NZ hits of 2006

This is the year where Australia finally incorporated digital sales onto the main charts, although its effects didn't take place until later in the decade as the music landscape in general had completely slowed down this year as evidence by the NZ charts being as slow over there as it was over here.

If you're wondering who MT Raskil is, they were a supergroup comprised of session musicians put together to create a song for the NZ film No 2 which was set in Mount Roskill, hence the name of the group. The song is best known for being the launching pad for Hollie Smith who was a singer who would go on to have massive success with her debut album the following year as well as minor success after that.

I get the feeling there was some sort of competition over in NZ which allowed this track from the Crazy frog to be a massive success over there, after all, it appears that the song was a hit twice hence why it's appearing on more than one of these lists of mine. Suffice to say, the animated frog managed to be even more successful over there than it was even throughout Europe back in the day.

I get the feeling that Cee Lo Green was meant to have the career that Bruno Mars wound up having throughout the 2010's, after all, he too was a musician of colour who had love and respect for the golden age of Motown as demonstrated on his one and only hit with his partner in crime DJ Danger Mouse (yes, he named himself after the 80's cartoon.) At least he got two massive worldwide hits for his efforts.

OK I was able to be nice towards this thing on the Australian side of my site, mainly because its popularity didn't really extend past the music videos over here which meant each of their entries had a fairly short shelf life in our music scene. It appears this thing was a genuine household name in NZ however as this also managed to appear on more than one of these lists due to its refusal to leave their charts.

Given how immensely popular the Sugababes were throughout the decade in NZ and their native UK, it only makes sense that this would remain their biggest hit in both countries as the girls seemed to take a page out of Kelis's book by making a song about sex that most people still believe it isn't about to this day. It was so popular that it even crossed over to Australia where it finally gave the girls a genuine hit here.

It looks like the kiwis were all over anything that Will I am touched during this point in time as this third single from PCD's debut album proved to be their biggest hit over there because of the presence of the rapper, although it's worth noting that this was much bigger than anything from his own album with BEP from around this time. Still, it's impressive as to how this managed to be so big over there this year.

Like many entries on these lists that appear much higher than they did on the Australian side of this site, this wasn't pulled from shelves over in NZ which means its placement on here can accurately reflect on how popular it truly was back in the day. It makes sense this was Kanye's international breakthrough given how it features guest vocals from Jamie Foxx fresh off his performance as Ray Charles in his biopic.

While this didn't last as long on the charts for Akon in NZ as it did here in Australia, the success of this collaboration with Eminem can't be denied given how it gave fans hope of him returning to form as his verse on here is considered better than any of the verses he gave on Encore. Of course, the real star of the show is Akon who was on a roll with this track given its worldwide popularity.

It appears that the kiwis weren't as impressed with this debut single from James Blunt as we Aussies were as though it was a massive success over there, it didn't reach the dizzying heights that it achieved over there or indeed throughout the rest of the world. Indeed, the other singles from his debut album didn't achieve any success over there, although that didn't prevent the album itself from being a massive success.

This is another song whose appearance on this list is more accurate to how popular it was here in Australia back in the day, although in this case this is more due to the kiwis fully incorporating their digital charts onto their main charts as opposed to us Aussies who were mainly relying on the physical sales of a song to determine its popularity. This is a song that's become an unofficial anthem for the emo crowd due to how synonymous it is with the genre to this day.

From what I can gather, this was among the earliest British hip hop tracks to make it big in the UK as well as throughout the world, it comes to us courtesy of the British duo Mattafix who managed to translate their success over to NZ this year and even have minor success with this track here in Australia months after its peak over there due to how big it was worldwide.

While it was released the same time in NZ as it was here in Australia, this debut single from Chris Brown managed to be twice as successful over there as it was over here likely due to it being popular on their digital charts (I can't tell if it was popular in that regard here as there were no digital charts during its popularity on ARIA.) He did find more success with his debut album over there as a result of this song's popularity.

Although Beyonce had a major hit with the lead single to her second solo album "Check on it" in NZ, it was this third single from the album that made it a household name thanks to it being known as the "to the left, to the left" song by anyone who isn't a diehard fan of hers. Indeed, this is second only to "Sweet dreams" as her biggest hit in NZ both solo and with Destiny's Child. due to how iconic that line remains to this day.

Well, I did mention that Madonna's remix of Abba's "Gimme gimme gimme" was a massive success everywhere in the world except for her native America, so it's little surprise that the song would reappear on this side of my site given how much the kiwis loved both her and Abba over the years. Even though the song was equally as successful over there as it was over here, the same can't be said about the album.

Although this had a bit of delay to its release in NZ compared to here in Australia (rather unusual considering it's often the other way around for these types of songs) it was nonetheless an instant success for PCD proving that the kiwis as well as everyone else in the world found the girls titillating on this track and indeed the rest of their album.

It turns out this was the biggest hit for JT on his second solo album in NZ, in fact it would've been his biggest hit overall over there were it not for "Can't stop the feeling" from a decade later which goes to show you how much the kiwis loved this song from the former N sync member. I guess it could also be due to the presence of T.I who was quickly rising up the ranks as an in-demand rapper worldwide.

Although Shakira never had as much success in NZ as she did here in Australia, it's worth noting that she was still quite popular with her singles over there as evidence by this bonus track from the deluxe edition of her second English album. Like in Australia, she would have one more hit with Beyonce the following year before sadly fading into obscurity in both countries.

It's hard to say if this was a hit in Australia on our digital charts given how it was released prior to when we began tracking what was popular in that format, what I do know is that this was a massive hit for Corinna Bailey Rae in NZ and her native UK thanks to how joyous and happy this RNB ballad remains to this day. It was unfortunately her only hit as her debut album failed to catch on despite this song's success.

This is a song that was a massive success here in Australia but was ineligible to chart on ARIA due to not having a physical release here in Australia, fortunately this wasn't an issue in NZ as they had fully incorporated digital sales onto their charts by the time it was released as a single over there. I feel this song's placement on this list is an accurate representation of how popular it was here in Australia given its overplay back in the day.

I forgot to mention on the Australian side of this site that this debut single from the Veronicas was pulled from shelves to encourage album sales of their debut album, it didn't really matter too much though because it already had a fairly high ranking on that side of my site even though it only appears on one of these lists as opposed to it appearing on two of them on this side of my site.

Well, this is a first, mainly because theme songs from the FIFA world cup hadn't had any success over in NZ like they had here in Australia which obviously changed when this became a hit over there this year when it was chosen as the theme for this year's world cup. Admittedly it's possible that this songs success was due to it being a huge hit in the UK the previous year, however I very much doubt that.

I vaguely remember hearing this song on the radio back in the day, however it doesn't surprise me this flopped here in Australia given how unlikely it would've been for us Aussies to understand a word either rapper is saying on this track. It's also little surprise it was a success in NZ given how the kiwis were already acquainted with Krayzie Bone through his work with Bone Thugs n Harmony.

This was the only and only hit that American girl group Cherish were able to achieve anywhere in the world including their native homeland, I'm guessing it was meant to be their attempts at breaking into the girl group phenomenon that was happening over in the UK with the likes of Atomic Kitten and the Sugababes given how this sounds like something the latter would've put out this year.

You know that the High school musical phenomenon was a smash hit in NZ when the emotional duet between the film's two leading stars becomes one of the biggest hits of the year over there in addition to the soundtrack being a massive success. While Vanessa Hudgeons would have a huge hit over there following the success of this ballad, this would be Zac Efron's only hit over there or anywhere in the world.

I guess the kiwis were a bit sceptical in Nelly Furtado's new music direction given how this wasn't quite as successful over there as it was over here for her, they were of course won over given how the album was a huge success as well as three out of the four singles becoming massive hits over there like they were internationally. I guess they simply needed to get on board with Timbaland being her executive producer.

While this was back in the day where people had to buy singles to make them a success (be it physical copies or digital downloads) I get the feeling this was a hit ironically for BEP worldwide given how it's the type of song that seems perfect to annoy someone with (similar to Crazy Frog's popularity now that I think about it.) That said, there are people out there that do enjoy this any many other widely mocked songs featured on this site unironically.

This is another entry whose placement on this list is a better representation of how popular it was here in Australia back in the day, I guess this was a huge hit thanks to digital downloads as it came out before ARIA began tracking them which makes it hard for me to definitively say if that was the case. Either way, it was a massive hit in the southern hemisphere almost a full year prior to being released in America.

Given how the digital charts were fully incorporated onto the NZ charts when this fourth and final single from BEP's Monkey business was released, it only seems natural that it found far more success over there than it did over here as from what I can gather, it was a huge hit on our digital charts prior to them being incorporated onto our main charts.

Given how albums sales don't impact the success of a song in NZ like they do here in Australia (at least that was the case back in the day) this means that this remix of an album track of theirs featuring Snoop Dogg managed to merely be equally as successful over there as it was over here as opposed to the other tracks from the album which were more successful over there because of what I said in this entry.

Given how they had one of the biggest albums of the decade in their homeland, it only makes sense that Fat Freddy's drop would achieve a huge hit from said album which no doubt helped it achieve its best seller status over there and even likely sparked international interest in the band that helped them become a cult classic.

Although T-Pain found massive success in his native America with "I'm sprung" from the previous year, it was this single with unknown rapper Mike Jones where he achieved massive success in NZ thanks to it displaying his trademark sense of humour as well as him pushing the boundaries of how to use autotune to enhance one's performance rather than have it simply cover up for vocal deficiencies like many less talented vocalists of the moment.

I guess the kiwis weren't as interested in JT's BDSM fetishes as we Aussies were, mind you, they obviously were intrigued by it enough to make it a massive hit for the former boy band member, however it was noticeably less successful over there than it was over here and especially his earlier entry from this list.

This proved to be a massive hit for Evermore in their homeland this year, in fact, it appears that the success of their two hit singles over there was the inverse of what they achieved over here as "Light surrounding you" was far less successful over there despite it being one of the biggest hits of the decade over here. Admittedly this song's weak placement on the Australian side of this site was due to digital sales not being incorporated by ARIA during its initial run.

Given how this was one of the biggest hits of the decade here in Australia, it only makes sense that this track managed to crossover to NZ where it also became a big success for the Australian duo. I like to think this is Australia's answer to "I'm too sexy" given how it came out fifteen years after that track dominated the early 90's.

It appears the kiwis were sligtly more amused at Gwen Stefani interpolating the Rogers and Hammerstein classic "The lonely goatherd" for a song about "winding up" the love of her life than us Aussies were given how it became the first song in her catalogue to be more popular over there than it was over here. This is a trend that would carry out for the rest of her second album over there.

This is often considered to be Busta Rhymes worst song, mainly for the chorus which many feel is a copout considering that his flow is as good as ever on this track. Naturally this was a huge flop here in Australia even after the success of "I know what you want" from earlier in the decade over here.

I'm not sure if Aaradhna has ever been referred to as the NZ equivalent of Ashanti in her homeland, I just found her to be as such due to how similar her music was compared to her American counterpart this decade. This was her one and only hit as a solo artist which further draws comparisons to both women as Ashanti only had the one hit internationally with "Foolish."

This was the lead single to Brooke Fraser's second album; it was a massive success in her homeland due to her artist momentum being very strong following the success she had from her debut album three years prior to its release. It was the song she released to try and appeal to an Australian market which didn't work out despite her joining Hillsong around the time it became a hit over there.

Even though this was the last hit that Evanescence had in NZ just like the rest of the world, at least it managed to be slightly bigger over there likely due to it heavily benefitting from their digital charts which had fully been incorporated by the time it was released as a single as opposed to here where they weren't. Although it was a massive disappointment, their second album still managed to acquire fans to this day.

This was released slightly earlier in NZ than it was here in Australia, I'm guessing because the kiwis had fully incorporated their digital charts onto their main charts when it first came out which would explain why the song was also slightly more popular over there for Eminem as I can imagine him being popular on that format during the early phases of its existence.

This was a hit twice in NZ during its chart run, the first time was upon its initial release and the second was following the series finale of the reality show that INXS aired in order to determine who their new lead vocalist would be following the tragic passing of Michael Hutchence from 1997. It looked like the band was back in the mainstream given how popular this song was in the southern hemisphere, alas they weren't.

This was the final hit that the Feelers had in their career, it came from the album of the same name which was a success for them even if it won't be appearing on this site due to it not being successful enough to do so. They had a very good run during the first ten years of their career, so much so that they capped off their first decade together with a greatest hits package overlooking their biggest hits.

Unlike here in Australia where this folk ballad was only a success due to its inclusion on the Devil wears Prada soundtrack, this managed to be a success over in NZ upon its initial release for KT Tunstall which means that the kiwis instantly enjoyed this optimistic ballad about seeing the bright side of things. This naturally led to her having massive success with her album over there that outright flopped over here.

This is the only version of the Alphaville classic to become popular in NZ, there was little surprise that it would crossover to NZ this year given how inescapably popular it was here in Australia for Youth group due to its overwhelming sense of nostalgia that connected with audiences upon its initial release. Naturally they remain a one hit wonder over there given how they failed to score a second hit over here as well.

This was the only hit single from American rapper Jibbs to become a hit for him, even then it was only a hit in his native America as well as over in NZ likely due to international audiences not vibing with the song built on a children's nursery rhyme. Given how it's ultimately about him having long pieces of jewellery (chains to be exact) it made it impossible for anyone to take seriously at the time.

I wouldn't have thought that Rihanna of all people would've been someone who would thrive through the lack of digital sales here in Australia this year, it turns out that she wasn't that popular with people who used the format as evidence by how much lower she is on this list in addition to this song not being as popular on that format here in Australia. I guess that demographic didn't appreciate the "Tainted love" sample on the track.

I was surprised when I realised this song wasn't a hit here in Australia back in the day, not even on our digital charts which would've been the perfect explanation for why this underperformed on our charts if it were a hit through that medium. Fortunately, the kiwis were able to recognise this as a hit upon its initial release over there, likely because of how they can relate to Lily's sadism in the lyrics.

This is another song I remember hearing on the radio quite a bit back in the day, evidently it was written for the Pink Panther remake which had Beyonce costar with Steve Martin that divides audiences to this day (I like it but understand why people don't.) Apparently, there was a version with a rap verse from Slim Thug that became popular in NZ and her native America that was released on Destiny's Child's greatest hits album.

You'd think that this debut single from Ne-Yo would be more successful in NZ than it was here in Australia given how inescapable he would become over there as opposed to over here, it turns out that wasn't the case as it was a massive hit through physical sales down under which was taking a back seat over in NZ which explains the lack of success it had there.

This was more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia for 50 Cent, presumably due to it benefitting from digital sales even though it came out before we Aussies even began tracking digital sales so I'm not entirely sure if that's the reason why for its success over there. Like I said on that side of my site, this was clearly meant to be the "Lose yourself" to his own biopic Get rich or die trying.

This is the last hit that Mary J Blige was able to achieve anywhere in the world, although it appears that this was the big hit off her 2005 effort the Breakthrough and not her cover of "One" with U2 like it was here in Australia (at least it was on our digital charts.) I guess the kiwis wanted to hear an RNB ballad over her collaborating with one of the biggest bands of the 80's around this time.

Given how the kiwis had fully incorporated their digital data onto their main charts this year, it means we have a song that only barely made it on the Australian side of this site due to an arbitrary exception I made for popular songs on our digital charts on ARIA to make the list proper on this side of my site. Indeed, James Morrison really did make a huge splash worldwide with this debut single of his.

I think we can all agree that this is a far more respectable position for this folk ballad about how Sandi Thom wishes she were around during the height of the punk movement which she seems to have confused with the hippy movement of the 60's given how she would've likely been blacklisted from the punk scene had she worn flowers in her hair at the time.

It was logical that this song would see slightly more success in NZ than it did here in Australia, after all, PCD were on a roll this year and the kiwis seemed to have more enjoyment out of their music than we Aussies did even if this feels like a major outlier to their discography as they proclaim that they don't need the love and support of a man (rather respectably I might add.)

It appears the kiwis grew tired of this solo debut single from Fergie much quicker than us Aussies did, in fact you'd think this was pulled from shelves over there to encourage album sales of her album until you realise that it had a natural fall from the charts over there for that not to be the case. This can only mean that they were quicker to find this annoying than most demographics from around the world.

While this was a bigger hit in NZ than it was here in Australia, I'm surprised it wasn't even bigger since the bulk of this song's success down under came from its strong digital sales which the kiwis would've incorporated to their main charts by the time it was released over there. I guess this means that they weren't as excited for Brendan Urie taking over the emo rock scene from Green day at the time.

Following the success she had from High school musical, Vanessa Hudgeons decided to embark focus more on her singing career which was off to a good start in NZ with this teen pop number that even managed to briefly chart here in Australia, suggesting we Aussies were willing to give her solo career a chance as well. Alas, she never saw any other success outside of this and her role in the Disney franchise.

Following his failure in breaking into the girl band market with Dream, P Diddy decided to try his chances at making an RNB star out of Cassie Ventura which was off to a good start worldwide including in NZ where this was a bigger hit for her than it was here in Australia. Like Dream however, Cassie would be a one hit wonder with her debut single as she wasn't given much worthwhile material to work with.

Even though we Aussies only gave Ciara three hits total throughout the decade, the kiwis gave her an additional two with this being one of them likely due to the presence of Chamillionaire on the track following the success of his earlier entry on this list. Both of these songs were the only hits the rapper had anywhere in the world despite having an impressive flow on both songs.

Rihanna didn't find much success from her second album when it came to her singles, however at least she can take comfort in this third single being a hit in NZ where it was a flop for her here in Australia back in the day. Of course, her third album was where she truly started finding massive success worldwide thanks to the singles being more universal than the one's on her first two albums.

Given how this was more of a hit on our digital charts (from what I can gather at least) it only makes sense that this managed to become even more popular for the Sugababes in NZ especially considering how their other two entries that appeared on the Australian side of my site found more success over there throughout the decade already. Like in Australia, this was the final hit that the trio had over there.

This was the third single to come from Nickelback's magnum opus All the right reasons, it's a song that reuses the melody from "How you remind me" and "Someday" which has led many to accuse them of being a one trick pony when it comes to their compositions despite the other singles from this album proving otherwise. This was a minor hit here in Australia, likely it had its success eaten up by strong album sales.

Well at least this third single from Stadium arcadium managed to be a huge success in NZ around this time, although it's worth noting that it was also a massive hit in the bands native America given how it remains their final Billboard top ten hit over there. Indeed, this remains their final hit anywhere in the world as they've yet to score another hit with any of their subsequent albums.

I guess the kiwis really weren't interested in having Rihanna be a massive success this year with her second album, at least this was the case when it came to the singles from the album given how far less successful this was over there compared to here in Australia likely due to the controversial nature of the lyrics and what this ballad is about.

Given that this was far more popular on our digital charts and that they had yet to be incorporated to the main charts during this song's initial release, you'd think this would've been much bigger in NZ given how the kiwis had incorporated their digital sales onto their main charts from the start of this year. The fact that this wasn't more popular over there suggests they were a bit more wary of Christina being a throwback artist.

It appears the kiwis were equally as interested in this posthumous hit from Biggie Smalls as we Aussies were this year as it managed to find equal amount of success in both countries for the rapper, it only makes sense that he would achieve a hit like this worldwide given how his rival 2Pac had achieved massive success the previous year with "Ghetto gospel."

Although this wasn't as big a hit in NZ as it was here in Australia, it appears that the kiwis did appreciate this anthem that encouraged listeners to ward off hecklers at a bar without coming off as entitled like "No" from Meghan Trainor would do a decade after this came out. I'm guessing this became a success in her native America due to its popularity in the southern hemisphere this year.

Well, here's that reunion that J-Lo had with LL Cool J that I mentioned the last time we looked at these two together on this site, indeed this was far more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia likely due to the kiwis having more interest in this storyline the two invented with these songs than us Aussies did back in the day.

You'd think that this would've appeared much higher on this list given how NZ had already incorporated digital data onto their main charts by the time it was released as a single, I guess the kiwis weren't as impressed with this lead single to Stadium arcadium as we Aussies were (at least according to our digital charts) given how it had no disadvantage over there and yet it still has a lower placement on this list.

Unlike in Australia where P!nk saw immediate success with her comeback album I'm not dead, it appears the rest of the world wasn't initially on board with the direction she would take as they felt this lead single and its message was a bit too on the nose for what she was trying to say about (then) modern society. Of course, the kiwis eventually saw the genius of the album when it became a success the following year.

Well, this is certainly a surprise, I wasn't expecting to feature one of the singles from the White stripes on this site as they were always more of an album band than they were a single band. I guess the kiwis were able to flaunt the advantages of "going digital" this year by having this be a success for them over there just so they can truthfully say that the White stripes had a hit single over there and nowhere else in the world.

This was the second hit that Nesian Mystik was able to achieve from their second album in their homeland, it wasn't quite as popular as their earlier entries on this site, however it did keep their heads above water long enough to get them to their third album which was much more successful for them later in the decade.

Even though this was released on time in NZ as opposed to being delayed here in Australia (likely due to shenanigans when it came to streaming in both countries) this didn't achieve any more success over there than it did over here, suggesting that Rihanna's popularity was fleeting from the beginning and only became more sustainable as the decade went on.

This proved to be far more popular in Australia than it was in NZ much like the other track that this shares its name with from the 80's, I'm guessing the kiwis weren't that fond with the female perspective of the Hall and Oates classic which didn't seem to be much of a hamper towards the album's success over there. Indeed, the album was way more popular over there than it was over here even if the singles weren't.

This is the third version of the Rockwell classic I've now featured on this site, the other two being the original and the DJ Bobo version which I feel counts as that heavily relies on the nostalgia of the former track. This is a straight cover of the 80's hip hop track by Dutch group Beatfreakz, naturally it was a hit in NZ due to the unwritten rule of allowing Dutch artists to dominate their charts being in effect this year.

You know how people accuse boy bands as being little more than a marketing gimmick to appeal to teenage girls? Well, this is literally the case as Boyband (real creative name guys) were assembled this year in their native UK where they scored a minor chart topper over there with this cover of the Kinks classic before they immediately faded into obscurity once word got out about why they existed.

At least Ne-Yo was able to score a second hit in NZ this year where he failed to do so here in Australia, although this was mainly due to this being a huge failure on our digital charts during a time where they had been incorporated to our main charts as this did quite well on our physical charts and likely would've made the cut were the sales figures much stronger with those entries.

This was the third and final victory single to become a success from NZ Idol, mainly because there wasn't a fourth season of the series due to how unpopular it was compared to its Australian equivalent. That said, this did linger on the lower half of the charts for quite some time well into the following year, thus making it more than just another victory single from a now long forgotten artist.

Talk about a song that only saw a fraction of its success in NZ it achieved here in Australia, this barely managed to reappear on this side of my site despite it being one of the biggest hits of the decade down under proving just how the tides had turned for the Scissor sisters in the southern hemisphere. I guess the trade-off was that their second album was a success over there which wasn't the case for their debut.

This narrowly missed out on appearing on the Australian side of my site due to how quickly it fell from our charts, I'm guessing it was pulled from shelves as it did rather poorly on our digital charts suggesting that its success was more due to its physical sales back in the day. It was a much bigger hit in NZ which means this collaboration between U2 and Green day was able to have a full chart run over there.