NZ hits of 2003

This was a rather slow year in music, I guess because digital piracy had taken full effect in the entertainment industry which harmed the success of certain bands and artists. At least it didn't affect everything in the music industry hence why we still have a solid selection of songs to go through on this list.

It seems odd that it would be the B-side to this debut single from Scribe that would be his big crossover success here in Australia given how that was only barely a success for him when it was given its own release separate from this entry. It was apparent that the kiwis were all about promoting their local hip hop scene this decade which is something we Aussies would do for our local hip hop scene the following decade.

It's hard for me to tell if "Boys of summer" was one of the biggest hits of the early 00's in NZ or if it had the assistance of "Heaven" given how on the one hand, the chart run suggested that the latter was added to the release as it rebounded just as it began to lose its popularity over there but on the other hand there's no evidence that "Heaven" ever had any success over there at all. I've included this as a double entry in case the former is true, however feel free to correct me if this isn't the case.

Given how BEP managed to achieve minor success in NZ from earlier in the decade with their hit single "Request + line," it only makes sense that this lead single to their third album was a massive success for them over in NZ like it was here in Australia. If you can believe it, it isn't among their most popular songs in their native America, likely because their popularity didn't explode over there until later in the decade.

There's little surprise this was equally as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia for 50 cent given how much buzz Eminem provided for him throughout the year, indeed his mentor even appears in the video as does Dr Dre who produced the song for the east coast rapper, which I guess means that this signaled the official end of the east coast/west coast rivalry.

I guess if you wanted to hear a NZ equivalent of KCI and Jo Jo then these two are able to fill that niche as that's the best way I can describe them and their music. Here they scored the first of three massive hits in their homeland with the same formula that their American counterpart did throughout the 90's, although unlike their American counterpart, their success only lasted them for one album in their homeland.

Although there won't be any other entries form Australian idol contestants on this side of my site, I should bring up that this victory single from Guy Sebastian is a better representation of how well it did here in Australia back in the day given how the kiwis obviously liked this song beyond the reason of its existence. As such, it had a much better chart run over there and no doubt led to the success of NZ idol months later.

There was little chance that this female equivalent to the Macarena would flop over in NZ considering how inescapable it was throughout the rest of the world, it wasn't quite as successful over there as it was here in Australia, although that might be because it had stiffer competition given that its success wasn't tampered with down under like many other entries on this list were.

This is another song on this list that didn't quite dominate the NZ charts the way it did here in Australia, again because it had much fairer competition over there than it did over here which is a theme that continues strong on this latest list of mine. If you can believe it, this was his first Billboard chart topper as nothing he released prior to his 2009 comeback managed to go to number one in America other than this.

This was an easy hit for Atomic Kitten over in NZ given how A: they were among the most successful groups of the decade so far worldwide and B: the Blondie track this interpolates on the chorus was and still remains one of the biggest nostalgia bombs for audiences to this day. These were both factors as to why it did well in Australia, so naturally it would continue their winning streak with the kiwis as well.

I get the feeling the kiwis didn't realise that Delta Goodrem was on Neighbours at first given how this was set to be a modest success for her before it skyrocketed to number one fairly late into its chart run, perhaps they were initially interested in this track due to how well it did here in Australia and then realised its true appeal once she appeared on their TV's this year as Nina Tucker.

This was released slightly sooner in NZ than it was here in Australia, although it did have to climb up their charts as opposed to it becoming an instant success over here which balances out its overall success in both countries. It still staggers me to think that these guys wouldn't have this level of success in their native America until the tail end of the decade.

It looks like the kiwis were also able to appreciate this cover of the Who classic that Limp Bizkit made for their (at the time) final album Results may vary, it should be noted that this is a very misleading lead single for the album as it was nothing like the nu metal that was found on the album and indeed throughout their previous catalogue.

This is another song that saw a massive improvement on these rankings of mine thanks to its release not being tampered with over in NZ like it was here in Australia, although it's worth noting that this wasn't that popular in Christina's native America given how her second album over there saw criticism of her abandoning her teen pop roots of her debut album in favour of a more personal image her fellow American found to be crass.

It may surprise you to learn that Outkast never had a chart topper over in NZ, heck this was the only song from their catalogue to have the same amount of success over there as it did here in Australia despite (or likely because) their albums being more successful over there than they were over here. I don't know if it was even possible for this song to fail upon its initial release due to how joyous and happy the melody is despite its lyrics.

Even though this was released much sooner in NZ than it was here in Australia, it wound up only becoming popular over there thanks to it instantly rising to the top of the charts here which means the kiwis needed a bit of incentive in making this second consecutive Billboard chart topper from Nelly a hit over there that we Aussies gave them. At least it otherwise had equal amounts of success in both countries.

If you're confused as to why this song is so much higher on this list than the Australian equivalent, that's likely because Daniel Bedingfield was actually born in NZ and the kiwis likely didn't realise that until the success of "Gotta get thru this" from the previous year. That would explain why this ballad was so much more popular over there as well as his sister finding more success later in the decade than she did here.

I'm a bit surprised that this was only a sleeper hit here in Australia given how I remember this being flogged on our radios back in the day, at least it was a more mainstream success in NZ which means I finally get to include it on this site. This was the only hit that Santana had with his second album during his comeback period in the new millennium, this time teaming up with Michelle Branch during the height of her popularity.

This proved to be slightly bigger in NZ than it was here in Australia, this means that the kiwis were bigger fans of Two weeks' notice than we Aussies were given how this remains their one and only hit over there and them not having much success with their albums either. There's only one thing good about the film (two if you're fine with this butchering of the Joni Mitchell classic) that being this scene.

This proved to be an even bigger success in NZ than it was here in Australia for Stacie Orrico, so much so that it even outranks her bigger hit here in Australia on this list which goes to show you how much the kiwis loved this track about whether or not Stacie (and by extension the world in general) was living their life to the fullest. It remains her signature track in places where she had success in her career.

While this had a bit of a delay to its release in NZ, it proved to be worth it as it was more of a success over there than it was over here for Leann Rimes proving that we Aussies and kiwis were on board with her new pop direction moving forward. I get the feeling was meant to be about her moving on from her country roots which admittedly led to her having a lot of bad memories during her time in the genre.

While this did last a little bit longer on the NZ charts than it did here in Australia, it wasn't that much longer, which suggests that this song's popularity just faded rather quickly in both countries as opposed to it being pulled from shelves like some of the other songs to see massive improvements in these rankings. We Aussies made up for this not being as big over here by giving him a second minor hit with "Thoia thoing" this year.

This was the first of a string of hits that Brooke Fraser was able to achieve in her homeland, no doubt because she got in during the height of female singer/songwriters in the mainstream worldwide and the kiwis being impressed with what she had to offer compared to her international counterparts.

This proved to be equally as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, likely because the kiwis were also touched with this ode to Kelly's (and possibly Beyonce's) fallen friends and how she feels sorrowful about how they never managed to achieve their dreams like she ended up doing. Although she had other hits in her career over there, this is her only appearance on this side of my site as a lead artist.

I guess this song was only popular for its usage in Daredevil over in NZ as it didn't linger around once Evanescence's debut album dropped like it did here in Australia, although that didn't mean the band wasn't successful over there given how popular their subsequent follow up singles were as well as the album they were pulled from. They even found success later in the decade with their second album over there.

This was more of a success for Big Brovaz here in Australia than it was over in NZ, this is despite this charting higher over there for the British RNB group likely due to how they declared themselves as the future of music moving forward this decade on this track. I always found the censored version of this track to be disjointed given how it ruins the rhyme scheme on the chorus, that could also be a factor in why it wasn't as big over there.

Given how Robbie Williams was far more popular in NZ than he was here in Australia this decade, it only makes sense that his second song about questioning his faith in religion after "Better man" would prove to be an even bigger hit over there than it was over here even if the album it came from was far less success with the kiwis than it was down under.

While her album Up failed to become a massive success over in NZ like it was here in Australia, at least the lead single managed to become a hit over there despite it failing to do so over here which I'm sure was a bit of a consolation for Shania Twain upon its initial release. The album has been described as uneasy by its fans as it tries to recreate the success of Come on over to mixed results.

While this song saw a massive improvement in this ranking, I should point out that it didn't have its release schedule tampered with here in Australia and that its popularity was more fleeting over here back in the day than it was internationally for Beyonce. I guess we Aussies weren't sure about her having a solo career which is odd because we had no problem with Kelly making it big with her earlier entry.

Given how much more popular Snoop Dogg was throughout the 90's in NZ than he was here in Australia, it makes sense that this comeback of his proved to be a bigger hit over there than it was over here even though this was the start of what I and many others have dubbed "chill Snoop" where he's laid back and no longer exploitative towards women in his music.

While he had plenty of success with his albums here in Australia, Jack Johnson was never able to score a hit single on our charts like he did over in NZ with this track from his debut album. This was the song that helped said album take off over there which naturally led to us Aussies checking it out to see what all the fuss was about which led to his second album being one of the biggest of the decade here.

While it didn't last quite as long in NZ as it did here in Australia (it feels like it was pulled from shelves even though that practice was abolished over there by this point in time) it nonetheless proved to be a massive hit for 50 cent which suggests that the kiwis would rather listen to him be a (as he puts it) motherf**king P.I.M.P rather than him trying to be romantic on "21 questions" (which is still to come on this list.)

It turns out this ballad was heavily delayed here in Australia given how it was released in NZ months prior to it coming out here, although its delay was well worth it as it was obviously a much bigger hit over here than it was over there for Amanda Perez. I guess RNB was still seen as an underdog this far into the new millennium given how I honestly felt songs being delayed over here from the genre was over and done with by this point in time.

Much like the lead single to Avril's debut album, this also wasn't pulled from shelves over in NZ like it was here in Australia which allowed it to last much longer on their charts and thus have a much accurate representation on this list to how popular the song was. It's one of the clumsier written songs in her catalogue, but that's forgivable given how it works with the theme that the song is going for.

Well Australia had 28 days and America had Limp Bizkit, so I guess Blindspott would be NZ's equivalent of nu metal given how immensely popular the band was largely thanks to the success of this runaway hit from their debut album that had been released six months prior to when this became a hit for the band. They did manage to have minor success with their second album later in the decade.

This was about as equally successful in NZ as it was here in Australia for Stacie Orrico, although her true popularity wouldn't peak until she released her earlier entry on this list which seemed to resonate better with the kiwis than this did back in the day. I guess this was more of a song about teenage drama which the kiwis felt there was only so much room for at the time.

Given how the kiwis never had an issue with songs become a hit from already highly successful albums like we Aussies have over the years, this means that the third single from JT's solo debut managed to be even more of a success over there than it was over here. This wasn't the only song from the album to improve its ranking because of this feat, we'll be looking at the other song to achieve this in a bit.

This debut single from Chingy proved to be more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, there's little wonder as to why given that the kiwis were always happy to reward hip hop with success more so than we Aussies have over the years (even to rappers as divisive as Chingy.) Indeed, all of his hits here managed to be even bigger over there as we'll see over the next few lists of mine.

Given how this wasn't delayed as a single over in NZ like it was here in Australia (I'm not going to speculate on the reason why) this was naturally a much bigger hit over there than it was over here given how the kiwis were also impressed with the Russian duo's stance against homophobia they took with this track. This was originally recorded in Russian before they translated it into English for a wider audience.

This is another song that managed to become a massive hit in NZ despite never been given a release here in Australia, this time it's the third single from Avril Lavigne's debut album which remains one of her most popular tracks in her catalogue due to how vulnerable it portrays her as without coming off as too sappy and sentimental. This would sadly be her final hit over there until "Girlfriend" from her third album.

While there have been many improvements on these rankings of mine from songs that could be considered to be among the most defining of the decade, this second single from Beyonce's solo debut was one of the few to actually fall in these rankings as it appears the kiwis weren't as impressed with this love ballad with Sean Paul as the rest of the world was. In fact, Sean Paul in general wasn't well received over there for some reason.

This was the second and final hit that Mareko managed to achieve in his homeland, I'm guessing he wanted to be the king of NZ hip hop but had that ambition taken away from him by Scribe who achieved infinitely more success over there than he did. Still, having two massive hits to open your career wasn't bad, he just had the bad luck of having stiff competition in the NZ hip hop game.

This is the only other song from Christina Aguilera's second album that will be reappearing on this list, I guess the kiwis weren't as impressed with the album overall save for this female empowerment anthem and her self-empowerment anthem from earlier on this list. This is the second and final hit that she achieved worldwide with Lil Kim providing her a guest verse following their collaboration on "Lady marmalade."

This feels like a more reasonable ranking for Delta Goodrem's second single from her debut album, although there's no denying that it was a massive success here in Australia which makes its international appeal make sense to me. These two entries from her on this list were her only hits in the UK, suggesting that the Brits didn't gravitate towards her music because of her appearance on Neighbours.

Given how Talk Talk managed to achieve minor success in NZ throughout the 80's, I guess it makes sense that this cover of one of their most iconic tracks from No doubt would see more success over in NZ even if that success came a bit late over there compared to over here where it was a hit upon its initial release. This is likely what eased the kiwis into accepting Gwen's solo career from earlier on this list.

It appears Elton John gave Blue his full blessing when they decided to record one of his more poignant tracks from the 70's, so much so that he even agreed to rerecord the chorus on the track to give off the impression that he was duetting with them which does admittedly bring a queer element to this cover that wasn't present on the original. Naturally this wasn't a hit here in Australia given how Blue were yesterday's news here by this point.

These guys were on a roll as they managed to score their third hit in a row from their debut album in their homeland, in fact every one of their singles they released during their time together managed to crack the top twenty in their homeland, proving how massively popular they were throughout the decade.

Brooke Fraser was on a roll with her debut album as she managed to score a second hit from it which no doubt helped it become a massive success in her homeland thanks to how wise she sounded on each of her singles from the album. It's little wonder she was able to keep finding success throughout the decade over there whilst the likes of Avril Lavigne and Michelle Branch struggled.

I guess the kiwis weren't as big of fans as Bad Boys II as we Aussies were, either that or they felt that the theme song to the film didn't stack up to the multiple hits that the first film spawned over there eight years prior given how much lower this posse cut appears on this list compared to the Australian equivalent. You can't even say it's because of the rappers as they were immensely popular over there as well.

Although this collaboration between J-Lo and LL Cool J wasn't as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia, at least their reunion from later in the decade was a hit over there where it wasn't over here, meaning that the kiwis did have some investment into the storyline of these two being together in their respective music careers.

There were no signs of Blue slowing down in NZ and especially their native UK as they managed to achieve massive success in both countries with the lead single and title track from their second album, by this point, we Aussies had given up on any prospect of a third boy bands war but that clearly wasn't the case in those two countries given how this wasn't their final hit in their catalogue.

This is one of only two entries that Matchbox 20 will have on this side of my site, the other entry will come from their greatest hits package from later in the decade as that was fairly popular over there upon its initial release. it makes sense that this would be their biggest hit over there considering A: it was their biggest hit in their native America and B: the subject matter remains endearing to this day.

This proved to be equally as successful for P!nk in NZ as it was here in Australia, then again, this ballad about P!nk coping with her parents' divorce (presumably written at a young age) was the only song of hers from her second album to not be pulled from shelves here in Australia given how Sony had finally got the message that we Aussies weren't going to by her album by making the song unavailable to us.

This is the other hit from JT's solo debut album that managed to achieve a higher placement on this list compared to the Australian equivalent, again this was because its success wasn't eaten up by strong album sales over there like it was over here for the former boy band member. It's also possible the kiwis found it more amusing than us Aussies, I remember finding the outro particularly hilarious growing up.

It appears that the kiwis had a love/hate relationship with this song from J-Lo just like the rest of the world did, on the one hand, they appreciated her attempts at being down to earth over a bumping beat whilst on the other they felt that she missed the mark and wound up coming off as more out of touch with reality than ever before. The song has had a better reputation over the years due to this being a normal feat for celebrities.

There were no signs of Bic Runga slowing down in her homeland this year as the second single from her highly acclaimed album Beautiful collision proved to be a massive success for her over there, it makes you wonder why she was unable to have some of this success translate over to Australia given how both entries on from the album were bigger hits over there than her big hit over here "Sway."

This wasn't quite as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, mainly because it did chart as high over there as it did over here which suggests that we Aussies were more interested in having Busta Rhymes be an RNB singer than the kiwis were. There is rapping on this track, however it's nowhere near as intense as what fans of Busta are used, which could be another reason for its lack of success over there.

If the singer on this track sounds familiar to you, that's because this is the debut single from Robin Thicke who went by his surname when his first broke through into the music industry with this song that samples "A fifth of Beethoven" from Walter Murphy (which in turns was a remix of Beethoven's "Symphony no 5.") This was a minor hit here in Australia, although too minor to appear on that side of my site.

It took almost an entire decade for 3 the hard way to follow up their debut album from 1994, I guess the kiwis were very patient to see what else they had up their sleeves as this managed to become equally as successful over there as their debut single "Hip hop holiday" did. Given how there isn't an obvious sample that they use here like that song did, it wasn't a success over in Australia for the trio.

It seems weird to me that Ja Rule's only repeat entries on this side of my site would be his collaborations with Ashanti, it makes you think the two were dating when in reality they only ever had a professional relationship with each other (she was dating Nelly for the record.) This time, the song was a success likely due to the video which pays obvious homage to the 70's cult classic Grease.

This is the final hit that Atomic Kitten had over in NZ, they would have a few more hits in their native UK before even their fellow Brits became bored of their music in favour of the likes of the Sugababes and Girls aloud. I guess there are worse songs you could end your winning streak on given how this was a minor hit in Australia around this time for the trio.

I guess the kiwis were massive fans of American Idol this year (this is strange because of Kelly Clarkson's noticeable absence on this list) as such we have the victory single from the runner up of the second season of the show Clay Aiken who decided to bundle it up with a cover of a Simon and Garfunkel classic to boost his chances of having a worldwide smash hit.

I'm a bit surprised that Mis Teeq didn't have more success in NZ considering they were a British girl group, although I did notice that it was mainly their white counterparts that made it big over there given how Eternal and Honeyz never achieved that much success over there compared to what they achieved over here in the 90's. In any case, we have their one and only hit in Australia reappearing on this list.

This was the first of two hits that Mareko had in his homeland, it's a bit of a cocky debut single given how the title implies that he would be the hottest new name for NZ hip hop throughout the decade when Scribe clearly took that title with his entry from the start of the list. At least this didn't trap him in the one hit wonder bin over there given how his earlier entry on this list was also a success for him.

You thought that Bone thugs n Harmony were yesterday's news by this point in the new millennium, didn't you? It turns out they weren't as they managed to score a huge hit in NZ with this track that heavily samples "Take me home" from Phil Collins (hence why Phil has a featuring credit on this track.) This wouldn't even be their final hit as the quartet would be back again four years later with new hits.

This is the last hit that Robbie Williams had over in NZ as his popularity would quickly dwindle during the second half of the decade for whatever reason, indeed this song came from Escapology which was far less successful over there than it was over here which suggests that this ballad was a success over there from an album that they didn't otherwise jive with.

This was slightly more popular here in Australia than it was over in NZ, I guess the kiwis weren't as impressed with 50 Cent trying to be romantic as the rest of the world was given how this was his second consecutive Billboard chart topper for the rapper this year. I guess the presence of Nate Dogg was the reason why this was a success given how popular he was over there with his hit "Never leave me alone."

It only makes sense that this managed to be a bigger hit for Dido in NZ than it was here in Australia given how this wasn't pulled from their shelves after a mere month of existence like it was here, that might be due to it not lasting very long on the upper echelons of their charts which suggests that the kiwis felt she was more of an albums artist by this point in her career.

This proved to be equally as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, there was little doubt it would be considering that it was a plea from the rapper to his critics to stop taking his music so seriously and to give his fanbase some credit that they won't emulate the violent behaviour he displays on his lyrics, basically making the same argument that video game nerds have been making for the gaming industry since its inception.

While this was still the least successful song to become a hit for Evanescence over in NZ like it was here in Australia, it was able to score a better placement on this side of my site due to its success not being affected by high albums sales over there like it was over here. This and "Call me when you're sober" from their next album managed to find more success over there while their other two hits found less success.

Well at least this was released on time in NZ even if it had to work its way up to its success over there as opposed to it being an instant success over here, I guess the kiwis were still on the fence on whether or not they should allow these guys to be among the biggest names in music as opposed to us Aussies who knew that these guys were the future of rock and roll by making them inescapably popular here.

Given how airplay was more of a factor towards a song's success in NZ, it allowed this second single from John Mayer's debut album to be a genuine hit over there as opposed to a mere modest sleeper hit like it was over here in Australia. This will be the only song of his to make an appearance on my site given how none of his other singles managed to reach the upper echelons of either chart in the southern hemisphere.

This was an E.P from Elemeno P, a NZ alternative band that managed to score massive success with the album that spawned the title of this E.P as well as a few other minor hits over there. I would've thought that their one female member was the lead vocalist of the group like other bands of the day, it turns out she was merely a backup vocalist and guitarist in a way that subverts this expectation.

Apparently, the kiwis weren't as interested in listening to Jay-Z and his future wife Beyonce declare themselves as the (then) modern (and white I suppose) Bonnie and Clyde on this track as we Aussies were, then again, Jay-Z was somehow even less popular over there than he was over here given how none of his singles managed to rank as high on these lists of mine over there as they did over here.

I guess the kiwis weren't as impressed with this comeback single from Missy Elliott as we Aussies were, although this was our introduction to her music as opposed to over there where she already had a hit with "Sock it 2 me" from five years prior. Still at least this managed to become somewhat of a success for her, it's just surprising that it wasn't even more popular considering how big it was in her homeland.

It appears that Scribe's top entry from this list was so inescapably popular that a remix was commissioned which became an instant success for him during the summer period of 2003/2004 in his homeland. As it turns out, this was the version that charted here in Australia when it came time to him crossing over into our music scene.

We have another appearance from Nesian Mystik on this list, this time it's with the fourth single from their debut album which proved to be a moderate success for the band this year which goes to show how much they were on a roll during the first half of the decade with their brand of RNB and hip hop.

This is another song that wasn't nearly as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia, this is especially surprising given how it has the endorsement of P Diddy with the rapper even providing a guest verse on the track which seemed to be a guarantee for success over there around this time. I guess the kiwis had grown tired of this type of RNB whereas us Aussies were still vibing to it like it was fresh and new.

Well, this managed to get a second appearance on this site of mine, although it was about as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia meaning that neither country was that impressed with this reinterpretation of the classic used in the Sound of music. Sadly, this will be the final appearance from Big Brovaz as "Baby boy" was a flop over there despite being their second biggest hit here and in their native UK.

Although this has roughly the same placement on this list as it does on the Australian side of my site, I will bring up that this very briefly topped the NZ charts this year, proving that the kiwis were in love with Linkin Park even if that love mainly came from their album sales rather than their singles. Indeed, I maintain that this didn't receive much airplay back in the day given how little I remember hearing it back then.

This is a collaboration between two of the more prominent names in NZ hip hop, those being King Kapisi and Che-Fu. Naturally this was a success given how both achieved success prior to this collaboration, although the former only did so to a much lesser scale than they latter due to him not being part of a popular band of the 90's.