The internet really had its say for the music scene this year as we have plenty of memes and songs that otherwise wouldn't have had a prayer in finding success earlier in the decade appearing on this list.
I did mention that we Aussies were a bit slow in making this debut single from Flo Rida a success given how it didn't even touch our charts until months after it became a worldwide chart topper for the rapper, I guess we Aussies didn't care much for the track until the film it was the theme for was released where it became a critical failure but a commercial success. This wasn't the case in NZ where it was released and a hit on time.
This is the best charting song of the decade in NZ, although most of its run comes from the lower half of the charts, hence why it doesn't top this list as the entry above this had a better run in the upper echelons of their charts. This is an original track from the former lead singer of Salmonella Dub and not an umpteenth cover of the Elvis Presley classic despite sharing its name with that track.
*Apologies for the terrible quality of this album art, images of this album cover are scarce on the internet. *
Much like in Australia, this was Lady Gaga's biggest hit over in NZ for an entire decade until her comeback with her Oscar winning ballad "Shallow" from 2018. It was this song's success worldwide that finally compelled her fellow Americans to check out her album just as the decade was coming to an end.
These guys would have slightly more success over in NZ throughout their career than they did here in Australia, mainly because they would have a hit over there that failed to become as such over here from their second album by the end of the decade. In the meantime, they managed to achieve massive success with their debut single due to the song's producer "presenting" them to the world on his own album.
In a refreshing turn of events for this site, I now present to you a song that was heavily delayed in NZ despite it being a massive hit in Australia only for it to be infinitely more successful over there once it finally saw the light of day over there. I guess it's no surprise this was more successful over there given how Jack Johnson did have a genuine hit over there from earlier in the decade and that this was meant to be Jason's attempt at taking over from his brand of folk rock.
This was written by both Jesse McCartney and Ryan Tedder; I'm guessing this is how it was able to eventually crossover to America given how British artists don't tend to have much success on Billboard throughout the 21st century. Like many songs on these last few lists of mine, this was released slightly earlier in NZ, or more accurately, it charted sooner due to their charts allowing digital songs without a physical release to do so.
I have no idea why Alicia Key's second album bombed in NZ given how much more popular her debut album was over there than it was here in Australia, I guess the kiwis also got distracted with the bootleg "Karmastition" like we Aussies did around that time (check it out here if you're not familiar with it.) Fortunately, she was able to bounce back in both countries with this lead single to her third album.
As this second single from Chris Brown's sophomore album Exclusive was able to be released on time over in NZ, it was able to achieve massive success over there given how it didn't have to compete with his duet with Jordin Sparks from around this time which was released soon after this became a hit for him over there. With all of these massive chart toppers from the RNB star, it was safe to assume that he was the leading force of that genre in the music industry.
This not quite being a successful in NZ as it was here in Australia is a bit of a surprise considering how these guys already had mainstream appeal over there by the time this became a hit for them worldwide, I guess the kiwis were a bit ahead of the curve when it came to rock music's lack of popularity in the 2010's given how that's the only reason I can think of as to why this wasn't even bigger over there.
This was the second massive hit that Opshop was able to achieve in their homeland from their sophomore album, it was the driving force as to how their album managed to become one of the biggest of the decade given how it had more of a stranglehold on the upper echelons of their charts than its lead single did.
I guess the kiwis did give this guy a chance with his breakthrough single "Bawitdaba" given how that was a minor hit for him back in 1999 over there, however I doubt many of them would've remembered that track when he released this magnum opus of his which combines two songs (both of which were flops over there) to create a nostalgia bomb about how much he loves the summer while living in southern USA.
I guess the kiwis were more on board with Usher trying to kick start the club boom earlier than when it officially began than us Aussies given how this was a massive hit for the prince of RNB this year over there compared to what it achieved here. You can consider this a better version of "OMG" as Young Jeezy delivers a guest verse about how awesome it is to be at the club with Usher like Will I am did on that track.
Given how Chris Brown had confirmed himself as the new Usher on his debut album in NZ, this meant that the lead single to his second album was not only released on time over there but also had its success be immediate as opposed to it climbing its way up the charts here going into the new year. This of course resulted in the success of his second album being largely different over there than it was here.
It appears Jordin Spark's victory single "Tattoo" was delayed in NZ in order to allow her duet with Chris Brown to be a massive success for the pair, as such, this proved to be even more successful over there which came at the expense of her debut single underperforming for her. Of course, she managed to have all three of her songs that appeared on the Australian side of my site become hits over there and even scored a fourth hit which we'll look at in a bit.
There were no signs of Chris Brown's popularity slowing down this year worldwide as the RNB star managed to score another chart topper in NZ with this bonus track from the deluxe edition of his second album Exclusive. Naturally he was all set to take the prince of RNB crown from Usher given how he only managed to achieve one major hit this year worldwide, but alas that wasn't to be.
While this wasn't quite as successful for Lady Gaga in NZ as it was here in Australia, this debut single of hers nonetheless put her on the map over there much sooner than it did in her homeland given how the rest of the world already gave her two massive hits by the time this topped the Billboard charts the following year.
This is apparently a remix of an earlier track on Basshunter's catalogue known as "Boten Anna," a song sung in Swedish about a girl named Anna that was translated into English for this version a year after its initial release. It became a massive worldwide hit for the Swedish producer, although it didn't even chart here in Australia for reasons I can't seem to fathom.
Much like the other singles from Good girl gone bad, this fourth single from the album was a success much sooner in NZ than it was here in Australia even if it failed to reach number one over there like it did over here likely due to the controversy behind its sample usage. Something I didn't mention on the Australian side of this site was that this was the first song to reach number one here purely through digital sales.
Given how there wasn't a NZ equivalent of MasterChef during the late 00's (at least to my knowledge there wasn't) this meant that this song was only a hit once over there for Katy Perry which goes to show how popular it was given how its placement on this list is nearly identical to its placement on the Australian side of this site.
This was a success in NZ around the time it became a huge chart topper for Soulja Boy in his native America, so much so that I'm willing to be its success over there was why it crossed over here in Australia for the rapper as we Aussies no doubt wanted to see what all the fuss was about with this track that would eventually become a meme on the internet.
This also wasn't quite as big in NZ as it was here in Australia, although it was still much more popular over there than their native America which should give you an idea of how much more well-loved they were internationally than they were in their homeland given that they remain a one hit wonder on Billboard with this track.
P Money had a massive hit earlier in the decade with NZ rapper Scribe, so much so that single managed to crossover to Australia where it was also a massive hit for the pair here. It's little surprise then that he would score another hit later in the decade with this track with fellow rapper Vince Harder, although it wasn't a hit here in Australia despite it arguably being bigger than "Stop the music."
I guess the kiwis were slightly more on board with T.I sampling a popular meme from earlier in the decade than we Aussies were, either that or they were so infatuated with having the rapper collaborate with Rihanna that they didn't care about the circumstances as to how that would happen. Much like here in Australia, this also had to compete with "Whatever you like" due to how closely it was released after that track.
This was a bit of a comeback for Nesian Mystik given how their second album didn't produce that inescapable hit that they achieved from their first album from earlier in the decade, in fact this was their biggest hit at the time and was eventually dethroned by the lead single to their next album at the start of the new decade, proving that their popularity was only growing with each new album in their catalogue.
This was slightly more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, mainly because Ne-Yo was well liked over there by the time he released the lead single to his third album Gentleman of the year as opposed to him only having the one hit with "So sick" over here from earlier in the decade.
One thing that I've found annoying since the late 00's is how homogenised the music scene from each country worldwide has become, nowadays there's always several songs from bands and artists that will receive the same amount of success regardless of where in the world you're from such as Katy Perry who saw minimal changes to her success over the years with each of her singles and albums popularity.
Well at least this song managed to be a huge success over in NZ for P!nk even if said success pales in comparison to what it achieved here in Australia and even in her native America given how this was her first song as a lead artist to top the Billboard charts despite how successful she'd been over there throughout the decade. Indeed, she would only have one more Billboard chart topper with "Just give me a reason" in 2013.
This proved to be a slightly bigger hit for Rihanna over in NZ than the first lead single to the deluxe edition of her third album, I'm guessing because it makes for surprisingly good Halloween music which likely reminded the kiwis of MJ's Thriller given how that album was rereleased this year for its 25th anniversary. I guess this wasn't the case for us Aussies even though it was still a massive hit over here regardless.
It looks like Duffy was able to achieve far more success in NZ than she did here in Australia much like many other British artists of the decade, I would say this was because it was featured in the Sex and the city film except this came up months prior to when that film first premiered. The only explanation for this song's success then is that British blue eyed soul singers were very popular over there this decade.
I think Australia was the only place in the world where this came bundled with "If I were a boy" as one entry, it does make sense given how quickly this was released as a single after that other track kicked off the album cycle (it was by barely a month.) Naturally this has long overshadowed that track as the feminist anthem from the album, mainly because she's only angry with one man on the track as opposed to the whole gender on that track.
I stand by that this song would've been infinitely more successful had it been released the following year (for reasons I won't get into but should be obvious for anyone familiar with what happened to her that year.) As is, it was a massive worldwide hit for her given that it was the lead single to the deluxe edition of her third album, NZ being no exception.
I've featured several entries on this site where Lil Wayne was the featured rapper on someone else's song, I guess it's about time that we look at one of his own songs where he's the lead artist which just so happens to be his one and only Billboard chart topper as the lead artist from his critically acclaimed album Tha carter III. I'm guessing it was a hit in his homeland and in NZ due to it being a song comparing sex to candy.
It appears the kiwis had enough love for T.I's music that this lead single to his sixth album (damn this guy has an amazing worth ethic) managed to almost be as successful as his earlier entry on this list in NZ as opposed to it only barely qualifying for the Australian equivalent of this list. Even with all of this success, the only time he'll trouble the charts in the 2010's over there was with his verse on "Blurred lines."
I guess I should talk about the song itself given how it wasn't bundled together with Beyonce's earlier entry on this list, this is one of the earliest songs to become a success that can be considered a misandrist anthem given how she manages to degrade the entire male gender on the song without any sense of humour of irony. As such, you can guess which demographic considers this to be a classic even to this day.
One thing I can add to this song that I didn't cover on the Australian side of this site is that this was the final song to not chart here until it was given a physical release, as such, it managed to appear slightly higher on this list due to it charting on time over there just like every other entry on the Australian equivalent of this list.
This was way less popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, I guess the kiwis realised the problematic nature of this song (for the most part) as the song was widely criticised even back then for promoting unhealthy standards for young girls that rubbed many people (me included) the wrong way. It ended up leading to their popularity rapidly declining worldwide for the remainder of the decade.
I'm a bit surprised this wasn't even more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, I'm guessing the kiwis weren't too impressed with Estelle's performance on here (I personally find it to be rather flat) and only came on board due to the song having a guest verse from Kanye West who's presumably the American boy she's referring to in the lyrics.
Much like here in Australia, this was the final hit that Madonna had in her career as even the kiwis couldn't get on board with the meme tracks she would release throughout the 2010's, although JT would continue to score hits over there for the remainder of the decade given how he had become an in demand featured artist much like another Justin would throughout the 2010's.
There's little surprise this wouldn't be as big in NZ as it was here in Australia for the Veronicas, although considering how this became an international hit for the duo, I would've been surprised if it didn't at least achieve some success over there given how popular their debut album was from earlier in the decade. Sadly, this would be their final hit over there due to the kiwis not caring about their 2014 comeback.
Given how this was released by a then unknown Australian singer, it makes sense that it wasn't quite as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia even though this was released at the same time over there as it was over here due to Gabriella Cilmi already sparking international interest with this song for some reason. Indeed, this was a massive hit for her throughout Europe likely due to how popular it was in the southern hemisphere.
This is a song I definitely remember receiving a ton of flack for back in the day, keep in mind it only barely charted here in Australia and even we Aussies were making fun of this track back in the day (thankfully this was back before this type of engagement counted towards a song's popularity.) I guess the kiwis got more ironic enjoyment out of this track which would explain its success over there.
Although this wasn't as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia for Matchbox 20, it was nonetheless a huge success over there thanks to it being a bonus track from their greatest hits album they released around this time which was seen as a bit of a comeback for the band given how Rob's solo album wasn't a huge success over there like it was over here.
This is a hip-hop quintet that's best known for its member Juicy J given how he went on to have massive success in their native America as an in demand featured rapper (most notably for the likes of Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus.) Here the group score their one and only hit in their career with another song that compares sex to candy, I'm guessing because audiences incorrectly assumed that T-Pain was on the chorus.
This was a massive hit for Phil Collins upon its initial release in NZ a quarter of a century prior, however it didn't reach the dizzying heights of success it achieved throughout the rest of the world at the time. Fast forward a quarter of a century and the song finds itself in a Cadbury campaign where a gorilla plays the drums to this track which obviously amused the kiwis enough to make it a huge chart topper for him this year over there.
This is the one and only hit to come from female rapper Lil Mama, I'm not sure where she got her rap name from as from what I can gather, she's never been a mother of any kind and was only a teenager when she began her career. I think the popularity of this track came from the two featured artists given how both Chris Brown and T-Pain were inescapably popular throughout the world this year.
Unlike in Australia where Keri Hilson only had the one hit with Timbaland from the previous year, in NZ she managed to score two more hits with this solo entry being the first of those two, proving that she was among the hottest new names in female RNB just as the decade was coming to an end over there. We'll look at her other entry the following year which was also one of the biggest hits of the decade over there.
There were no signs of T-Pain slowing down during the second half of the decade in NZ, this is interesting given how he never had a hit here in Australia until 2012 where he snuck in a hit with "Turn all the lights on" during the waning days of the club boom. In the meantime, he raps in his alter ego Teddy Verseti about getting into fights at the club which naturally amused the kiwis at the time.
This proved to be equally as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, likely because word got out that this was a charity single in her native UK and audiences feeling that they would be supporting Sports relief if they bought the song internationally (I'm not sure if international proceeds counted towards the charity or not.) It was the only other hit she had over there as was the case over here.
I guess the kiwis weren't as interested in having the older brother of Miley Cyrus dominate their charts with his band's one and only hit like we Aussies did back in the day, either that or they just didn't find this as catchy as we did as it was much more of a sleeper hit over there than it was over here this year. Sadly, they were a one hit wonder over there just like they were internationally with this pop rock jam.
This wasn't quite as successful over in NZ as it was here in Australia for Sara Bareilles, likely because the kiwis were more interested in the hip hop and RNB scene rather than the singer/songwriter scene like we Aussies were this year. While she didn't have as much success over there with her singles as she did over here, at least she had both of her hits here become a success over there for the exact same reasons.
It looks like Usher was able to score a second hit over in NZ this year as this manage to become a hit for him over there where it failed to do so down under, I guess even with the fact that Chris Brown was dominating the RNB scene over there, the kiwis felt there was still enough room for there to be two princes of RNB this year even if the crown clearly belong to his younger counterpart.
Given how Akon saw inescapable success from his second album two years prior in NZ, I would've been dumbstruck if he didn't achieve at least some success over there with his third album which was the case with its lead single even though it was a massive flop for him over here in Australia. Sadly, this would be his final hit as a lead artist over there as "Beautiful" failed to catch on like it did over here.
This is the only new entry from Jordin Sparks that will be appearing on this site of my site, although rest assured that all of Jordin's entries from the Australian side of my site will be reappearing on this side of my site as even "Tattoo" racked up enough points to reappear on this list despite it being much less successful over there compared to what it was over here.
This was the only other hit that Natasha Bedingfield managed to achieve in NZ, mainly for the presence of Sean Kingston who was on a roll over there around this time given how he was coming off a highly successful debut album. This was also a hit over in America of all places, again likely due to Sean's popularity but also because Natasha found considerable success over there with her debut album.
This would've been the last hit that Mariah Carey had anywhere in the world were it not for her 2013 effort "#beautiful" which became big that year due to having a # in its title, I guess it's safe to say that the 90's diva had to resort to meme culture to keep her relevancy going given how this song references YouTube among other things that made it a success in NZ but not here in Australia.
While this wasn't as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia (as was the case with all of her singles this decade baring the ones from her second album) it proved to be a huge hit for P!nk over there regardless thanks to the double meaning it has as it can be about overcoming a literal drug/alcohol addiction or about her "sobering up" to how toxic her current relationship is.
This was considerably less successful in NZ than it was here in Australia for Britney Spears, I'm guessing this was due to the kiwis not finding the video to be as titillating as the rest of the world was or also because of how repetitive the song is. She would have one more hit over there with "Circus" before the kiwis officially gave up on her as opposed to us Aussies which kept her around during the club boom.
Just a fair warning that there won't be as many appearances from Miley Cyrus on this side of my site as there were on the Australian side, I'm guessing because the kiwis weren't that impressed with the Disney star at least when she initially broke through as they were more interested in her Hannah Montana persona due to how well those albums did over her own work.
We have another entry to feature from Sean Kingston's debut album on this site, this being the third hit in a row he managed to score over in NZ from said album thanks to how popular he was over there with said album. He would score one more hit with his earlier entry on this list before he went to work on his second album which yielded more success for him as the decade was coming to an end over there.
It appears the kiwis allowed Soulja boy to have a hit between his two earlier entries on this list as he scored success over there with a song about what a girl would be like if she happened to get with him, or at least I think that's what's going on here as like many other listeners, I don't tend to find his lyricism particularly noteworthy on his songs.
Well, here we are yet again with the ballad that Jordin Sparks performed at the 2007 American Idols that claimed her victory for that season, like I said earlier, it was delayed a release in NZ in favour of her duet with Chris Brown which is why it wasn't as popular over there as it was over here for her.
Ne-Yo was on a roll this year as he released the second single to his biggest album Gentleman of the year, a song that shares its name with a Kelly Clarkson track much like "Because of you" from the previous year which suggests he was a bit uncreative with what he named his songs throughout his career. This obviously wasn't a deal breaker throughout the world given how popular he was.
This was the lead single to that album which was reportedly a concept album about Kanye West's breakup with Amber Rose, a woman who's only claim to fame as far as I can tell was her high-profile relationships with him and Wiz Khalifa. It's one of only two new appearances from the rapper on this site as the kiwis were more receptive towards his breakup album 808's and heartbreaks over us Aussies.
This barely missed the cut from appearing on the Australian side of my site due to being too much of a sleeper hit to do so, however the opposite was the case for "Viva la Vida" in NZ as the kiwis were more interested in this lead single to their magnum opus named after that second single this year.
This was the only other success that Lil Wayne was able to achieve from his critically acclaimed album Tha carter III, it's a song about him cheekily hitting on a female police officer presumably to get out of getting arrested by her. America passed up this track in favour of "A Milli," a song many will tell you is one of the worst ever made due to how annoying the production is.
You'd think the presence of Akon on this remix would ensure that it would be even bigger in NZ than it was here in Australia, alas it appears the kiwis were only marginally impressed with this remix and that it came out just as their love for the RNB singer was beginning to die out over there.
This was far less popular in NZ than it was here in Australia for the Ting Tings, mainly because it didn't last as long on their charts despite it being released over there slightly sooner than it was over here. I guess the kiwis found this track to be rather annoying to make it any more successful than it was, indeed, it's hard to say if their follow up "Shut up and let me go" was used in an ad campaign like it was here.
We have one final appearance from Bow Wow on this side of my site, this one being a reunion he had with Omarion who appeared on his first big hit over there which was "Let me hold you" from three years prior. This collaboration proved to be more popular than their first team up likely due to how popular both artists were during this point in their respective careers.
We have another entry from Timbaland's album as a lead artist to make it on this site, this time it's his collaboration with Keri Hilson and Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat dolls presumably as a follow up to Timbaland and Keri's collaboration from the previous year which connected with the kiwis.
This is the sequel track to a song where the two men have their roles reversed, that is, Ne-yo is the main artist and Plies was the featured rapper. I guess the kiwis wanted to hear Plies as the main artist with this song given how both songs are about wanting a girl to shake her groove thing and that Ne-yo wasn't particularly known for his strip club anthems.
This was a throwaway single that Chris Brown released from his album Exclusive, it was a modest success in NZ to prove how much the kiwis loved his music around this time.
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