Although this song has the producer credited as the lead artist, it's really a Bruno Mars track given how it has all of the ingredients to his catalogue throughout the decade. It's a throwback to soul music from the twentieth century delivered by him in a way that makes him wish he was a part of the times.
This was originally released as the theme to the second Despicable me film, a film that's a decent distraction for kids and their parents that like many Illumination films, receives far too much hate these days. I don't think anyone could've predicted this Oscar nominated track would turn out to be a huge runaway success given the lack of hits Pharrell had prior to its release worldwide.
This lead single to Katy Perry's third album (as Katy Perry at least) sparked controversy due to the similarities it has to "Brave" by Sara Barelles which was released several months prior to this becoming an inescapable hit for Katy. It was just the themes of self-empowerment, rather it was the melody being very similar in both songs.
This ballad from Ed Sheeran was the first hit of hits to bring him into the big leagues given how everything he released prior wasn't as big as his more recent material. It's also one of the last songs of his to be a soulful acoustic ballad as his subsequent releases would see him adapting to the trends of the moment rather than him staying true to his roots.
Now I should point out that Taylor Swift is among my least favourite artists of all time, however I'm probably one of the few non Swifties to actually enjoy this anthem against the hater simply for how catchy it is (if only she took her own advice on this track.) I'm guessing this is why it was a huge hit for her given how it successfully transitioned her from a pop country chick to a pop diva still going strong to this day.
This is the only hit that Australian DJ Timmy Trumpet had, yes, he calls himself that due to having a gimmick of him playing the trumpet whenever he does a live show. Here he recruits NZ rapper Savage who had his popularity restored at the time when a remix of his biggest hit "Swing" became a hit earlier in the year this was released.
OK this is an artist that I have trouble talking about without coming off as caustic, here we have the biggest hit from Meghan Trainor which is supposed to be a body positive song but instead comes off as highly abrasive towards people who don't fit in her standards of beauty. It was a hit due to songs about body positivity being rare upon its initial release, however it's widely been ridiculed for its toxic nature.
After much hype from her collaborations with the likes of David Guetta and Flo Rida, Sia finally managed to score a huge hit as a lead artist with this lead single to her album 1000 forms of fear. This is one of a surprising number of hits to be about the joys and dangers of being an alcoholic this decade as the lyrics is about how Sia is going to cut loose and have the time of her life regardless of the consequences.
This is one of only two hits that John Legend had outside of his native America, the other was with Meghan Trainor where the two duetted on how they were going to love each other as if they would never see each other again (whatever that's supposed to mean.) Here we have John making a love ballad for his wife Chrissy Teigan which I'm sure connected with audience upon its initial release here in Australia as it took a while to take off everywhere else in the world.
This is only one of two hits that the Australian indie band Sheppard had in their career (as of this writing of course) the other was "Coming home" from later in the decade which sadly won't be appearing on this list due to it only being a hit on the digital charts. Here we have a song that was featured in just about every commercial here in Australia upon its initial release which made it quickly outgrow it's welcome.
This was one of the last hits that Pitbull had anywhere in the world, in fact I feel this was a success more due to Kesha's chorus as it had her working with a country beat as opposed to her usual club bangers from earlier in the decade. Pitbull would continue to have minor success after this became a hit, and while she had a lot of personal struggles after this, this wouldn't be the last we see of Kesha either.
Following the success of his earlier entry on this list, Avicii was able to have a second hit with his album that's a fusion of country and EDM. This time he recruits country singer Dan Tyminski on vocals who manages to provide an equally compelling performance on this track as Aloe Blacc did on "Wake me up" which no doubt helped this become as successful as that track.
This was one of two hits that Justice crew had during their time together, the other we'll get to in a bit but suffice to say that this was a dance troupe turned boy band that was briefly a phenomenon in Australia before their hype faded into obscurity.
This is another song from Taylor Swift I personally don't mind, I'm guessing because it's a rare example of her displaying self-awareness which I've come to appreciate compared to the rest of her catalogue. It appears the rest of the general public agrees with this sentiment as it remains one of her biggest hits to date despite it being the first single she released after (temporarily) pulling all of her catalogue from Spotify.
This was the second collaboration that Eminem had with Rihanna this decade, although it wasn't nearly as popular as their earlier entry likely for two reasons. First off, this has weird yodeling on it which I'm sure turned off fans, second is that we already had a team up of these two and the subject matter didn't change much from these songs.
This remains as the biggest hit to come from the Hilltop hoods, I guess it became so big due to it being released around the same time that Bill Cosby got convicted of his multiple sexual harassment allegations and that this was meant to be an ironic take on the actor's legacy rather than a sincere one.
OK let's get one thing out of the way right now, I'll be referring to Sam Smith by their preferred pronouns of they/them as I want to reassure my readers they have a right to present themselves however they chose while they're on this site. That said, it also pains me to admit that I don't particularly care for them as a vocalist especially on tracks like their solo debut single which was an instant success for them.
I could talk about how this song's appeal is meant to be that it's actually a joke (albeit a pretty unfunny one in my opinion) about how this guy wants the approval of his girlfriend's dad to marry her until he realises said father doesn't like him, but that's been talked about to death already. Instead, I'll bring up that this was a huge hit in Australia and NZ during our summer season despite it being a mere modest success in their native Canada which resulted in their label marketing the song as a summer jam in America.
This was the only hit from the American girl group GRL, at least it was as a lead artist as they did score a minor hit with Pitbull on his hit single "Wild wild love" (which will appear much later on this list.) There's a reason as to why these girls are a one hit wonder worldwide and it's one I won't go into here as it involves one of the members being in a very dark place in their life which led to them no longer being with us.
This is the only other hit that Emeli Sande managed to achieve in her career here in Australia, this time it's as a featured singer for Rudimental's fifth single from their debut album which for what it's worth, proved to be their biggest hit from the album and would've been their biggest hit overall were it not for their earlier entry on this list that came out five years after this did.
It hadn't even been ten years since the original track from Savage was released even in his native NZ, and yet we have this remix of an already provocative track from Australian DJ Joel Fletcher becoming a massive hit for him all over again albeit only in Australia and not his homeland.
This was the introduction to two acts who would go on to have massive success over in their native UK, those being Clean bandit who would see success worldwide later in the decade with the likes of "Rockabye" and "Solo" and the second being Jess Glynne who would only trouble the international charts once more with her appearance on "These days" with Rudimental and Macklemore.
This was released on time here in Australia for Jason Derulo given how popular he had become throughout the decade; indeed, you can argue that he successfully took the prince of RNB crown from Chris Brown down under given how Chris wouldn't have another hit down under until the very end of the decade with "No guidance." As such, this song where Jason compares his girlfriend's body parts to various celebrities was a hit here much sooner than it was on Billboard.
You should know that I'm only featuring the songs that were big from Meghan Trainor on this list for prosperity as I really don't like talking about her or her music, here she is with her second single which showcases her calling out her partner for cheating based on the most circumstantial of evidence, I guess Beyonce had a hit or two in her career where she did just that, so why not Meghan with this track?
This was released in 2013 throughout Europe for the German band Milky chance where it was a massive success for them, as such it was released here in Australia where it was also a success as well as it being a fan favourite on Triple J likely due to the duo being on a tiny indie label. It was their only hit here and in NZ, although their popularity has yet to fade throughout Europe as of this writing.
Were it not for the fact that this song was featured as bumper music for the Australian soap drama Winners and losers, I doubt anyone would know about Paloma Faith given how she's one of those indie singers on a major label that seemed tailor made to be alienating to both the indie sphere and the mainstream crowd. Perhaps it was because of this fact that the showrunners used this song as it encouraged us Aussies to check out her album.
This was originally released on an E.P from 2013 known as Did you hear the rain; it was a flop even in his native UK and only started gaining traction the following year when it was released as a single to promote George Ezra's debut album. It proved to be a much bigger hit in that regard and even allowed him to crossover to America eventually when the album proved to be a massive success.
This was released in 2013 while the Norwegian duo was still known as Envy, I'm not sure why they felt this song could've been a bigger hit if they renamed themselves as Nico and Vinz, however that's exactly what happened when they rereleased this under their new name as it became a massive worldwide hit for them. They would have a second hit a year later with "That's how you know" before fading into obscurity.
This was originally a simple ballad from the American duo A great big world, it was released to deafening silence likely due to no one in the music industry knowing who they were outside of YouTube. Somehow, Christina Aguilera got wind of this ballad and decided to turn it into a duet with them which allowed this to take off worldwide, making it the final hit single from her to date.
This may seem a bit lower on this list than you would otherwise expect, that's because we Aussies didn't incorporate either streaming or YouTube views when it came out which meant that the views the video received had no impact on its popularity on our charts. Even so, it was still a massive hit for Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX given how campy the song is as well as the Clueless homage being fun to watch even to this day.
Given how they were overhyped in social media, you'd think that this debut single from 5 seconds of summer (often stylised as 5SOS) would have more success even here in their homeland. Alas it wasn't that big of a hit all things considered as though this did get to number one here, it wasn't as inescapable as a lot of the other music this decade that was targeted towards teenage girls.
Whereas the previous two entries from Avicii were both well received for his blending of EDM and country, this wasn't as highly regarded mainly for the vocals of Audra Mae who many people (me included) feel she gives a terrible performance on this track. Not everyone had this opinion obviously as it became the Swedish producer's third hit from his debut album which was also a huge success.
This was the lead single to Coldplay's album Ghost stories, an album that saw them further venture towards pop music which allowed it to spawn two hits with this and "A sky full of stars" (which will be featured later on this list) proving that the band still had a fanbase this far into their career.
This was originally released from the Dutch rapper Mr Probz in 2013 to deafening silence, likely because hip hop generally doesn't do well when it comes from European artists (with rare exceptions of course.) It was given the remix treatment from Robin Schulz the following year where it became a massive worldwide success, although there weren't any other songs the German DJ felt worth of a remix.
This was a comeback single for the Veronicas after many issues with their label to get them to release their third album, it was a ballad which no doubt was meant to signify the struggles they had with their label that they framed as them coming out of a bad relationship with someone.
Although she had a hit the year prior this year in America with "The way," this was the song which introduced the rest of the world to Ariana Grande outside of her TV show Victorious on Nickelodeon likely due to it having Iggy Azalea as the featured rapper who was already taking the world by storm with her earlier entry on this list. This has a throwback sound to the 70's which is further accentuated in the video.
Given how both the brothers from Good Charlotte were judges on the Voice Australia (which led to them having to hilariously share a chair with each other on the show) they decided to release an album of just the two of them exclusively in Australia and NZ which contained this lead single that was a chart topper for them in both countries. They would eventually leave the show to reform the band later in the decade.
Much like their earlier entry on this list, this was a hit mainly for it being released around the time where Triple J announced their best songs of the year where this and their earlier hit "High" (which is still to come on this list) placed high on their annual list for 2004.
This was originally released in early 2013 where it was a minor success in Sara's native America due to it being a sincere self-empowerment anthem, although it received a massive boost in popularity worldwide when "Roar" from earlier on this list became a massive success by copying just about everything from it. It also helped that it appeared in every commercial you could think of once the comparisons were made.
Many people (me included) have described this as elevator music set to EDM, I guess the success of Kenny G throughout the 80's and 90's has taught us that there is indeed a market for this type of music even if this was a bigger hit than any of the singles the clarinetist had throughout his career.
Given the sudden success of Lorde during the midpoint of the decade, it only makes sense that we started seeing people inspired by what she had to say which leads us to this big hit from the indie band Echosmith. They had been active since the late 00's, however they finally managed to score a hit with this track about how they wished they were like the cool kids despite known that they were too quirky to be like them.
This was a posse cut from three women who would have varying degrees of success moving forward from this track, Ariana Grande would explode in popularity after this, however Jessie J and especially Nicki Minaj would struggle to find any success moving forward for whatever reason. I guess it was due to how miscast all three of them were as we're expected to believe Grande to be a sex goddess, Jessie to be sweet and innocent and Nicki to be a third wheel.
This was the first of three hits that Peking Duk had here in Australia, although considering we've already looked at their other two hits on this list, I think it's safe to say that their popularity increased with each song they released in their career. I guess if this had of been released around the time Triple J puts out a year end list, it would've been one of the biggest hits of the decade given how popular it remains.
I feel that I should put out there that this is my least favourite song I'll be featuring on this site, it's not because it's offensive or anything (offensively bad perhaps but not problematic) but because it embodies everything I personally hate about music. I guess these qualities were enjoyed ironically back in the day which would explain its success.
This was the only hit to come from Ella Henderson, a British pop singer who I heard described as the English equivalent of Lorde when it came to teenage pop stars who seemed wise beyond their years. Evidently, she came from X factor UK despite only coming in sixth place on the 2012 season, I guess that explains why she only had one album to her name for so long even though it had this as its lead single.
This was the second hit that Calvin Harris had with Ellie Goulding this decade, although it would also be the last time the two would team up as (at least as of this writing) they haven't reunited since this collaboration became a hit for them. This feels like the opposite of their other team up from earlier on this list as this depicts the end of a relationship whereas that depicted the start of a relationship.
This was the one and only hit from American DJ ZHU, it was a massive hit here in Australia due to being discovered by Triple J despite it being yet another flop for an American EDM artist on the Billboard charts. Whereas most EDM tracks were more about noise, this one goes for ambience which really connected with people (me included) back in the day.
This is a band that the internet loves to hate, so much so that there's rumours that the trio in question make music the way they do specifically to garner hate from internet critics which has led to some of the most abrasive reviews of their music over the years. This was their debut single which was built around a SpongeBob SquarePants meme that of course got the internet in a fury.
Given how the first two singles from David Guetta's album Listen underperformed for the French DJ, it seemed like this would follow suit for him which wasn't the case as it proved to be the big hit from the album thanks to the vocals of Sam Martin who curiously also appeared on one of the earlier track from the album "Lovers of the sun."
I'm including both versions of this song on my ranking as both versions were massive hits throughout the world even though only the remix from Hippie Sabotage was the hit here in Australia and NZ whilst the original version from Swedish pop star Tove lo was the big hit throughout Europe and in America. Regardless of which version we're looking at, we have a song about her drug addiction and how it affects her wellbeing.
Well, I guess Redfoo was planning on making a solo career exclusively here in Australia given how this was the second hit he had here and not in his native America, although it was a hit over in NZ which suggests that the kiwis were also catching on to his solo career in a way his fellow Americans weren't. He did eventually release material in his homeland which predictably led to him becoming a meme.
I guess this Swedish pop star listen to quite a lot of Prince as that's what I and many others hear when listening to his one and only hit worldwide, then again this is another artist who to date has only released one album so it's not like they have a catalogue of other songs that have been unfairly ignored over the years.
This was the lead single to Ed Sheeran's second album, an album that saw a massive departure from his debut as it incorporated hip hop elements to it as opposed to the folk rock that Ed was accustomed to at this point. While I and many others have called sellout to this, the majority of the world considers this to be where he became a great musician as the feedback towards this album has been overwhelmingly positive.
This is the first song to have Zedd in any capacity, here he produced the track which would go on to be a quartertone of his sound which is perhaps why Ariana Grande allowed him a featuring credit despite him not providing any vocals on this track. It was a huge hit for her likely due to it fitting in with the EDM scene, although it could also be due to the wacky video that seems to reference much sci fi flicks.
This was a remix from David Guetta of the Cher classic from 1966, well I say remix even though it's more he took the chorus of the original track and used it as a foundation for his collaboration with Skyler Grey which allowed him to score a massive hit upon its initial release.
This was the last hit that One direction had where Zayn was still part of the lineup, it was a big hit for them even though there was no indication that he would be leaving the group which means this was a success mainly for their popularity and no other reason.
This was originally released by the French indie duo Lilly Wood and the Prick to deafening silence outside of their homeland, I'm guessing because it was a folk song coming from a duo with a name as bizarre as the one they had. It was discovered by German producer Robin Schulz who remixed the track to where it became a massive worldwide hit four years after its initial release.
This is a song that's been infamous since the day it was released, mainly because of how people took offence to how blatantly gross Jason Derulo and Snoop Dogg was on the track which no doubt led to the rise of PC culture who had clearly grown tired of this type of song making it big in the music scene. Naturally this was meant to be ironic given how hyperbolic the lyrics are, however, few if anyone found it funny.
Bet you didn't know any of the Peter Jackson films from Middle earth had a hit single to them, did you? Well, the second Hobbit movie does as he commissioned Ed Sheeran to write a song for the film which became a modest success here in Australia and a massive success in NZ and throughout Europe. It didn't do the soundtrack any favours as that was as unsuccessful commercially as the rest of the franchise.
Given how he had appeared on one of the biggest hits of the decade (albiet uncredited) it only seemed fitting that Aloe Blacc would score a hit of his own with this track that heavily samples "Your song" by Elton John for a self-empowerment anthem he wrote for himself. He did score a minor hit at the start of the decade with "I need a dollar," however that was too minor of a hit to make it on this list.
Marlisa was the winner of the sixth season of X factor Australia, she's the final winner of any reality series from Australia to see success in the music industry as subsequent winners have failed to do so over the years since 2014.
This is the only hit to come from the British trio London Gammar, though it's often used in commercials even to this day, it's initial popular here in Australia came from it receiving heavy promotion from Triple J which allowed it to be ranked very high on their best list of 2013 according to their listeners. They had other hits in their native UK where they didn't need the help of their local alternative scene.
This is a song where Ed Sheeran raps about how his relationship ended with Ellie Goulding, granted he never explicitly names her (or Niall Horan) in the song, however it's clear that this was meant to be his way of dealing with her cheating on him with the One directioner which proved to be a huge success for him worldwide.
This was the second hit that 5SOS managed to achieve when they initially broke through back in 2014, it's a song about how the boys were so devastated about a breakup they were collectively going through that they wanted to experience amnesia to forget about the pain it brought them. Naturally this song was widely criticsed for promoting a mental illness in a way that's convenient for first world problems.
This was clearly meant to be a summer jam from Calvin Harris which is clearly was in the northern hemisphere as it was released during the midpoint of 2014, however it wasn't the case here in Australia and NZ given how the midpoint of any given year takes place in our winter which explains why this wasn't as a big a hit as it was worldwide.
This was meant to be the lead single to Rita Ora's second album, an album that was delayed so much that it didn't end up making the cut when it was released four years after this became a hit for her. I'm guessing her label was hoping that her collaboration with Iggy Azalea on "Black widow" would generate buzz for her in America, although it was a hit on Billboard, it didn't end up doing so.
If may surprise you to learn that this was the big hit off of Nicki Minaj's third album the Pinkprint here in Australia, although rest assured that "Anaconda" is still to come on this list even if it wasn't the inescapable hit it was on the Billboard charts. Here Nicki recruits Skyler Grey who only ever had a hit as a featured artist and not as a lead artist throughout the decade despite releasing several albums.
Given how "Shot me down" was a remix of the Cher classic from 1966, you'd be forgiven into thinking this was a remix of the MJ song of the same name even though it isn't. David Guetta recruit's singer Vassy who gives a performance many have described as beyond irritating (I'm certainly not a fan of her voice) which is perhaps why this song didn't do as well as his earlier entries.
This was the other big hit that Nathaniel Willemse managed to achieve in his career, it's a song that was created specifically to be shown in commercials as it was shoved in every commercial you could think of upon its initial release which likely resulted in is success for him.
This was the only hit to come from Melbourne EDM artist Will Sparks, it was briefly popular upon its initial release due to the likes of Joel Fletcher and Timmy Trumpet from earlier on this list briefly putting Australian EDM on the map.
This was the only hit to come from teen sensation Becky G who started out her career posting covers of other people's music online which led to her getting discovered by her eventual management. It was impressive that she found a huge hit with this teen pop track when she did considering the mainstream was all about wacky memes and the EDM scene when it came out.
This will be Gabrielle Aplin's only appearance on this list, although she did score a minor follow up with "Please don't say you love me" here in Australia once her cover of the Frankie goes to Hollywood classic crossed over here. Much like Birdy before her, it also took a while for the English singer to find success down under which she did due to her music being popular choices for reality show contestants to audition with.
This was the third and final hit that MKTO managed to achieve anywhere in the world, although it's worth noting that this was a hit here in Australia around the same time that "Classic" finally took off in their native America as well as when the duo dropped their one and only album.
If you wanted to hear Coldplay try their hand at EDM, then this second single from Ghost stories is for you as they did just that which resulted in the album spawning a second huge hit for them throughout the world following the success of their previous entry on this list. They would continue to experiment with EDM with their next album and even collaborated with the Chainsmokers later in the decade.
I told you we'd be getting to this track eventually, so here we are with a song that despite being controversial in its very nature, Nicki tried to defend its existence by claiming it was a female empowerment anthem meant to "take back" the sample from Sir Mix a Lot's "Baby got back." No one knows what she was talking about when she said that as the song is more gratuitous than that track could ever hope to be.
This is the last time John Newman had any success in his catalogue both solo and as a featured artist, I guess because lyrically it rubbed people the wrong way as he was essentially blaming his lifestyle for what happens throughout the song which people accused of glorifying not taking responsibility for one's actions. I don't think that was the point of the song as it was a cheating anthem that happened to be played on the dance floors more than anything.
This was all set to become a flop for Jessica Mauboy upon its initial release, it was a sign that perhaps her time in the spotlight was coming to an end as she was struggling to retain her popularity from the first half of the decade when it was released. It was given a sudden boost in popularity when someone used it as their audition for a reality series which enabled fans to check out the song and make it a hit.
This was the theme song to a film known as the Fault in our stars, it's an adaptation of a book that was a critical and commercial success due to its sentimental storytelling (I haven't seen it, but I hear it's really good.) It was the first of only two solo hits that Charli XCX had here in Australia, although I think outside of her fanbase, she's only known for the multiple collaborations that have appeared on this list.
Well, I mentioned this track much earlier on this list when we looked at G.R.L's one and only hit as a lead artist, here they play second fiddle to Pitbull who managed to score one more hit here in Australia before his novelty officially ran out with us Aussies. Perhaps if streaming had been a thing, he would've been even bigger here due to him being a popular choice for Zumba workouts (OK fine I did Zumba at one stage.)
This was the other solo hit that Charli XCX had here in Australia, I'm guessing it was as such due to it reminding us Aussies of the punk movement from the late 90's given how she clearly took inspiration from the punk scene of that decade with this track (and possibly the 70's as well.) It remains her final hit to date both solo and as a featured artist as none of her subsequent material has been able to make it big.
If you're surprised to see this second single from Sam Smith so low on this list, that's because this was too much of a sleeper hit here in Australia to appear any higher on here back in the day. It was a massive hit for them back in the day, however it appears we Aussies were conflicted in having them escape the one hit wonder bin with this track and eventually capitulated into doing so.
Cash Cash were an EDM group who scored their one and only hit with this collaboration with Bebe Rexha, in fact the only reason why this song has any relevancy in this day and age is because it was the first song to have the pop star on the charts given how she would show up on many other tracks throughout the decade.
This was the second single from the Script's fourth album given how the lead single was a massive flop here in Australia, in fact this was all set to becoming a flop here as well until it saw a spike in popularity when someone used it to audition for the X factor Australia shortly after its release.
This song came out a year and a half after the album it appeared on, this means that it was heavily outdated by the time it was released as a single as this song recorded in 2012 somehow managed to become a hit in 2014 with its dubstep and too obvious sample. I guess it's admirable that it was able to succeed here in Australia with all of these disadvantages, perhaps due to our nostalgia of Ginuwine's "Pony."
This was the final hit that Will I am had in his career, yes, I did mention it was a much bigger hit for him over in the UK due to his stint as a judge on the Voice over there, however it was successful enough here in Australia to barely make the cut on this list.
No comments:
Post a Comment