Here's how I rank the 50 years in music from 1970-2019 (I'm not ranking the 2020s due to the lack of direction the music scene has had as of late).
2011
This is my least favourite year in music, mainly because I don't care much for the club boom, which dominated the music scene worldwide. There were some bright spots here and there, but overall, it was a painful experience.
1974
This is often considered the worst year in music by historians, I'm inclined to agree due to the sheer amounts of cheesy ballads that made it big at the time as well as some poorly aged comedy tracks that I'm sure were funny at the time but simply aren't these days. There was also a rise in popularity with artists from the 50s making it big for a second time this year, although this would die out by 1976.
2016
This was the height of "politically correct" culture. That is, we have a bunch of racist/sexist media claiming to fight against systemic injustice, which were still feeling the aftereffects of to this day. In music, this translated to pop stars "getting woke" by disingenuously singing about female empowerment as if the concept had just been discovered recently, resulting in preachy pop songs that few if anyone enjoyed even at the time.
2018
Although woke media still persists in entertainment to this day, it thankfully died off by this year in the music scene due to streaming taking over the music scene worldwide. Of course, this meant our listening habits were controlled by whatever was on the Spotify play lists, resulting in soulless music (usually trap and commercial jingles) dominating our charts which is only a marginal improvement over a rich pop star singing about disadvantages they've never experienced.
2015
I never cared much for the tropical house boom of the decade, granted its miles better than the club boom from five years prior, but it's unfortunately paired the beginnings of the woke garbage from those disingenuous pop stars that would permeate pop culture for the remainder of the decade.
2004
This year would be higher if I based it solely on what it had to offer, it was the height of the indie boom of the 00s after all as well as some great alternative rock dominating our airwaves. Unfortunately, this is cancelled out by Australian idol dominating our mainstream, which resulted in the rise of digital piracy here back in the day. Thankfully, digital downloads were made legal by 2006. Otherwise, the accursed reality show would've killed off our music industry down under.
2010
This was when the club boom took over the mainstream worldwide, the only thing preventing this from being at the bottom of the list with 2011 is that there's little pretentious indie music to be found this year which really made 2011 that much more intolerable due to these artists acting like they were too cool for the clubs when they really weren't.
2005
Again, this would be higher on the list, were it not for reality shows killing off physical media around this time. There was plenty of great rock and pop music this year that got pushed aside for the likes of those reality show contestants the media shoved down our throats in order to boost their egos which resulted in fans pirating their favourite artists music out of protest against the music industry.
2007
This was a really clunky year on our charts due to ARIA not including digital data on our main charts unless there was a physical release of a song in question. Although this year would still rank low even if that wasn't an issue as this was when viral hits from YouTube started taking over the mainstream worldwide which resulted in established artists pandering to the YouTube crowd in order to seem "hip" with these crowds.
2009
As this year was the last year of its decade, it felt more like a last hurrah of the big artists of the 00s more than anything else, pair that with the rise of the club boom this year and we have an overall annoying and rightfully forgotten year in music.
2017
You'd think this year would be lower due to it being the rise of streaming taking over our music scene as well as the continuation of woke culture in our music scene, at least the streaming juggernauts were largely inoffensive this year whilst the woke garbage was at least so disingenuous and awful that it wound up dying out in the music industry by the following year. What's left was decent enough to rise this year in the ranking.
2008
I feel this was the year where our music tastes were dictated to us, given how that was the trade-off for preventing those awful viral hits from YouTube from clogging up our charts. It was a temporary solution to that conundrum as it resulted in rather soulless music from artists who likely would've failed to crossover the year prior.
1989
This was another decade closer that seemed more interested in looking back on the greatest hits of its decade rather than exposing fresh talent to (then) modern audiences. Then again, that's likely for the best, considering how many Kylie Minogue rip-offs there were that did make it through to the mainstream, which really cheapened the overall quality of pop music.
2019
I had high hopes coming out of the 2010s given how decent the new artists were this year, it was dragged down by it celebrating the highs (and mostly lows) of the decade as well as having tik tok determine what was popular on streaming, but it's one of the better years of the 2010s overall. Sadly, its winning streak would be ruined shortly after the year ended for obvious reasons.
2006
The year where digital downloads saved the ARIA charts, this meant that the awesome indie scene was finally recognised in our mainstream as well as the pop divas of the moment no longer having their success stalled due to their labels (usually Sony) pulling their songs from shelves to encourage sales from reality show contestants.
1973
Oh boy do I find this year boring, so much cheap country and personality deprived ballads clogged up the charts this year likely due to these songs being pleasant enough to offset the hangover everyone was experiencing from the 60s coming to an end.
2012
This was the final year of the dreaded club boom, although the insufferable indie scene I mentioned in my 2010 entry would briefly take over this year which does drag it down as it would've been higher thanks to pop divas once again dominating without relying on the club boom gimmicks.
1972
Another boring year from the early 70s, there's not much to add here that doesn't apply to 1973 as there were a ton of country and pop ballads which really dominated the mainstream over the surprisingly few prog and heavy metal projects most people think of when thinking of early 70s music.
2014
This was when streaming was included on the ARIA charts, although that wouldn't happen until November this year, meaning the Australian charts were lacking any clear musical direction for the most part. Still, I prefer this over what was dominating Billboard given how we Aussies wisely didn't incorporate YouTube data onto our charts until very recently.
1987
If I were merely going off what was popular solely here in Australia, this would be much higher as this was an excellent year for queer music given how hi n r g dominated our airwaves this year. Alas, I have to factor in what was happening internationally this year, which drags it down as the rest of the world was more interested in oldies tracks due to them being used in commercials throughout the world. Basically, if it wasn't used in a commercial at the time, the rest of the world wasn't interested in it.
2013
Our final year from the 2010s, it's also a year American readers will despise as Billboard foolishly decided to factor in YouTube data this year which basically saw the return of those awful meme tracks making it big over there. Thankfully the rest of the world was mostly spared from those viral hits, meaning we got to witness indie music finally getting its head out of its ass and returning to the high standards it reached in the 00s with its insightful observations of our culture at the time.
1971
I have to say I never cared for the 60s music scene, so that means that the remnants of the decade that made it big this year and in 1970 do nothing for me which does drag down their rankings on this list. This also had those awful pop and country ballads that permeated the first half of the 70s, which the previous year lacked and thus gave it a higher ranking on this list.
1993
It's about time we had the 90s appear on this list, this is the worst year of the decade mainly due to how direction less it was as the general public were finally ready to move on from the 80s this year without having a clear indication of where to take the music scene. We evidently settled for reggae given how that was the most prominent genre this year. However, we quickly moved on to other genres the following year.
1990
This will forever be known as the 80s hangover, given how there was no attempt at moving away from that decade once the 90s began. There was a ton of Kylie Minogue rip-offs to make it big as well as Paula Abdul rip-offs in America given how Kylie wasn't popular on Billboard like Paula was at the time, however the rock scene from the 80's did return as it didn't have to compete with older bands and artists soaking up their last moments of fame this year like they did in 1989.
1999
This was a celebration not just of the 90s but of the 20th century overall, meaning there was a ton of older artists getting in their final moments of fame this year as well as a ton of throwback hits to older generations and the inevitable tracks from the counterculture to point out how messed up the 20th century actually was. The genre of the moment was teen pop, this would mean this year was actually terrible to those rock snobs out there, however I was seven this year, meaning my nostalgia has me looking back on these tracks fondly rather with disdain which did affect the ranking of this year on my list.
1980
Disco might have been dead in America. However, it was merely being phased out internationally, which means there was still plenty of it worldwide this year. Still, I don't particularly care for the rise of easy listening which dominated the Billboard charts this year, some of which did find its way into our charts here in Australia as well as a few novelty tracks that I can only describe as nursery pop (songs that sound like nursery rhymes written as pop music.)
1991
This is another year that lacked any direction for the music scene, I'm glad I'm not from America as contemporary Christian music was a huge draw to what was popular on Billboard as was the large amounts of Paula Abdul rip-offs dominating their charts. I guess the rest of the world settled for adult contemporary as well as songs that became commercial jingles in the UK, which did help the Brits discover hidden gens that were big here in Australia previously.
1970
If I were a bigger fan of psychedelia or hippy culture in general, then rest assured this year, and most of the 60s in general would be higher on this list. I guess this is a personal preference as I honestly feel like I'm on a bad trip whenever I listen to this type of music, however that doesn't make it terrible, hence why it's higher on here than other years I enjoy more overall.
2000
As this was the final year of the second millennium (our current millennium began in 2001) it only makes sense that the theme of celebrating music from the past would continue this year, although there was much less emphasis on the 90s given how the big names of that decade were largely absent this year by comparison. Teen pop was still huge which of course I'm biased towards due to nostalgia, there was also a higher emphasis of the "were in the future" theme that cropped up in the late 90s as well as the counterculture argument of "and the world is still shit" it competed with.
1998
While this year was decent for the most part here in Australia, I simply can't ignore how messed up the international charts were, particularly on Billboard which was wholly inaccurate to what was popular in America due to many songs failing to receive a physical release over there as well as the Uk where piracy began its reign with the Brits that lasted well into the 00s. There was also a bunch of teen pop throughout Europe that failed to crossover here in Australia, although we Aussies also passed up on the large amounts of rnb ballads and hip hop like we did throughout most of the decade.
1997
This was when the different trends that dominated different parts of the world throughout the 90s finally came together to coexist in harmony with each other internationally. It naturally resulted in only the most inescapable from each genre making it big in the mainstream worldwide, but at least rnb, hip hop, edm, Britpop and rock and roll could exist with each other regardless of where in the world you're from.
I should also mention that this was the year ARIA and AMR widely differed from each other as the former heavily favoured the mainstream whilst the latter was willing to acknowledge the alternative scene, this obviously didn't affect my ranking of this year, but I felt it made for an interesting fun fact.
2003
This is another year that didn't have much direction to it for the most part, although I rank it pretty high on this list due to it being a great year for Australian artists even without the influence of Australian idol as that didn't come to practice until the tail end of the year. Of course, I would rank this lower had I based it on the UK charts where reality show contestants reigned supreme, but thankfully few if any crossed over internationally.
1992
The year I was born, you'd think I'd rank this at number one given how much sentimentality I've shown on this list so far. Alas it only ranks as high as it does due to this being the year that grunge broke through onto the mainstream as that was such a breath of fresh air compared to the adult contemporary that dominated the charts worldwide this year. I guess the remnants of the 80s that were still around also boosted this in the rankings given how audiences didn't want adult contemporary to be what defined the decade even at this point in time.
1975
Ahh yes, the year where countdown began its influence on the Australian charts, naturally I would rank this year fairly high as it was what gave a platform to so many iconic Australian artists and their different takes on popular genres of the decade such as pub rock and glam metal. The rest of the world didn't do too badly with their respective music scenes either as this was where disco began its meteoric rise in popularity as well as pushing aside all those old crooners who were making it big for a second time in the mainstream.
1981
The year MTV launched, although it launched fairly late in the year, meaning it was largely a continuation of 1980 when it came to adult contemporary and nursery pop dominating the airwaves. Thankfully neither genre was as dominating this year as this was when new wave finally took off in the mainstream which would of course heavily benefit from MTV given how the artists were willing to experiment with their music videos once the program launched.
2002
This is another year I'd rank lower if I were from the UK given how reality TV really did take over their mainstream this year, however it had no impact anywhere else in the world due to how dominant hip hop and rnb was internationally as well as the rise of personal ballads from usually female singer/songwriters which swept away the teen pop from the start of the decade.
1976
This year might seem a little low on this list if you're not from Australia, however we Aussies had an issue with diversifying our music tastes outside of sherbet, Abba and bay city rollers this year which does hold this back in my ranking. The rest of the world made up for this by having disco explode in popularity as well as having the introduction of rock operas, which would explode in popularity during the second half of the decade.
1977
There was a bit too much soft rock for my liking for this to be any higher on this list, however with the rise of disco and rock opera taking place, it was more than enough to forgive the stale adult contemporary that those genres were competing with. Also, I had to dock points due to us Aussies largely ignoring the punk scene that popped up in the UK this year.
1995
The mid 90s was different depending on where in the world you're from, the Brits were in love with Britpop, the kiwis loved their West Coast hip hop, Canada loved their rock and roll, Europe was all about Eurodance, America loved their rnb and we Aussies loved our edm. Naturally, this meant that anything with an electronic dance beat to it was fair game on our charts, which would be cool if that didn't include dance remixes of movie quotes and older ballads of yesteryear.
2001
This is the final year from the 21st century on this list, the millennium was off to a good start thanks to the high abundance of quality rnb and hip hop making it big worldwide as well as teen pop being on its way out in favour of more personal ballads from older artists. I guess reality shows did have their foot in the door this year. However, that was only a big issue in the UK who were still dealing with mass piracy in their music scene at the time.
1996
If you're from the UK, then this year may seem a bit high to you as there was a high number of British celebrities scoring minor success over there through their name recognition which clogged up the British charts and no doubt led to music piracy that lasted well into the 00s. The rest of the world continued showing their love for the genres that dominated their respective music scenes. However, there was a bit of crossover this year as we Aussies started embracing rnb as well as the Kiwis embracing edm.
1994
While we Aussies did shut out rnb and hip hop just like the kiwis had shut out edm and Eurodance, the two countries did allow for rock and pop to dominate our respective scenes which were both at their best this year. While it's a shame the decade was territorial with what was popular, there's no denying that each part of the world had a great music scene as the different genres had a ton of innovation to them all.
1988
This is sandwiched between two of the worst years of the 80s, although the rest of the world was finally done with having older songs clog up their charts and instead allowed genres of the moment to dominate. This culminated by having the bombast of the decade compete with the more subdue genres such as singer/songwriters and sophistopop, resulting in a very varied music landscape as it alternated from new wave to easy listening from song to song.
1982
This was where MTV truly kicked off, meaning that the new wave acts of the moment really let their creative juices run wild both musically and especially visually, resulting in some rather wacky music and videos. These were balanced out with the genres sophisticated cousin new romance which is a precursor to sophistopop as has the visual aesthetics of new wave but lacks the bombast of the genre which gave variety to what the music scene had to offer.
1979
This year, this year did something that the decade end years failed to do, celebrating what the decade in question accomplished without it coming off as a last hurrah for those who contributed to the pop culture of the day. It's a shame the disco backlash happened in America this year as the genre was at its peak here, as too was rock in general thanks to how bombastic it had gotten due to the rise of the rock opera. There was some easy listening. However, that took a back seat to the more interesting genres of the moment.
1986
If it weren't for the last quarter of the year being where the trend of older songs being featured in commercials took off internationally, this year would be even higher on this list as we had great offerings from the many pop divas of the moment as well as the introduction to sophistopop which sadly took a back seat by the end of the year in favour of those classics turned commercial jingles. We also saw fewer new waves in favour of hi n r g tracks, which is basically 80s disco given the similarities the two genres have.
1978
This edges out 1979 as there wasn't a racist/homophobic backlash towards a popular genre this year that took place in America like there was that year, that's about the only difference these two years have from each other as naturally that backlash meant there was slightly fewer disco classics to come out that year compared to this year, that and said backlash did result in more generic music finding success on Billboard that year that likely would've flopped if they peaked this year.
1983
Don't think for a second that me attacking the "woke" crowd means I'm against progressive music, if that were the case, I wouldn't be ranking this year so high as this was when artists of any kind were able to find success regardless of the colour of their skin or sexual orientation or what genre they were a part of. I do find it a tad overrated because people will tell you this is the best year in music because of these factors and little else, however with all of the rnb, new wave and pop to make it big, it's hard to deny this was a fantastic year in music.
1984
If there's one word to describe this year, it's colourful as there was no shortage of colour both with the music and the visuals that accompany said music. Some will say that this year is overrated as naturally the songs with the wackiest music videos were pushed to the top of the charts, however they simply helped with a songs success as this was long before watching a video counted towards its popularity meaning that people still bought the songs, they were attached to which consisted of new wave, funk and diva pop.
1985
I'm tempted to leave my explanation of why this is my favourite year in music with two words, live aid. I'll elaborate as naturally a concert that brought together the biggest names in music wasn't the only thing this year had to offer. First off, there was the combination of older artists recharging themselves to make music that would stack up with the younger artists of the day rather than making boring crooner music like their predecessors did a decade prior, then there's the countless sub genres which were given a platform thanks to the charity concert which further spiced up the variety this year had to offer. This year had more top ten hits than another other here in Australia, many of which widely differed from each other which made going through each week a joy for me as it was hard to predict what would go to number one looking at each chart the year had to offer. For all these reasons and many more, this will forever be my favourite year in music.
Disagree? I'm sure you do, so tell me how you would rank these years in music down below!
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