that if they had of gone with "The reflex" as the lead single to their third album they would've had a song as inescapable as some of the earlier entries on this list worldwide given how popular that would become from the album. At least these guys would continue to have success well into the second half of the 80's in NZ as opposed to Australia.

While this did chart here in Australia following the success of Bob Marley's greatest hits album, it was a massive success in NZ due to how much the kiwis loved his music in the mainstream even after his tragic death from earlier in the decade. Even after his demise, he never found success in America which is at least something the rest of the world can brag about when it comes to his catalogue.

This was the only hit that Men without hats had in most parts of the world, at least it was nearly a chart topper in NZ proving how much the kiwis loved this ode to dancing however you want to dance when at a show. They almost scored a second hit much later in the decade with "Pop goes the world," which goes to show they weren't always doomed to be a one hit wonder over there.

Even without performing this on a Countdown equivalent in NZ (I forgot to mention this is how Cyndi got big here in Australia) this debut single from her was able to become a massive hit for her over there due to it being adopted as a feminist anthem given how we were years off from the likes of "I feel like a woman" and "Sisters are doing it for themselves."

This is one of those funk tracks that would've been inescapable in the 70's, I guess the usage of synthesisers allowed it to find an audience this decade for Midnight Star in NZ and virtually nowhere else in the world. They were basically Cameo before those guys stripped back their sound, Cameo being more in line with a funk band around this time before they too adopted synthesisers for their big hit.

For whatever reason, Lionel Richie didn't have as much success in NZ as he did in Australia during his solo career, I'm guessing this was because the kiwis already made him a household name during his time with the Commodores throughout the 70's and even earlier in the 80's. Even so, he still saw massive success over there including with the lead single to his biggest album Can't slow down.

It looks like the kiwis were touched by this open love letter to Christine Brinkley as this easily remains Billy Joel's biggest hit over there, there was a bit of competition for that title here in Australia given how "River of dreams," "We didn't start the fire" and "A matter of trust" were all big hits here; however, this was still the big hit for him over here as well.

This was Kenny Loggins only hit in NZ, for some reason "Danger zone" was a complete flop over there from the Top gun soundtrack meaning the kiwis will only know him from his theme to Footloose from this year. At least it managed to match the success it had here in Australia and his native America.

Well, this didn't last over a year on the NZ charts, I'm guessing because it wasn't bundled with "Pink Cadillac" midway through its chart run in order to triple its time on their charts like it did down under. Either way, this lead single to Born in the U.S.A was nonetheless the biggest hit that Bruce Springsteen was able to score over there, likely due to how incessantly catchy it is compared to the rest of his catalogue.

The hits kept on coming for Billy Idol in NZ this year as the title track to his second album proved to be an even bigger success over there than it was here for him. He was still yet to have any success in the northern hemisphere during this phase of his career, however that came the following year when he suddenly scored a string of hits in his native NZ with all the entries I've featured on these lists.

This was a much bigger hit for U2 in NZ, likely because this is in fact a protest song for Martin Luther King and that this was an excellent time to pay tribute to historical leaders of colour if the protest song for Nelson Mandela from earlier on this list is anything to go by. Like everywhere else in the world, it was the first big hit that the band was able to achieve, although it certainly wouldn't be the last.

This was a much bigger hit in NZ than it was here in Australia, I'm guessing there were more kiwis who appreciated the story of a closeted gay man being outed as such and thus needing to make it on his own in a homophobic world than there were Aussies back in the day. While this was a big hit here in Australia, the fact it was even bigger over there and came from a highly successful album shows you how much the kiwis appreciated this.

Well, I'm not going to bore you with a history lesson on how this song came to be like I did on the Australian side of my site, instead I'll bring up that the song was curiously pulled from shelves back in the day likely to encourage album sales form the band that obviously didn't end up happening for them.

I guess by this time this magnum opus was released in NZ, the kiwis had already begun to fall out of love with the Purple one given how it wasn't as big a hit over there as it was worldwide. That said, his popularity only dwindled ever so slightly as he would remain popular over there consistently for the next ten years, not like here in Australia where the next decade would be a rollercoaster for his success.

Although he had yet to have that runaway hit in NZ, he did have slightly more success overall in the 70's over there which means this is still a huge comeback for him this far into the 80's. It didn't last as long on their charts; however, it was a number one hit during the summer of 1984/1985 which I feel more than makes up for that.

This was a very busy year for Tina Turner given how she managed to score a massive comeback with her album, although this wasn't the only hit she had in NZ as there's still another entry to come further down this list from her. While this didn't quite get to number one over there, it was nonetheless equally as successful there as it was here in Australia.

While they already had moderate success in NZ with their album Eliminator from the previous year, it certainly received a boost in popularity over there when this became a massive success for the trio around the time it was a worldwide success for them. Although they're a one hit wonder over there like they were everywhere else in the world, at least the kiwis tried to give them a second hit later in the decade.

Well, I did mention when I talked about this on the Australian side of my site that this was a hit in NZ a good six months prior to it crossing over here in Australia, this is because it came from the Dutch band Time bandits who had the fortune of being from the Netherlands which made it a show in for success over there. Curiously their other big hit in Australia "Endless road" wasn't a hit over there for some reason.

This was equally as successful in NZ for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as it was here in Australia despite it charting higher over there, I guess the kiwis were also impressed with this more politically charged track that was reportedly inspired by the Mad Max films of the day. We'll be looking at their debut single again in a bit, but it's odd that this was their biggest hit back in the day in the southern hemisphere.

This was a more popular hit in NZ than their signature tune "Wake me up before you go go," not that that wasn't a hit over there (it was) but it just wasn't as successful as some of the other songs from their catalogue back in the day. Another song this was more successful than over there was the George Michael track of the same name, although to be fair it was a much bigger hit than that here in Australia as well.

Interestingly, this was Bette Midler's biggest hit in NZ until "From a distance" claimed that title in the early 90's, meaning that this cover of the Rolling stones track from their 1978 album Some girls was bigger than some of her more iconic songs over there including "The rose" and even "Wind beneath my wings." I guess the kiwis really liked her take on the Rolling Stones track if this was the case.

Given how this was the lead single to Midnight oil's breakthrough album in NZ, it makes sense that it would be a much bigger hit over there given how "U.S forces" failed to become a huge success here in Australia which was the album's lead single the year prior. These guys would overall find more success over there than they did over here with their music, pretty impressive for such a politically charged band.

This was the only hit that the Cars were able to score in NZ, admittedly they were more of an albums band over there which is perhaps why their weakest hit here in Australia became their biggest hit over there in lieu of "Let's go" and "Shake it up." I would've gone for any number of other songs in their catalogue for their biggest hit, but I suppose this isn't a bad representation for their talents.

This was a success slightly sooner in NZ than it was here in Australia, I guess because the kiwis held off in making Band aid a success over there to allow this supergroup to become the big success story of the summer period of 1984/1985 over there.

This was the song that brought Tina Turner's career back from the dead given how it was a massive hit in the UK the previous year due to it being produced by the members of Heaven 17 during the height of their popularity in their homeland. Naturally this was a massive flop for her in her native America as her fellow Americans would only allow her to come back with her earlier entry on this list.

While we Aussies were certainly familiar with this novelty track from the British duo Black lace, we didn't allow to become too big of a hit for them here like it was in NZ and especially their native UK likely due to it being one of those novelty tracks that music afficionados love to hate on even before the existence of the internet.

OK so I stretched the truth a bit when I said that this was the only song that Willie Nelson bothered the international charts with, he did have a second hit in NZ the following year with Ray Charles, meaning that it's possible that he was trying to crossover to the crooner scene with these two men back in the day. It obviously didn't work as Willie is best known for his country ballads rather than being the white Julio Iglesias.

Well, this is a surprise, mainly because not only was this less successful in NZ than it was here in Australia or even America, but it wasn't even among Wham's most popular songs over there as several of their other hits back in the day were more popular over there than this signature track from the duo.

Well at least this bonus track from Duran Duran's live album was far from their biggest hit over in NZ, indeed this was only a hit for them over there due to their artist momentum which was arguably even more inescapable over there than it was here in Australia back in the day. Their next hit wouldn't come for another two years; however, they did score a big hit over there with "Notorious" which they didn't down under.

While this wasn't as bit a hit for MJ in NZ as it was here in Australia, it was still a massive hit for the king of pop likely due to the horror influences of the track standing out from the surprising number of horror pop that was coming out throughout the decade. In fact, he really should've released this around the Halloween period as then it would've been an easy worldwide chart topper for him.

This was the biggest hit that Berlin had in NZ, granted "Take my breath away" did chart over there, but it wasn't the big inescapable success that it was internationally likely due to the kiwis feeling that the band sold out with that ballad from Top gun. This did chart here in Australia due to the band performing it on Countdown this year, however only the kiwis got on board with this new wave dance track.

This was the first of two big hits that Jimmy Cliff had in NZ, the other was his cover of the Johnny Nash track "I can see clearly now" from the Cool running's soundtrack exactly a decade after this was a hit for him. Given how reggae music was massively popular in NZ (especially songs from Jamaican artists) it seems fitting that this hit from Jimmy Cliff would be as such over there.

This proved to be equally as successful in NZ for Culture club as it was here in Australia, after all, I think we can all agree that war is stupid, and people are stupid and..... yeah, this song is arguably one of the catchiest to become a hit throughout the decade so regardless of how people felt about the band, it was bound to be a worldwide hit regardless.

Although this was a much bigger hit in NZ than it was here in Australia (specifically over "Radio gaga" which is still to reappear on this list) I have to point out this was more of a sleeper hit as it was one a few songs on this list to hang around the lower half of their charts for most of the year for some reason. In any case, the band was able to retain their popularity that their previous single threatened to take away from them.

Even though these guys already had success from the previous year in NZ with their debut album, this lead single to their sophomore album wasn't any more or less successful over there than it was over here this year for the trio. In fact, the success of their second album was more or less the same in both countries in the southern hemisphere unlike their other two albums where they were much bigger over there.

This was the actual debut single from Sade Adu and company given how it came out before "Smooth operator" which remains their signature track to this day in most parts of the world. For the most part, the band didn't have any success with their singles in NZ as they were more of an albums band just like here in Australia, the exception was this song about how much Sade approves of her partners love.

Billy was on such a roll in NZ that he was able to release a track that he originally recorded with his old band Gen X as a solo single around this time which allowed him to score a massive hit with it over there. I'm surprised this was a flop here in Australia as I do often hear this on oldies stations from time to time, I'm guessing he had issues with his former band's label that he was able to get around over there.

This was less of a success in NZ than it was here in Australia, at least at first it was as I included the stats from its remix on this ranking given how the remix was slightly more popular over there than it was over here in Australia where it didn't affect this song's ranking on that side of my site. I guess it's safe to say that queer music from queer folk was very welcomed in the mainstream in the southern hemisphere.

I'm not even sure if this was released as a single in NZ prior to when "Automatic" became a surprise hit for the girls in the UK, if it was then it didn't even chart over there unlike here where it at least got in a few weeks towards the start of the year before fading into obscurity. Naturally it was a hit this year once their second single from Break out managed to almost top the British charts.

Well, it appears that the film this ballad was named after didn't appeal as much to the kiwis as it did internationally, then again Phil's solo career over there has been noticeably less successful given how this was one of his highest charting singles over there despite it not getting to number one. In fact, he never had a number one hit over there both solo and with Genesis, unless of course you count that ad jingle from 2008.

This was the only hit that Herbie Hancock was able to achieve throughout his career, it's an instrumental that comes with a video that would've been a shoe in for my weirdest music videos list had it been a bigger hit in Australia. In fact, this was a minor success here back in the day, although it needed several attempts to crossover likely due to how strange this was even for the time it was released.

This was technically the biggest hit that Simple minds had in NZ, I say technically as it was indeed their highest charting single even though they would have bigger hits as the decade went on over there. This was a sleeper hit here in Australia, meaning it could've made the cut on this list on the Australian side of my site if I didn't prioritise songs that charted longer in the upper echelons of the charts here.

This was also the first major hit that INXS had over in NZ, although it was also the first song that charted over there given how the band had no success with their earlier material in the 80's. This will be one of only five singles of theirs to appear on this side of my side, I bring this up because they weren't as successful over there as you might think given how big they became internationally.

Although this charted higher in NZ than it did here in Australia, it wound up being equally as successful in both countries thanks to how quirky the song is from the unconventional singer Matthew Wilder. Also, something both countries have in common is that the cover version from the 90's wound up being more successful, possibly due to nostalgia we Aussies and kiwis had of this track over a decade after its release.

This was another successful song from an Australian band in NZ this year, I guess the kiwis found this bouncy enough for it to be a success for the Eurogliders given how it was this bounciness and the lyrics about if heaven really does exist or not were the reasons why it nearly topped the Australian charts this year. They're sadly a one hit wonder over there as none of their other singles or albums charted.

By all accounts this should be even higher on this list as this also refused to die on the NZ charts back in the day, alas it was only the case on the lower half of their charts hence why it isn't towards the top of this list like their earlier entry is. Aside from that, it had a similar run of success over there proving how much the kiwis loved these guys back in the day.

I'm not exactly sure how this managed to be a huge hit for Pseudo Echo in NZ and not their debut single "Listening," perhaps the kiwis felt that the official version of that track was too overproduced (compared to the stripped back original version) and passed that up in favour of this more stripped back follow up which was much less successful here in Australia.

Mondo Rock were never able to achieve a single hit over in NZ throughout their career, in fact where it not for a reissue of their signature hit in 1990, Daddy Cool would've also gone unnoticed over there. I bring this up because the lead singer of both bands was married to Pat Wilson who managed to achieve a big hit this year with her one and only hit she had here in Australia likely thanks to the music video.

This was about as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, you'd think it would've been even bigger over there given how it remains their most popular song in American and their native UK, but I suppose the kiwis found it a bit too ridiculous for that to be the case back in the day. Still, it was a massive hit for the band regardless of where in the world you're from.

I mentioned in an earlier list that this duet between Shaking Stevens and Bonnie Tyler was a success in NZ back in the day, so here we are with their collaboration which is a rockabilly cover of a Priscilla Bowman track from the 50's which was a continuation of the trends the two Welsh performers were making in their respective careers. For him it was rockabilly covers and for her it was getting established as a rock star.

Well, this managed to be a hit for Steve Perry in NZ as well despite his band Journey also failing to score a single hit over there back in the day, in fact I'm surprised Journey didn't have any success outside their native America given how their arena rock would've fitted in perfectly with the MTV generation.

This was also a cover from Paul Young even if it came from an obscure artist that no one's likely heard of, I guess it was due to the obscurity of the original track that this became his biggest hit in NZ as it flew up to number one in the early months of the year for the English crooner. Interestingly, "Love of the common people" would be less successful over there than it was over here even if it's still to come on this list.

Well, this proved to be much less successful in NZ than it was here in Australia, I guess her having all of this success with her albums over there prevented her from having a giant hit on their singles charts like she did here in Australia. I didn't mention the video on the Australian side of this site which no doubt was a large reason why it was such a huge hit for her back in the day, mainly because of it contextualising this as a female empowerment anthem.

I would've thought this second single from Footloose would be even bigger in NZ considering A: the kiwis not allowing successful albums to impact the success of popular songs back in the day like we Aussies did and B: Deniece Williams already having a massive solo hit over there with "It's gonna take a miracle" from two years prior. I guess they weren't as invested in that scene in the movie where Kevin Bacon teaches that other kid how to dance as the rest of the world was.

This was far less popular over in NZ than it was here in Australia for Queen, I guess the kiwis weren't as impressed with the band returning to their glam rock roots on this track given how much more popular their earlier entry was over there this year. That said, they would retain some of their popularity during the second half of the decade over there despite the backlash they received from performing at Sun City this year.

This was the final hit that Kool and the Gang were able to achieve in NZ, it's curious how they didn't score a hit over there with their one and only Australian hit (even though technically it was three hits in one the following year but still.) This is also one of their less fondly remembered track likely due to it being released this far into the 80's.

I think people tend to forget that this isn't an MJ song given how little respect Rockwell has gotten over the years, although admittedly his verses aren't the reason why this song has endured as they're mostly about how paranoid he is which is a recurring theme for MJ's later discography. If you didn't already know, Rockwell is the eldest child of Berry Gordy who was the founder of Motown.

Well, this was far less successful in NZ than it was here in Australia, true it went to number one over there; however, it very quickly fell from their charts likely due to the kiwis realising that it was a stalker anthem which is also the likely explanation I gave for why "Every breath you take" wasn't that big over there the previous year.

Well, I guess I should expand upon the song itself given how I brought up Cyndi's appeal back in the day when I talked about this song on the Australian side of this site, it was a big success in America and the UK as it became her first Billboard chart topper as well as it being much bigger in both countries than her earlier entry on this list. It was equally as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia despite having a higher peak over there.

This was only a minor hit here in Australia this year, although at least it charted for a while here where it became a sleeper hit which is more than I can say for the likes of "Long hot summer" and "Walls come tumbling down" which have both surpassed this song as the signature tracks for the band. It was more of a success in NZ likely due to how the kiwis were quick in making them a household name over there.

While this did float around in the lower half of the charts in NZ prior to its surprise success in the UK, it wasn't until their earlier entry was released that it skyrocketed towards the top half of the charts over there which confirmed that the Pointer sisters were a household name there like they were over here throughout the decade. It still blows my mind how much less popular the trio were over there compared to over here.

The winning streak that Billy Idol had in NZ continued with his second single from his second album as it too managed to be more popular over there than it was over here for the punk rocker, although you'd think it would've been an even bigger hit given how it was the song that finally broke him through over in America. I guess it was a bit ahead of its time given how it's a sophistopop track made prior to that genres peak.

This was another post disco hit that managed to become a success in NZ throughout the 80's, although I get the feeling it was more due to Shannon's vocals on the track than the kiwis wanting to keep disco alive as it wasn't that big a hit compared to other 80's disco hits of the era. It was also her only hit, suggesting even they wanted to move on to other black music becoming popular of the day.

This was another song that could've made the cut on the Australian side of my site had I allowed myself to include as many minor hits in Australia throughout the years as there were, as such it missed the cut but was fortunately a much bigger hit in NZ for David Bowie likely due to how inescapably popular he was over there throughout the 80's.

Although they had more success in NZ overall than they did here in Australia, it's worth noting that this second single from the band was released slightly later over there than it was over here which admittedly didn't seem to hamper its success over there given how it managed to reappear on this side of my site.

This was originally a hit for Joy Division at the start of the decade in NZ, a number one hit in fact despite it being one of the weakest chart toppers of all time over there. It was given another life this year likely due to people predicting the end of the world due to the Orson Welles book named after this year, I bring this up because it was far from the only song to return to the NZ charts this year.

I guess the kiwis weren't as impressed with this ballad about how Elton believes that a sad song says so much about a relationship a lover is in as we Aussies were, admittedly he did struggle to score hits with his singles this decade as this is so far only the second song of his to reappear on this side of my site, however I would've thought his singles were more popular with the kiwis given how big his albums were over there.

These guys were on a roll as they released the lead single to their third and final album this year, it wouldn't be the biggest hit from said album as that would come the following year with "Magic" but this was nonetheless big enough to convince Dave Dobbyn to embark on a solo career once the album cycle came to an end.

This was the first hit that the Rolling stones had in NZ in the 80's, it's curious that they would have two hits in Australia prior to this and yet this would be a flop here despite it being a hit for them in NZ. They would score one more hit in both countries as well as the rest of the world with "Harlem shuffle" three years after this.

Given how songs from highly successful albums weren't impacted by said albums success over in NZ like they were here in Australia, this allowed the second single from Born in the U.S.A to become a massive hit over there where it was only a minor hit over here this year for Bruce Springsteen. That said, this was the only song from the album to benefit from this arrangement over there for him.

There was no escaping from Billy Idol over in NZ this year as he managed to score his sixth hit in a row over there with this third single to his second album, this hasn't been as fondly remembered over there years likely due to its failure here in Australia and throughout the rest of the world once he caught on with his previous entry on this list.

This was the only success that Australian crawl had over in NZ with both their singles and albums, I'm guessing this was because the kiwis felt that their inability to understand what James Reyne was singing on their other tracks was a hinderance to their enjoyability with their catalogue given how this was one of the rare songs that sees the frontman enunciating the lyrics in his performance.

Although it was less popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, this third single from Paul Young managed to be a huge success over there likely due to the winning streak he was on with his earlier entry on this list. Sadly, this would be the last hit single he had over there even though his second album would be a massive success with the kiwis the following year.

This was a moderate success here in Australia; however, it charted too low to appear on this list as it took its sweet time in finding an audience here from the end of the previous year. It was also slow in finding an audience in NZ, however once it did, it lingered in the upper half of their charts long enough to qualify for this list of mine, which allows me to feature one of the more seductive RNB tracks of the decade.

Cyndi was certainly on a roll this year as all three of her entries that I've featured from her debut album managed to reappear on this side of my site, although this proved to be far less popular over there than it was over here as was everything else she released outside of her debut single from earlier on this list.

This will be Wang Chung's only appearance on this side of my site as it appears the kiwis weren't as big of fans of them as we Aussies were back in the day; this was also the case for their fellow Brits as their popularity came more from America where this and their later material became a surprise success on the Billboard charts which of course translated to being a success here in Australia.

Remember how I said earlier that several songs charted this year for seemingly no reason? This is another case of a song becoming a success for a second time for reasons I described in the Joy division entry where I brought this phenomenon up. I guess this came back due to this being the height of Duran Duran's popularity worldwide.

Unlike here in Australia where Madonna was welcomed with open arms from the very beginning, it appears the kiwis were a bit more sceptical towards her brand of dance pop given how much less popular this breakthrough single was for her over there. Heck her debut album wouldn't even touch their charts until the following year when her sophomore effort took the world by storm.

I guess the kiwis weren't as humoured with this parody of "Beat it" as we Aussies were given how much less popular this was over there compared to over here, although Weird Al would eventually score that massive hit with the kiwis with his next MJ parody "Fat" four years later even though that underperformed on our charts.

Shalamar were able to escape the one hit wonder bin in NZ that "Second time around" threatened to trap them in at the start of the decade with this jam from the Footloose soundtrack, this is what plays when Ariel and company are dancing at the drive-in theatre which makes it the perfect rebellion anthem to play when out of touch authority figures try to dictate to you what you can and can't do in life.

This was the first notable success that the Chills were able to score in their career, it came months prior to when they scored their real success with their Lost E.P which put the NZ band on the map.