NZ hits of 1991

This was a year with a bit if an identity crisis, we had the likes of adult contemporary, new Jack seeing and even Christian music making it big in the mainstream.

One thing I'll say here that I didn't mention on the Australian side of this site is that this didn't get to number one in the duo's native UK, this was due to the song being blocked from the top spot from Bryan Adams mammoth sixteen week run at the top spot over there. It's a reason as to why people have come to despise that song over the years due to it blocking a fun joke song aimed at narcissists.

This was a massive success for the NZ hard rock band Push push, so much so that it even had mild success here in Australia when it was released as a single here due to its success over there as well as it being a rock track. Sadly, this was the best they could do over here, although they found better luck in their homeland as their album was a moderate success for them.

Well, it appears everyone in the world except for America wanted to hear Nancy Cartwright sing a song about doing a dance based on her signature character that was written by the king of pop back in the day, this led to the cast releasing an album where they did similar songs in their cartoon voices which proved to be a massive success in certain parts of the world.

Well, this was the first hip hop single to go to number one in America, so naturally the kiwis would follow suit in making it a success as it was everywhere else in the world. At least they had a more credible song to take home the prize of being the first hip hop single to top the charts over there than even us Aussies, Run DMC certainly is a cooler hip hop group nowadays than this guy was.

Even though everyone involved on this track was American, this was originally a hit in the UK before it crossed over to their native America which was a fairly common trend for American artists throughout the 90's. There was little doubt this would be an even bigger success in NZ considering how they were essentially the RNB equivalent of Black Box, right down to having controversies with Martha Walsh.

I think America was the only place in the world where these guys didn't have a hit with their iconic track from the mid 60's this year because of its inclusion in that titillating scene in Ghost, although it did take a bit longer for it to become a hit in NZ compared to here in Australia and throughout Europe for some reason.

These guys were previously known as the Dance exponents in NZ back in the 80's, although contrary to popular belief they weren't in fact a dance band and were more in line with new wave and pub rock. They rebranded themselves as the Exponents entering the 90's which allowed them to score massive success in their homeland during the first stretch of the decade.

This wound up being slightly more successful in NZ than the first song from the Use your illusions era, only slightly though as "You could be mine" was a strong start to this era for the band over there given how it was the theme to the second Terminator film initially.

This was the song which finally made AC/DC a household name in NZ, again likely due to how distinct it is from the rest of their catalogue which I'm guessing is what the kiwis needed to finally give them a hit over there. The band had little trouble finding success after this given how their album was not only a huge success over there but so were the singles and even some of their other songs from the 90's.

MJ was on a roll when he released this track about how everyone deserves to be treated with respect regardless of the colour of their skin (a message that feels more poignant now than ever) from the positive message of the track to it being a bop to listen to, it remains an iconic track in his catalogue to this day.

This had a bit of a delay to its success in NZ, suggesting the kiwis weren't interested in handing success to this sequel band to the Clash Mick Jones formed following him getting fired from the band in the mid 80's. They quickly changed their minds when this became a huge success here in Australia which led to them and the Clash scoring further success around this time due to Mick's renewed popularity.

The 90's had just began and there was already a call for 70's nostalgia worldwide as this one and only hit from Deee lite became a massive success everywhere in the world with the trio delivering the nostalgia people wanted. Their native America was the last place in the world where this caught on as it only did so months after it became a massive success in Australia, NZ and the UK.

This was only slightly bigger in NZ than their debut single (which we'll look at shortly) I'm guessing the world wanted a more upbeat track from these guys than their smoother RNB that kickstarted their career. Interestingly, this wasn't released as a single in their native America until after they had a number one hit with "I adore mi amor," meaning they had two ballads over there before they had an upbeat track.

Enigma was off to a good start in the career when their debut single became a massive success worldwide, it was the conformation that new age music would be one of the more popular genres in the world regardless of where you were from as they would find further success with their next album as well.

This was one of a surprising number of American rappers to find massive success in NZ despite being a massive flop in their native America, then again, the amount of EDM artists that made it big here in Australia throughout the 90's despite them failing to do so in their local music scenes was astronomical so perhaps this was the kiwis' trend in the music scene this decade.

A band as extreme as err.... Extreme would surely have success with one of their hair metal tracks that was all the rage during their initial breakthrough in their native America in the late 80's. That wasn't the case anywhere else in the world as they largely remain a one hit wonder with this ballad that was an even bigger success in NZ for them, although they did achieve moderate success with the second single from their album Pornograffiti over there.

Much like in Australia, this was the first major hit that Bryan Adams had in NZ despite having a highly successful album from the mid 80's over there. I guess the Kevin Costner adaptation of Robin hood was well received at the time even though nowadays it's heavily criticised for its more mature approach to the legend, that and people realised that Kevin couldn't do a plausible British accent for the character.

Even though this song about de stigmatising sex in the mainstream was still a massive hit for the hip hop trio in NZ, it curiously wasn't as big over there as it was over here where it was at its most popular. These girls were the rare exception to the rule where hip hop artists found more success in NZ than in Australia back in the day as it was the other way around for them.

Well, UB40 seemed to have been on top of the world as far as the kiwis were concerned, so of course their collaboration with Robert Palmer on this Bob Dylan cover would be a massive success for them much sooner than it was in Australia. I guess it was our love for Robert that allowed this to become a success here in Australia, although nowhere near as popular as it was over there.

This wasn't even the biggest hit that Guns N Roses managed to achieve in NZ this year and it was still much bigger over there than it was over here, I guess the kiwis really loved both Axel Rose and the Terminator films if this lead single can do so well over there and not in the bands native America.

Well, this was a hip hop track, so of course it would be an even bigger success in NZ than it was here in Australia. Even so, Dimples D really did become a pioneer for female hip hop as she used a really egregious (yet still infectiously catchy) sample in order for her to rap about her sexual nature on the track, although like Salt n Pepa she didn't have any success in her native America at this stage.

This was an even bigger hit in NZ as was the other big hit these guys had in Australia from earlier on this list, indeed Color me badd were more successful in NZ in general due to them being closer to the RNB and hip-hop categories which meant they were prime for success over there. Their success was limited to their first album as was the case throughout the rest of the world.

This was the first big hit that Boyz II Men had in NZ, it came a full year prior to when they broke chart records with "End of the road" which means they didn't come completely out of nowhere over there when they became the biggest musical act in the world. Here this is a ballad about how hard it is to move on from a situation, a song that's been played in various different scenarios to differing levels of success.

In case you were wondering, Mermaids is such a weird title for the movie this serves as a theme song to as aside from one scene where Cher dresses up as one for a costume party, the film has almost nothing to do with the concept of mermaids unless you make a very slim argument that the sexual themes of the film are based around how mermaids tend to lure in men to their doom. Even then, it's more the two leads that are dooming each other than anything.

This was originally a hit for the Steve Miller band here in Australia back in 1974, it wasn't a hit in NZ from what I can gather which is perhaps how it managed to become a massive success over there this year due to a highly successful ad campaign in the UK from the previous year. These campaigns were quite common throughout the 90's, hence why the UK charts is filled with reissues of older songs.

While this wasn't quite as inescapable in NZ as it was here in Australia for Prince, it was still a massive success over there given how the kiwis didn't seem to realise he was even gone as he never quite dropped off their radar even during his worst material over the last decade. Indeed, his comeback period in Australia was just business as usual over there for the Purple one.

Well, he did have a minor hit in Australia with his rendition of "Madame butterfly" in the mid 80's, so can we really be so surprised that Malcolm McLaren had a huge hit this year with a semi novelty track about opera music taking over the mainstream? This was the last time he troubled the charts anywhere in the world as the former Sex pistols manager struggled for mainstream relevancy after this,

This was the third biggest hit from MC Hammer's breakthrough album, although it was his second highest ranking album given how much like in Australia, parents would've appreciated him making a song about praying to the lord (also that Prince sample is pretty neat even nowadays.) He would have one more hit after this over there before becoming a joke much like everywhere else in the world.

I feel it was more than a coincidence that this was Bette Midler's final hit single in most parts of the world, after all the last thing anyone wants to hear is that God loves them but only under certain circumstances which is the whole point of this ballad. It has good intentions and Bette's performance does save it from people looking too far into the lyrics, however it's not fondly remembered these days.

Well given how even we Aussies were able to recognise the genius of this track about trying to get a hold of De la soul from around this time (it cracks me up every time I listen to it) it was only inevitable that it would be a massive hit for the trio in NZ given how the kiwis were more susceptible to hip hop from around this time than we Aussies were.

This was an even bigger success for C+C Music factory in NZ, likely due to it sounding like a McDonald's advert to them years before the restaurant chain would adopt this theme for themselves by reworking some of the lyrics for their brand. The duo would return bigger than ever later in the decade with their second album following the aftermath of their legal dispute with Martha Walsh.

Who would've thought that Aaron Neville got the big mainstream push from his collaboration with Linda Ronstadt from the start of the decade in NZ? While she never bothered the charts again anywhere in the world, Aaron scored a bunch of hits in NZ both solo and with his band the Neville brothers as recently as 1993 with this being the biggest hit of the bunch.

From what I can father, the Parker Project was a NZ band who scored a massive hit this year with their cover of the Johnny Nash track of the same name from 1975 only to forever fade into obscurity after it fell off the charts. This was another band that was surprisingly hard to find any information about on the internet, so I apologise for the vagueness of my commentary.

This was another track from AC/DC that sounded nothing like the rest of their catalogue, naturally it would be another big hit for the band in NZ despite it curiously flopping here in Australia for some reason. This wasn't their final hit over there as they would score one more hit with "Big gun" from the Last action hero soundtrack later in the decade.

This wasn't nearly as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, I'm guessing because while the kiwis found it irresistibly catchy like the rest of the world, they felt that there were other bands at the time that combined rock with soul that they could give their attention to (as we've seen on these lists already.) Still, it was a massive hit there even before it became a Billboard chart topper for the British/American band.

These guys were a two-hit wonder in NZ, although here they scored a hit with an RNB ballad meaning they were one of many groups to combine hip hop with RNB throughout the decade. As this was a huge hit for the group over there, you can be rest assured that their big hit from Australia "White men can't jump" was a massive success over there the following year from the film of the same name.

Given that New edition was no more (at least at this stage) this gave the members free reign to find success of their own which leads us to this one and only hit from Ralph Tresvant who scored a massive hit in NZ early in the year with this smooth new jack swing track. He didn't rise to the ranks of his fellow band mates even in his native America; however, this was a decent effort from him regardless.

Well, this proved to be an even bigger hit for Amy Grant than it was here in Australia, I guess the kiwis really wanted to hear some contemporary Christian music but settled for the least Christian song from her catalogue (at least as far as I'm aware.) Then again, this was a massive hit in the UK which is perhaps how it managed to crossover to the southern hemisphere in the first place.

This was the last hit that Jenny Morris was able to achieve in her career, at least she had a string of minor hits here in Australia throughout the 80's both solo and with her bands as opposed to NZ where she's a two-hit wonder with this and "She has to be loved" from two years prior. I guess the kiwis didn't have that much love for her after all despite how big both of these singles were over there.

This was the second big hit that the Exponents were able to have this year, again there was crossover potential for these guys here in Australia as was the case for Push push, however neither band managed to score that giant hit here they had over there this year.

I promised myself I would remain nice on this site no matter how I feel about the songs in questions, as such we have this collaboration from two artists I really enjoy otherwise which became a huge success in NZ for reasons I'm sure made sense at the time, but I don't get nowadays.

I forgot to mention on the Australian side of my site that this was a cover of a Rolling stones track from the height of their popularity in the mid 60's, this would explain the hippy vibes that the song has despite Mick Jagger and company never being a part of the hippy culture back in the day (at least as far as I'm aware they weren't.) For reasons I brought up when I last discussed this track, it was released slightly sooner over there than it was over here.

Even though this was eventually a minor hit later in the decade in Australia with "George," this was originally a hit this year for the Headless chickens given how it was more in line with the early UK rave scene of the 90's than the band's later material. It's little wonder that it was a huge hit for the band despite them having earlier entries on the NZ charts from the late 80's.

This was also a huge success for U2 upon its initial release in NZ as it was everywhere else in the world, everywhere except America because this was a huge flop on Billboard which is perhaps why people believe this wasn't the lead single of Achtung baby to this day.

These guys had been active for most of the 80's, however it wasn't until their 1989 album that they began having success in their native America with their RNB ballads. It wouldn't be until this became a chart topper for the group on Billboard that they finally had a hit outside of their homeland as this became a very big hit for the group in NZ this year for them.

This was the final hit that MC Hammer had in NZ, although notice how he dropped the MC from his stage name which suggests that even at this point he was noticing that he was becoming a target from other rappers in the music industry. It was still relatively harmless even with the expensive as hell music video, certainly compared to his next album where he tried to become a gangster rapper.

I didn't even realise how late to the party we Aussies were when it came to Mariah's second single from her debut album, I guess we felt she would be a one hit wonder with her debut single but then changed our minds about that when this became an international success for the pop diva. Naturally the kiwis didn't have this conundrum as this was an instant success for her over there.

This was also a huge success for Betty Boo in NZ this year, I'm guessing because it was heavily featured in season one of Beverly Hills 90210 (yes, I've seen the show and I agree the episodes are all too long for their own good.) This allowed the British female rapper to have a hit in the southern hemisphere which opened up doors for other female rappers throughout the decade here.

This was the last hit that Roxette had over in NZ, it's a pity because they would continue to find success here in Australia for the next two years before their career died out by appearing on the Super Mario Brothers soundtrack. They were another band that did very well with adapting to the trends of the 90's, even with the lack of success they had in NZ, at least it was still more noteworthy than many of their contemporaries.

I'm not sure how this hip hop track from Icy Blu managed to become a success here in Australia and NZ back in the day given how it was a massive flop for her in America, however it was a success in the southern hemisphere regardless for the underage rapper. It turns out she had a second single chart in NZ with "I wanna be your girl" which is somehow more of a novelty than this track was.

Even though "The fly" was a massive hit for U2 back in the day, people tend to believe this was the lead single from Achtung baby given how much more popular it's become over the years for the band compared to the actual lead single.

It turns out these guys had a ton of success in NZ throughout the 90's beginning with this big breakthrough they had in their native America, no doubt this was going to be a success for them given how this was during the height of the new jack swing era. They would continue to score massive success in NZ and on the Billboard charts with their subsequent releases throughout the decade.

It seems the kiwis were equally as titillated by this first bonus track from the Immaculate collection as we Aussies were, although it clearly wasn't as much as her fellow Americans were as this went straight to number one on Billboard and became one of her biggest hits in America in her entire catalogue. It was likely the success of this track which led to her next album being all about sexual provocation.

This was the third time that the Anita Ward classic managed to be a success in NZ, or at least it was if we ignore the fact that DJ Jazzy Jeff merely sampled the chorus of the original to allow Will Smith to spit his own rhymes about him hitting on a person he has the hots for. It was a surprise success in NZ likely due to the success of "Summertime" which was their big breakthrough in their native America.

This was a much bigger hit in NZ for Seal than it was here in Australia, I'm guessing because EDM was still more popular over there at the time given how this was while he was little more than a vocalist for some catchy beats from the UK scene. Strangely enough, this was his only big hit over there as "Kiss from a rose" would greatly underperform later in the decade compared to the rest of the world.

It looks like Paul Hardcastle scored more than one hit after all, although this second hit was only as such for him in NZ as this was a house track from the man who scored a massive worldwide hit five years prior with "19." Tony Mac was the credited vocalist on this track given how "19" was a spoken word track about the trials and tribulations of the Vietnam war which wasn't going to fly on this track.

Much like the rest of the world, it appears that Rod Stewart was able to resume his career where it left off in the 70's in NZ as if there hadn't been an entire decade of silence from him over there. At least we Aussies gave him the occasional hit throughout the 80's, Rod hadn't had a hit over there since "Passion" from over ten years prior.

This charted higher in NZ than it did in Australia, although that doesn't mean it was more successful given it has roughly the same placement on this list as it does on the Australian side of my site. This was originally a hit in the UK for the American duo before it crossed over to America, I'm guessing because the kiwis recognised the sample from Spandau ballet before their fellow Americans did.

This was a massive hit for the NZ band Moana and the Moahunters, a group of Maori musicians who scored their one and only hit this year with this pop track during the early months of the year. They did have songs and even albums released before and since this one big hit from them, however this was the only success they had in their career.

Although this appears in roughly the same position on this side of my site as it does on the Australian side, I should point out that this was much more of a success in NZ albeit as a sleeper hit as it didn't peak very high like it did throughout the rest of the world. I guess the kiwis were a bit put off by what EMF stood for but eventually came around due to how incessantly catchy the song was.

This was another song from Mariah Carey that proved to be more successful in NZ than it was here in Australia, she was really on a roll this year even if she only had one chart topper outside of Billboard with "Vision of love" from the previous year. Her second international chart topper came when she performed "I'll be there" on MTV unplugged to silence those rumours that she was lip synching on her albums.

Although this wasn't as big a hit as their first two singles in NZ, this ballad was nonetheless quite huge over there likely due to it being their first Billboard chart topper as well as this type of ballad being ubiquitous over there at the time. It was a huge flop here in Australia, meaning that we Aussies didn't want to hear any more from these guys.

This was originally released two years prior to deafening silence for Chris Isaak, I'm guessing because it came out too soon after the tragic passing of Roy Orbison and many people found it to be too similar to one of his songs to be worth listening to without it coming off as poor taste for the passing legend. It was given a second chance this year when it was featured in the David Lynch film Wild at heart.

Well, this was so much less successful in NZ for Martika than it was here in Australia, admittedly it's more surprising it was so successful here than anything considering it wasn't that big of a hit in her native America or the UK either. In fact, it's failure internationally led to her retiring from music after she was done promoting her second album the following year.

It's a bit curious this was merely equally as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia given how you'd think this would've been an easy chart topper for Natural selection over there with how similar it is to many of the other tracks on this list, alas it appears the kiwis didn't have as much love for this as their fellow Americans did.

Well, I did mention earlier on this list that this was likely the reason why the duo's cover of "Ring my bell" was a massive success over in NZ, so let's look at this summer jam that the duo put out which made them a household name in the music industry following the success of Will Smith's show at the time. I'm not sure why this flopped here in Australia as we Aussies gave them a massive hit with "Boom shake the room" later in the decade.

I don't think I've elaborated on what the Baggy sub-genre was despite already mentioning it on this site, it's basically a combination of EDM and psychedelia which was popular in the UK by bands and artists such as the Stone roses and Happy Mondays. They didn't have any success outside of their homeland, but these guys did as they scored a bit hit in NZ with this track about hippy culture.

This was an oddly good year for contemporary RNB in NZ following the success that Surface had in their native America from earlier on this list, indeed this proved to be a much bigger hit over there than it was in the Rude boys native America which is one of many RNB tracks from American groups to do so this decade.

He may have had two failed bands by this point, however Jimmy Somerville still wasn't going to give up in being a successful pop star as he released his first solo single which was a reggae cover of the Bee gees classic from the late 60's. Naturally the kiwis ate this song up given how it was a song from the queer performer and was a reggae cover of an older track, two trends that they were into at the time.

This was only one of two hits that After 7 had in NZ, they were a new jack swing trio similar to Tony Toni Tone from earlier on this list who unfortunately didn't see the same level of success as those guys did. Curiously, they did manage to score a minor hit later in the decade with "Till you do me right" over there and in Australia, proving that there was some crossover potential in the group.

This almost made it to the Australian side of my site, it only didn't because I didn't want my lists to be too exhausting for my readers which meant I had to make a cut off point for each of them. Fortunately, this easily cleared that cutoff point on the NZ side of my site likely due to the kiwis finding much to love for this song back in the day despite it facing a lawsuit against Wild cherry's song of the same name.

Well, it looks like the kiwis had already grown tired of Paula Abdul going into her second album, I guess this was a hit for the pop star over there due to how inescapable it was throughout the rest of the world, however it's clear that they were ready to move on from her to the likes of the pop divas from earlier on this list.

I really wasn't expecting to feature Anthrax on this site given how they're about as far away you can get from commercially accessible music (especially for the early 90's) however it appears the kiwis were big fans of their collaboration with Chuck D from Public Enemy (hey that rhymes) which is likely the reason why Metallica didn't see much success with their sellout material over there this decade.

Even though they didn't see any prior success in NZ with their earlier work, this lead single to the Rockmelon's second album was released the same time over there as it was over here even if it had all of its success confided to this year as opposed to having its success stretched out to the following year down under. I guess the kiwis were really hungry for covers of Bill Withers catalogue if this was the case.

Much like Australia, Bryan's earlier entry on this list was pulled from shelves in NZ to encourage the sales of this second single from Waking up the neighbours as well as the album itself. I think this was the only time where this method worked out as every other time I've seen a song pulled from shelves to encourage album sales resulted in the album either doing just as well if this tactic wasn't applied or it being worse off for it.

The hits just kept on coming for Push Push this year in their homeland, again this didn't chart here in Australia due to us Aussies rejecting the hard rock band for some reason despite how inescapable they were over there.

You'd think this breakthrough single from Lenny Kravitz would've been an even bigger hit in NZ than it was here in Australia, alas that wasn't the case despite it charting higher over there than it did over here which suggests that at least initially, the kiwis were more intrigued by this track than we Aussies were this year. His success would grow over there throughout the decade just like it did over here.

Sandwiched between their two earlier entries was this second single from C+C Music factory's debut album, I guess there's not much to say about this track that doesn't apply to the other two entries on this list other than to go into further detail about who Freedom Williams was. He was the rapper of the group, meaning he at least was able to receive full credit on the tracks unlike Martha Walsh.

This was the fourth and final single to come from MC Hammer's breakthrough album, you'd think that it was made for a TV series given how often he insists that the Hammer is coming until you remember there was a TV show starring the rapper that had a much lamer theme that went with it than this song. It's almost tragic to think that he would abandon this image a mere two years later as hip hop evolved.

This was that second single that Extreme had a hit with over in NZ this year from their breakthrough album, it's a better representation of their sound even if it's not as aggressive as their previous material was. It's kind of like a track from Metallica's black album the more I think about it, which I guess explains why fans consider this to be the point of no return for their catalogue.

I guess the kiwis were a bit iffy about having this duet be a success back in the day given how there was worldwide criticism towards Natalie making this virtual duet with her father who had been dead for nearly thirty years at the time of its release. They did make this a moderate success over there as it's clear she had the best intentions with this cover; however, it did sadly normalise the art of artistic grave robbery over the years.

This is the only appearance that Metallica will be making on this side of my site as it appears the kiwis weren't as impressed with their post sellout material as we Aussies were throughout the decade, in fact it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that their biggest hit over there was a song that's in that perfect middle ground of sounding like something from their classic period whilst coming from their sellout period.

It appears the kiwis weren't as impressed with this mashup of "Greased lightning," You're the one that I want" and "Summer nights" as we Aussies were given how much less successful it was over there compared to over here, still they did have some love for it as opposed to many other mashups which flopped over there big time.

This was the lead single to Crowded house's third album Woodface, although it was a hit for the band back in the day over in NZ, it's largely been overshadowed by the other singles from the album due to how little airplay it receives on oldies stations compared to the likes of "Weather with you" and "It's only natural."