Biggest hits of 2014 NZ

This list will go over what was popular in NZ this year, although my commentary comes from my ranking of the biggest hits of the 2010's so keep that in mind when reading through this list.

This proved to be even more successful for Ed Sheeran in NZ than it was here in Australia, I'm not sure why except perhaps him already having a monopoly on the streaming charts over there given how streaming wasn't factored into the Australian charts until months after this was released as a single.

I wonder how many people even at the time realised this was a theme to a kid's film, mainly because this remains the biggest hit to come from children's media of all time worldwide despite there still being plenty of room in the mainstream for that market (if Encanto's success is anything to go by.) Like in Australia, this also broke records in NZ upon its initial release due to its refusal to die on their charts.

Given how the E.P this iconic single came from charted on the album charts in Lorde's homeland, this means that it was a genuine hit in its own right over there compared to over here where it technically wasn't ever released as a single for the indie singer. It's overwhelming success in both countries led to it becoming a massive Billboard chart topper for her which ushered in a new era of music critical of popular trends.

There's little surprise that this proved to be equally as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, Bruno Mars was one of the biggest names in music at the time of its release and throwback songs in general were all the rage during the midpoint of the decade when its popularity thrived.

One artist that saw much more success over in NZ compared to Australia this decade was Sam Smith, indeed their solo debut single was a huge number one hit over there despite it barely cracking the top five here in Australia which goes to show you how much the kiwis loved their music from the very beginning.

It was inevitable that this would be a massive success for Katy Perry over in NZ given how it was inescapable everywhere else in the world for her, it remains her biggest hit to date likely due to it serving as another self-empowerment anthem released at a time where those seemed to be dime a dozen in the mainstream.

Well, this is often the song that began the rise of the fat acceptance movement, as such it's placement on this list shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone even if far more harm has come from the song than good over the years. It appears the kiwis were far more down with this trend than we Aussies were given how much more successful this debut single from Meghan Trainor was over there.

Well, this is perhaps the first major surprise on this list of mine given how this was far from one of the biggest hits of the decade here in Australia and yet it became as such for Ed Sheeran over in NZ, I guess the kiwis really enjoyed his contributions to the Hobbit trilogy with the theme to the second film of the series given how inescapably popular the song was for him.

This might have been slightly less successful in NZ due to the kiwis having incorporated streaming onto their charts long before Taylor pulled her catalogue from Spotify, as such, this and the rest of her singles from 1989 were put at an even bigger disadvantage over there than they were over here at the time.

This was another song that found its success in NZ the exact same way it did here in Australia and everywhere else in the world, Hozier flew under the radar with this song and his album until it was nominated for several Grammys which compelled everyone in the world to check out what all the fuss was about. It was slightly more popular there likely due to it being big on streaming platforms.

This was more of a success in NZ than it was here in Australia, I'm guessing because the kiwis weren't quite ready yet to leave Pitbull behind shortly after this came out as he would see a noticeable decline in popularity moving away from the club boom of the early years of the decade. Sadly, this would be the final hit that Kesha had over there as "Praying" was a massive flop for her later in the decade.

Given how Savage was indeed one of the most popular artists of the 00's in his homeland, this track with Australian DJ Timmy Trumpet being as popular over there as it was over here does make sense to me to the point where I'm wondering why the remix of "Swing" from Joel Fletcher wasn't also a success over there this decade.

Well, this feels like a more accurate representation of how popular this second single from Sam Smith was back in the day, in fact all of Sam's songs managed to score a higher placement on this list than they did on the Australian side of my site which goes to show how much the kiwis loved their music throughout the decade. I guess we'll have to wait and see what else is in store for the performer this decade.

The absence of this track on the Australian side of my site might've come as a shock to my readers, apparently ARIA didn't allow it to chart here despite it being quite popular on both the streaming and digital charts given that it wasn't considered an official single upon its initial release. Fortunately, the kiwis didn't have such a restriction which means this song gets to appear on this site of mine at last.

I guess the kiwis were more familiar with the YouTube duo A great big world than the rest of the world given how this managed to be even more successful over there than it was anywhere else in the world. Then again, it might also be due to their love for Christina Aguilera given how the original version of this ballad didn't chart over there which was also the case everywhere else in the world.

Unlike in Australia where this was an instant success for John Legend (despite us Aussies not knowing who the RNB singer was prior to this coming out) this took its sweet time in finding success everywhere else in the world likely due to audiences needing some incentive into making this piano ballad he dedicated to his wife Chrissy Teigen a success which came when it won a bunch of Grammys.

This was the lead single to Six60's second album, it was a massive hit for the NZ rock band in their homeland given how they were the rare exception to rock music being able to find success this decade that wasn't from a lucrative record label.

I was not expecting this one and only hit from Paloma Faith to be more successful over in NZ than it was here in Australia, I'm guessing in addition to it being the unofficial bumper music for the Australian series Winners and losers, it was a favourite for contestants on NZ reality shows to sing for their audition to said shows. I guess it could also be due to streaming data not being incorporated onto our main charts during its popularity here.

This was about as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia for Eminem and Rihanna, I guess the kiwis were able to get as on board with these two collaborating together as us Aussies given how their earlier entry on this list wasn't as big over there as it was over here.

This wasn't quite as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, perhaps because the kiwis felt this was a bit of a sellout from Sia given that audiences were quickly discovering her back catalogue prior to this being released due to how much more exposed she was becoming in the mainstream worldwide. Still, this was a massive hit for the Australian singer over there even if it was bigger in her homeland.

It feels weird that this managed to be almost twice as big in NZ as it was here in Australia, mainly because in addition to Good Charlotte always being more successful over here, the Madden's were judges on the Voice Australia at the time this was released exclusively in both countries. I get the feeling this was released in NZ only because the kiwis were tuning into the series at the time.

It's a bit strange that George Ezra's earlier hit on this list wasn't as big in NZ as it was here in Australia considering the opposite was the case for his debut single throughout the decade, then again, it's another entry from 2014 that didn't benefit from streaming data here like it did internationally so perhaps its placement on this list is more accurate to its popularity down under back in the day.

This was a hit twice in NZ given how it was released slightly earlier over there than it was anywhere else in the world, this is likely because of the success of his theme to the second Hobbit film being more popular there than it was internationally and him rewarding the kiwis with a sneak peak of what he had in store for his second album. It rebounded on the charts once he released said album where it became a success internationally.

This proved to be way more successful in NZ than it was here in Australia, likely because of streaming which wasn't implemented onto the charts when this song came out here like it was internationally but also likely due to the kiwis not caring about how miscast each of the three women were on the track. They would all have the same career trajectory after this over there as they did over here.

Much like here in Australia, this "joke" song about a guy trying to get permission from his girlfriend's father to marry her and failing was a hit in NZ much sooner than it was over in America, mainly because it was released during their summer season like it was over here which allowed it to be declared a summer hit in both countries. It was equally as successful in both countries and even bigger in America for the Canadian band.

This is another song that I notice was more popular on our streaming charts than what it was on our main charts, as such, it makes sense that Iggy and Charli would appear much higher on this list despite the former being (to date) the only Australian rapper to find international success. It's a song that's easy to make fun of and easier to have mindless fun with after all of these years.

This was a much bigger hit in NZ than it was here in Australia, I'm guessing the kiwis really appreciated the African inspired production from the Dutch duo given how EDM music was otherwise far less popular throughout the decade over there than it was over here. It could also be that it did well on streaming services as we Aussies didn't incorporate our streaming charts to the main charts during its popularity.

This was slightly bigger in NZ than it was here in Australia, likely because of streaming being counted over there as I can't imagine why else this would be able to see more success over there given how EDM rarely sees more success over there than it does here. At least the band saw more success here with their subsequent material even though they remained quite popular for the rest of the decade over there.

I guess the kiwis weren't as impressed with Avicii combining EDM with country music as this second single from his debut album also didn't quite bring in the numbers over there like it did over here, although at least it was a massive hit for the Swedish producer which wasn't the case over in America.

It feels odd that this failed to appear on the Australian side of my site given how this managed to get Lorde out of the one hit wonder bin over in America following the success of her earlier entry on this list, although its appearance on this list isn't a surprise given how the kiwis tended to look after their own up until very recently just like we Aussies did for our local music scene.

There's a good chance that GRL would've been one of the biggest girl groups not just of the decade but of all time had one of the members not been a dark place which resulted in her no longer being with us shortly after the success of their one and only hit worldwide, at least the girls managed to achieve equal amounts of success with this hit in NZ as they did here in Australia due to how catchy it is.

This is the only song this decade from Jason Derulo to have equal amount of success in NZ as it did here in Australia, I guess the kiwis found those rather silly (in my and many others opinion) pop culture metaphors used in the song to be amusing just like it amused us Aussies upon its initial release. Speaking of it also was released at the tail end of 2013 months prior to its popularity in his native America.

Much like her other singles from 1989, this second single from the album for Taylor Swift was far less popular in NZ than it was here in Australia due to her making the strange decision to pull her material from Spotify during a time where the streaming service accounted for a good portion of what was popular in the world. Apparently, this was done in protest for how little of a payout the artists received from the platform.

This saw such a major improvement on this ranking compared to the Australian equivalent, likely because it benefitted from streaming data being incorporated onto the NZ charts but also due to it being released slightly earlier over there due to the success of the lead single from Ed's sophomore album from earlier on this list.

I'm guessing the kiwis caught wind of Redfoo having a career here in Australia and were interested in supporting this decision when he released his second solo single a year after his first, it was more of a hit over there than it was over here likely because it did rather well on our streaming services during a time before they factored into our main charts.

Given how Aloe Blacc didn't have more success in NZ than he did in Australia with any of his other music both as a lead artist and a credited one, I can only assume that this was a bigger hit over in NZ mainly because of their love of the Elton John classic that this interpolates. That and of course it was released over here prior to when streaming gave a boost to a song's popularity.

It was obvious that this would be a massive hit for Lorde in her homeland considering A: she was a kiwi and B: the previous two themes to the Hunger games franchise were also successful over there. In fact, we'll be looking at the entries from Taylor Swift and Sia much later down on this list to prove how much the kiwis loved the music from this franchise.

This was slightly more successful in NZ than it was here in Australia, again because streaming had been incorporated over there when it was initially released and not over here which impacted its ranking on these lists of mine. What's interesting is that Ariana wouldn't be able to have much luck with streaming later in the decade given how her singles (save for "Thank u next") were as popular on those services.

Much like here in Australia, it was the remix of this track from Tove Lo that became a success over in NZ even though the original was what made it big throughout Europe and even in America for the Swedish pop star. It appears that this was another song whose popularity came from streaming given how much more successful it was over there where it was on their main charts compared to here where it wasn't.

I think this is another song whose improvement on this list is thanks to it benefitting from the kiwis having their streaming data incorporated onto their main charts during its popularity, after all, this did find its way into every commercial you can think of once people realised that Katy Perry borrowed (or in less charitable terms stole) the melody and lyrical theme for this track for her hit single "Roar."

This is another entry from 2014 that benefited in this ranking thanks to the kiwis having incorporated streaming onto their main charts when it was popular worldwide, it was at a disadvantage here in Australia but nowhere near as much as some of the other entries on this list from that year. I didn't really talk about the song itself before as it has lyrics about her overcoming a bad relationship that no doubt resonated with people.

You'd think that for a song coming from a Dutch performer from 2014 where the kiwis had fully incorporated streaming data onto their charts this would've been one of the biggest hits of the decade over there and not equally as successful as it was here in Australia, I guess the rule about having Dutch artist have instant success over there has since been retired since the days of the Vengaboys.

I guess it was inevitable that there would be at least one song from 2014 that performed well on our streaming charts in Australia that was nonetheless less successful in NZ than it was down under, here we are with Milky Chance's one and only hit from both countries which was a success over there, although not as much as it was here likely due to a lack of promotion from Triple J.

While there have been many improvements when it comes to the rankings from the Australian equivalent of this list, one of the few disappointments was this single from Rudimental mainly because it has Emeli Sande on vocals who had a big hit over there with "Next to me" (which we'll get to later on this list.) At least Rudimental were able to have all of their entries reappear on this side of my site.

This was slightly less popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, although it was released the same time over there as it was everywhere else in the world thanks to the boys receiving heavy endorsement from 1D from recommendations from the members to even touring with their British counterparts which led to them having this big breakthrough worldwide to begin with.

I did mention from earlier on this list that this collaboration would be reappearing on this side of my site, so here we are with the second collaboration that Calvin Harris made with Ellie Goulding which proved to be much more successful over there than their first collaboration "I need your love." It was slightly bigger over there than it was over here likely due to how Ellie was on a roll at the time.

This was a huge sleeper hit in NZ for Sheppard, so much so that it managed quite an impressive run in their top twenty suggesting that the kiwis were on the fence in making this a genuine hit over there or have it be a minor indie hit for quite some time. Eventually it became a success due to its refusal to drop out of their charts, although this meant they would be a one hit wonder over there.

This was a collaboration between two of the more popular NZ artists of the decade, naturally it was going to be an instant chart topper for both parties given how it feels like an old school duet of two celebrities confessing their love to each other despite not being in a relationship in the real world. This did attract buzz here in Australia; however, it didn't lead to the song being a success over here.

If you're wondering why this second single from Meghan Trainor wasn't as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, that's because it was the third single from her over there as "Dear future husband" was released as well as her Title E.P, the latter of which became the hit over there while this was continuing her winning streak over here.

This didn't make the cut on the Australian ranking due to it being too minor of a hit here to do so, fortunately the kiwis were more impressed with this bonus track from JT (likely through streaming as that's when it became popular worldwide) which means it was able to make it rather high on this list for an absentee on the other list.

This was more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, I guess the kiwis were finally beginning to see what all the fuss was about with these guys given how every one of their entries after "Story of my life" managed to be more successful over there than it was over here throughout the decade.

This was chosen for the BBC's charity campaign Children in need in Ellie's native UK where it predictably became a hit for her over there, I'm guessing the kiwis were in a charitable mood in 2013 as this became the second single to become a hit over there to be based on a charity following James Arthur's victory single "Impossible" from earlier in the year.

I'm amazed at how many EDM artists (specifically British EDM artists) managed to not only see improvements in this ranking but appear on this list whilst failing to do so on the Australian side of this site. Here we have the debut single of Sigma who managed to score a massive hit in NZ and only a minor hit here in Australia with this song largely thanks to the video which went viral on YouTube.

This is the only other hit that Rita Ora had in NZ this decade, like her earlier entry, it was more of a success over there than it was over here which suggested that she would be more popular with the kiwis as the decade went on. Alas it appears they didn't stick around for when she eventually dropped her second album as the singles from there didn't strike a chord with them like they did for us Aussies.

For what it's worth, John Newman did score a hit with "Love me again" in NZ (even though it won't be appearing on this list) meaning that his collaboration with Calvin Harris finding more success over there than it did over here does make sense to me even if it finding success there as opposed to "Summer" doesn't.

I guess the kiwis weren't feeling Avicii as well as we Aussies were throughout his first album, this is natural of course given how the kiwis were never as into EDM as we Aussies were, however I would've thought he would've done better over there regardless thanks to him being quite popular on our streaming charts and streaming not being factored in during the height of his debut album's popularity.

This proved to be far more successful in NZ than it was here in Australia for Coldplay, I guess the kiwis were more on board with allowing the band to dabble with EDM than we Aussies were given that's the only reason why this would be bigger there than it was over here.

It appears the kiwis were able to find more humour in this comedy track that Jason Derulo made with Snoop Dogg than we Aussies did, although again this is an example of a song performing much better on streaming services than it did with audiences who would pay for songs which is probably why it was a bigger hit over there than it was over here.

This is another song that seems to have benefitted on this list from having streaming data incorporated onto the NZ charts when it was initially released, either that or the kiwis seemed to have a lot of nostalgia for Ginuwine's "Pony" when it came out more so than what we Aussies did for the 90's classic.

This is another song that benefitted from having streaming data incorporated on the NZ charts given how much higher it appears on this side of my site compared to the Australian equivalent of this list, either that or the must've been bigger fans of the Fault in our stars than we Aussies were as this serves as the theme to that film in addition to it being Charli's only hit single as a lead artist.

This was about as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia for all three musicians on the track, I'm guessing this was because of streaming data being incorporated onto the NZ charts when this came out as opposed to it not being as such here in Australia which would cancel out how this is a remix of a previously unheard-of track from the start of the decade.

This is the only song to come from Beyonce's self-titled album, it seems like a sequel to "Crazy in love" from a decade prior given how it not only has a Jay-z feature but is also a rare love track from Queen B much like that song was. I guess this is proof that she could still release a song where she's not critical of her partner given how the two seem to have strong chemistry on the track.

Well, it took us long enough, but we've finally come to the debut single that made Shawn Mendes a star in NZ and his native Canada. I'm willing to bet that most people outside of these two countries don't even realise he released anything prior to "Stitches" given how this has fallen into obscurity over the other entries I've featured on this list already.

This barely managed to make the cut on this list given how we're at what I like to call the fan single section of the list, that is to say, songs that only made it on here due to the artists in question having a strong fanbase but too niche of an appeal for a wider audience.