Much like with the 80's, I've also decided to do a list of the biggest hits of the 90's in Australia which includes entries based on both their AMR and ARIA stats. Just like before, I'll only make a mention for which entries are the ARIA entries as I feel their placement on this list will speak for themselves rather than me delivering redundant commentary that will highlight how well/poorly they did compared to the AMR charts.
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#10 for 1999
Well mashup singles were all the rage this decade, so why not have one of the final hit singles be a mashup from this British group? I guess the gimmick here was the band's mascot which appears to be a (in my opinion) poorly drawn rabbit dancing around to this mashup in the video. Needless to say, this doesn't rank among the more popular mashups of the day despite it easily being the biggest hit in this genre.
#3 for 1990
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#10 for 1995
Calling this a cover of the Hot chocolate classic is stretching it as much like many songs which incorporated 70's nostalgia to score a hit this decade, this song only uses the chorus of the original to connect the verses together. I'm guessing this was a success due to the original being used in the Full Monty which in turn allowed it to rechart in the band's native UK, I guess we Aussies wanted a new spin on the classic instead.
#5 for 1997
#13 for 1998
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#11 for 1995
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#10 for 1993
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#10 for 1997
I guess we Aussies can breathe a sigh of relief by allowing a rapper of colour (even one as goofy as MC Hammer) to claim the prize of having the first hip hop chart topper on our charts over Vanilla ice like what happened in America. I think a part of why this happened was us somehow remembering the Rick James track this song heavily samples throughout its runtime in order to create the atmosphere he was going for.
#4 for 1990
This was originally a hit for the Righteous brothers back in the mid 60's, however when this ballad was used in a steamy love scene with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in the comedy horror Ghost, it became a hit all over again as the scene turned the love ballad into a raunchy sex jam overnight.
#5 for 1990
#5 for 1991
This is often considered to be Toni Braxton's signature tune, mainly due to how long it lasted at number one on Billboard as it stayed there for an impressive eleven weeks back in the day. I personally prefer her other ballads over this as I find that she's over singing too much on this track, "Breathe again" is a much better example of her powerful vocals put to good use.
#7 for 1996
#6 for 1997
To think this was the only success En vogue had in Australia as a lead artist, thankfully they did have a massive hit earlier in the decade as the featured artist on Salt n Pepa's "Whatta man" because they would've been one hit wonders with this theme to the film Set it off otherwise. I guess they owe their success here to the hip hop trio and the Hollywood flick now that I think about it.
#7 for 1997
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#19 for 1998
#11 for 1999
Another comeback to come in Cher's very rocky career, this time it comes with the introduction of autotune in the music industry as this becomes the first hit single anywhere in the world to incorporate the vocal effect which helped it stand out from its contemporaries back in the day. Nowadays this is known as the Cher effect, primarily by her haters who believe that she was never a good singer.
#14 for 1998
#11 for 1999
This song and the album that it serves as the lead single to almost didn't happen, mainly due to the girls needing to declare bankruptcy from their previous album despite how much of a success it was worldwide due to poor management of their earnings. Fortunately, the girls pulled through from that stumble and came back with what I and many others consider to be their best song.
#12 for 1999
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5 for 1990
This was easily Janet Jackson's biggest hit in Australia largely due to her hopping on the new age bandwagon with her album the Velvet rope (sort of at least) resulting in her connecting with a wide range of audiences at the time of the album's release. It may surprise you to learn that this was a difficult process in making the album considering its themes of spirituality and self-empowerment.
#8 for 1997
#15 for 1998
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#9 for 1994
This seems completely out of place compared to everything else on this list, after all pub rock was a massive success throughout the 70's and 80's but by the 90's it had fallen out of favour for whatever reason. I think the people who were most surprised by this being a success was the band itself who never particularly displayed any desire to have any mainstream appeal.
#9 for 1997
#16 for 1998
While this was far from the first song to combine hip hop with EDM, nor was it even the most successful as this would become common place throughout the decade, it tends to be the song most people think of when you tell them to name a song that is synonymous with this trend. Curiously this took its sweet time in getting a physical release in Australia, heck even America caught on to this before we Aussies did, and we're supposed to be the EDM crowd of the decade.
#7 for 1995
Here's a bit of a fun fact for you, this was Bryan Adams biggest hit in Australia that wasn't a tie in for a film, in this case it was a success due to it being the hit single from his highly successful greatest hits album So far so good which serves as a perfect gateway for getting into his work from the 80's and early 90's.
#9 for 1993
#8 for 1994
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#11 for 1993
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#11 for 1997
#20 for 1998
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#12 for 1993
#10 for 1994
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#9 for 1996
#12 for 1997
This may be the best-selling song of all time worldwide; however, I'm ranking these songs based on their chart runs rather than actual sales. With that out of the way, this touching tribute to the (then) recently deceased Diana Spencer proved to be the final hit single that Elton John managed to achieve in his career.
#10 for 1997
#17 for 1998
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#12 for 1999
Although he had already achieved success worldwide with his misguided cover of Otis Redding's "Dock of the bay," many consider this to be the moment when Michael Bolton began his chart dominance worldwide due to much more of a hit it was compared to his earlier work. Despite him being the writer for this ballad, it was originally a hit for Laura Branigan seven years prior in America.
#6 for 1990
And who says joke songs have only become a recent phenomenon? OK so this was a huge success back in the day, proving that even back then, people thought that the idea of clowning on toxic narcissists like these guys do throughout the track was the height of comedy. I'm in no way saying this is a bad thing, rather I feel that people find this way funnier than I do.
#6 for 1991
#9 for 1992
This is one of the more bombastic tracks to come out of the American hip hop scene, although it may surprise you to learn that this wasn't a hit in the duo's native America but rather throughout Europe due to this and their other hit "Don't stop" being huge chart toppers in the UK for some reason. Naturally we Aussies followed suit in making these songs a huge success, likely due to how catchy they were for our dance floors.
#8 for 1995
#8 for 1996
As far as I can tell, this wasn't the theme to a theatrical film, meaning that these guys were instantly trying to recreate the success they had with their breakthrough single "End of the road" from two years prior. I guess this paid off for them as the lead single to their second album II was a huge success worldwide for the RNB boy band, and indeed the replaced themselves at number one on Billboard with their next single.
#9 for 1994
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#13 for 1993
To think these two had been active for almost fifteen years when they released this track two years prior to deafening silence, likely because it was too much of an underground hit for even Triple J to notice at the time. It was given a remix from Todd Terry which helped it crossover to the dance floors around the world which is how this song finally took off for the husband-and-wife duo.
#9 for 1996
Even though Ace of base were still making music during this point of the decade, it appears this German trio decided they wanted to steal the crown from the Swedish quartet of fusing reggae with europop which resulted in this huge success for them. It took a little while for this to take off in Australia, however once it did it felt like it would never leave the airwaves.
#11 for 1997
#18 for 1998
Now that the world seemed to have been reunited with what it considered to be the in trends of the moment, we have one of many tracks that became a success in Australia this year that likely wouldn't have had it been released earlier in the decade. Indeed, this was a minor hit in NZ several months prior to it becoming a huge success here to give you an idea of how the times were changing.
#12 for 1997
This was the first of several songs to be released from Black box's one and only album Dreamland, although that's likely due to the behind-the-scenes drama the band went through when lead vocalist Martha Walsh (of Weather girls fame) was replaced with a more attractive woman on the cover art and in the videos. This led to her leaving the group which in turn led to them disbanding once the album cycle was done.
#7 for 1990
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#14 for 1993
Well, this is a song that has novelty written all over it, admittedly the reggae craze of this year was a bit of a silly one that was meant to be uplifting to the increasingly troubled times the world was facing this decade, however I don't think many people have ever been able to take this track seriously due to its silly lyrics and campy tone. If you can believe it, these guys were among the most successful artists of the decade in NZ.
#10 for 1993
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#10 for 1996
Many consider this to be the sellout of the century as Steven Tyler and company, while known for their sentimental side, are best known for their often-aggressive rock and roll numbers. Here we have their theme to the Bruce Willis flick Armageddon which happens to star Steven's daughter Liv Tyler, thus explaining why they contributed to the films soundtrack to begin with.
#19 for 1998
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#13 for 1999
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#9 for 1992
This was originally written for the film Mo money, hence why the two performers insist that the best things in life are free given that's the theme the film is going for (from what I can gather that is.) This proved to be a huge success for both parties involved particularly here in Australia where neither of them was exactly among the most successful stars of the moment, of course that changed once Janet released her next album.
#10 for 1992
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#15 for 1993
It's strange to think that the original version of this RNB track from Earth wind and fire wasn't a huge success in Australia back in the day, in fact even if you were around during the early 80's and the mid 90's, this is likely your introduction to this classic which I guess is better than nothing as the Australian quartet do a decent job updating the track for a (then) modern audience.
#9 for 1995
#10 for 1996
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#11 for 1996
OK I have a question for my readers, has anyone ever been able to understand a single word while listening to this song besides "likey boom boom down?" I guess it's lucky for Darrin O'Brien AKA Snow that A: he has a really good flow on this track B: the production is catchy as hell and C: that he had a rough upbringing that brought credibility to the rap game. Sadly, this was all cancelled out by unfair comparisons made between him and Vanilla ice at the time.
#11 for 1993
This was the only song to ever be released under this pseudonym, I'm not even exaggerating here, the French trio Stardust only ever released this one song before going their separate ways onto other projects. As EDM was the genre of choice in Australia, this was of course a massive success here regardless of who was responsible for its existence.
#20 for 1998
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6 for 1991
This was the only noticeable success that this brother duo had in Australia, although for what it's worth they were more popular in NZ given how the kiwis loved their RNB ballads this decade. I'm guessing this was a huge success here due to the rise in popularity of the genre itself rather than us making an exception to these two former members of Jodeci.
#21 for 1998
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#16 for 1993
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#14 for 1999
This was originally a hit for Brenton Wood in 1967, so it makes sense that Peter Andre would make this his debut single given how he clearly wanted to make a name for himself in the music industry following his loss in a dance competition to Wade Robson and thus him missing out on the chance to meet MJ. I guess Peter got the last laugh as he managed to achieve quite a number of hits worldwide.
#12 for 1993
This was a surprise hit for the Offspring in Australia, mainly because this flopped in their native America as did most of their catalogue unfortunately. I guess you can thank Triple J for heavily promoting this and the album it came from which resulted in both becoming some of the biggest hits of the decade down under, that and the track itself is catchy as hell set to lyrics that resonated with audiences.
#10 for 1994
#10 for 1995
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#17 for 1993
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6 for 1990
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#13 for 1997
This was originally released as the second single from Seal's second self-titled album, however it for some reason was a huge flop for him despite it easily being his best work (in my opinion of course.) Fortunately, it was given a second chance this year when it played over the end credits of Batman forever, a film that divides audiences to this day due to its campy tone clashing with the previous Batman flicks.
#11 for 1995
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#12 for 1995
#12 for 1996
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#21 for 1998
One of the more sombre tracks in Prince's catalogue was the original version of this track, even so it's certainly more upbeat than Sinead O'Connor's rendition who injected raw emotions she was going through at the time which tugged at the heartstrings of the general public of this year. This was her only major success worldwide given how she ruined her career in 1992 with her infamous SNL performance.
#8 for 1990
One of the more promising Australian artists from the EDM scene was this trio, although they were mired with behind-the-scenes drama as the vocalist on this track Keren Minshull didn't appear in the video which had future vocalist Holly Garnett lip synching to her vocals. The trio patched things up on their next single which featured both women singing on the track as well as appearing in the video.
#11 for 1992
Given how tragedy struck the band during the midpoint of the decade with the death of one of its members, there was a very real possibility that this signature track of theirs and the album it came from never would've come into fruition had the band decided to call it quits once they lost their key member. Fortunately, the band soldiered on which resulted in this party jam coming into fruition for them and becoming their big breakthrough in their homeland of America.
#9 for 1990
This is a song many people like to label as problematic due to all of the ladies Lou Bega mentions throughout the song, personally I feel that this song is too harmless to find any offense with as the charisma and catchiness of the production more than make up for any problematic nature of the lyrics here.
#13 for 1999
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#14 for 1997
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#7 for 1990
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#7 for 1991
#10 for 1992
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#15 for 1999
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#16 for 1999
OK we have to talk about a song where even as a kid I never got the appeal of, I know that people tend to mistake these guys for Aqua but at least Aqua played their own instruments and thus had artistic integrity. These guys on the other hand copied their formula superficially and made music that was meant to be part of a lore where it's played exclusively on their bus which they've declared the fun nest place on earth.
#14 for 1999
So, for whatever reason, someone decided to do a mashup of "You're the one that I want," "Greased lightning" and "Summer nights" from the Grease soundtrack where it managed to become a massive success at the start of the decade. The DJ gave full credit to both stars of the film, and as such it recharted later in the decade when the 20th anniversary of the film was released.
#8 for 1991
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#13 for 1996
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#15 for 1997
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#8 for 1991
Given that Janet Jackson was now a household name in Australia following her duet with Luther Vandross from the previous year, it makes sense that this lead single from her biggest album Janet would have no issue in finding an audience here like it did internationally. A bit of a fun fact is that the video features the first on screen appearance of Jennifer Lopez in pop culture.
#13 for 1993
This had a bit of a slow rise to success here in Australia as it was originally released in the previous year to deafening silence for Merril Bainbridge, presumably due to no one wanting to hear a sex jam sex to a beat boxing err.... beat. They eventually changed their minds this year which led to it becoming a huge success for her, this in turn sparked international interest in her debut album which resulted in this song becoming a huge success over in America the following year.
#12 for 1995
This is a cover that only exists to cash in off the success of a beloved classic, Nicki French is a singer whose popularity began and ended with this cover which is little more than a dance remix of the Bonnie Tyler version from 1983 sung by her. I guess enough people had nostalgia of the original for this to be a huge success, and admittedly this dance track was a huge success throughout the world and not just in the EDM loving Australia.
#13 for 1995
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#11 for 1992
Well, this is something else entirely, that famous quote from Stanley Kubrick's the Shining from 1980 received a dance remix from the duo who brought us a dance remix of the Charleston the previous year. This became one of the biggest hits not just of the year but of the entire decade in Australia, I guess we really had a lot of nostalgia for the Jack Nicholson flick.
#14 for 1995
This was the one and only hit that the Otara millionaire's club (OMC for short) managed to achieve outside their native NZ, although it's a bit of a shame as despite him not being the best rapper of his time, the production on here more than makes up for his weak rapping and the chorus is catchy as hell to boot. He did see slightly more success in his homeland, although nothing to really write home about.
#11 for 1996
The last time anyone had heard from Matthew Wilder was with his version of this track from thirteen years prior, now all the sudden he was a well-respected producer for the likes of P Diddy and No doubt which would explain the popularity of this cover from Danish group Unique II. I have to say that the woman singing on this track is a far better vocalist than Wilder, yes, his lyrics are poignant, but he always sounded weird to me.
#13 for 1997
Well, I think this is the first song to become a success where a pony is used as a metaphor for one's family jewels, no wonder this managed to be a huge worldwide success for Ginuwine as I'm sure older audiences were trying to figure out what he meant by riding his pony throughout the lyrics. Like most RNB tracks this decade, this had a slight delay with its release in Australia due to our slow acceptance of the genre.
#14 for 1997
This was a huge comeback success for Alice Cooper who had been MIA on the charts for exactly a decade worldwide as the last hit he had was with "How you gonna see me now" from the end of the 70's. Here he is with a song that seems to be a perfect fit into the hair metal that was popular around this time, meaning that he sadly wasn't able to retain his popularity going into the 90's.
#10 for 1990
This was the debut single from one of the more promising RNB stars to emerge from the UK this decade, heck this even managed to crossover to America, that's how much crossover appeal Gabrielle had with this number. While I can see her voice annoying people with how raspy it is, I have to say that I'm in love with it on this track as it works wonders with the production and especially the lyrics.
#14 for 1993
#11 for 1994
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#16 for 1997
This was a hit single twice throughout most parts of the world, although this time we're going to be looking at the remix to one of the more popular tracks to come out of the 70's seventeen years after its initial release. Given that this decade was filled with remixes of older songs, it makes sense that this was among the more successful tracks here in Australia given it was good for nostalgia and the dance floors.
#15 for 1993
Following the success she had with "Breathe again" from two years prior, Toni Braxton no longer had any issues with scoring a hit in Australia with her subsequent releases which means she was able to find massive success with this sex jam that continues to titillate audiences to this day. This feels like a bit of an outlier in her discography as she's mostly known for her power ballads rather than her sexual nature.
#12 for 1996
When the Notorious B.I.G (or Biggie Smalls if you prefer) was tragically gunned down this year, Puff daddy (now known as P Diddy) released this track that was an obvious tribute to his fallen friend that tugged at the heartstrings of audiences worldwide. I would be more moved with this track if A: the Police sample wasn't so egregious and B: if Diddy were on the same level as his former friend in terms of rapping.
#15 for 1997
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#17 for 1997
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#18 for 1997
#22 for 1998
Shania had already created massive buzz in Australia from her previous album with the surprise success of "If you're not in it for love," so it makes sense that the lead single to her next album Come on over would spawn a massive hit for her in the form of this ballad which can best be describes as the solo version of Sonny and Cher's "I got you babe." It looked like this would be the only hit single from the album, but that changed towards the end of the year.
#22 for 1998
It appears we Aussies had finally embraced RNB of all types into our mainstream as this track from the British girl group Honeyz wasn't even the most successful track of theirs in their native UK. I'm guessing we gravitated towards these guys following the demise of Eternal around this time, although we quickly discarded them once TLC rolled out their third album.
#23 for 1998
#15 for 1999
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#13 for 1995
It took them three albums but Salt n Pepa were finally able to find success in their native America with the lead single to Very necessary, I feel like we need to give them and female hip hop in general a round of applause for finally breaking down barriers in the hip hop community over there. It's easy to see how this made it big internationally, the rhymes are arguably at their best on here as is the production.
#16 for 1993
#12 for 1994
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#11 for 1994
#14 for 1995
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#19 for 1997
If you're wondering why there was such a gap between when this advanced single from Affirmation came out and the album itself, that's due to this being the theme to a romantic comedy known as the Other sister. Needless to say, that this track has done better to stand the test of time than the film itself given how obscure that film is nowadays. As with all of their other songs that weren't Billboard chart toppers, the production on here is savage and lives up to their name.
#16 for 1999
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#18 for 1993
This is one of many hit singles this decade that saw massive success despite it never charting on Billboard, it goes to show you how out of touch the American charts were this decade when this signature track from Lenny Kravitz fails to dent their charts. In any case, we have one of the more iconic songs on this list primarily due to that guitar lick that is instantly memorable the second you hear it.
#17 for 1993
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#19 for 1993
#12 for 1994
No comments:
Post a Comment