Biggest hits of 2015 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.

There will be a lot of entries on this list that saw equal amounts of success in NZ as they did here in Australia, one entry that did much better over there was this one from Major Lazer and Danish singer MØ likely due to the kiwis not caring about the cultural appropriation controversy that the video found itself in upon its initial release. That said, MØ didn't manage to find much success over there on her own like she did over here.

Given how much more popular his theme to the 50 shades franchise was over in NZ (which will come much later on this list) it makes sense that Abel's second single from his breakthrough album Beauty behind the madness would be more popular over there than it was over here for him. Indeed, had we Aussies given him more success with "Earned it" and his contributions to the Hunger games franchise, this might've been as big over here.

Much like here in Australia, this remains JB's biggest hit over in NZ due to it being the redemption ark of his career following a string bad decisions both in his music career and his personal life during the first half of the decade. If proved to be a slightly bigger success over there than it was over here likely due to how much more popular he was as a teen idol from earlier in the decade.

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.

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.

This was also slightly more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia for JB, I honestly didn't realise how much more the kiwis loved this guy over us Aussies as it felt like he was well loved throughout the entire decade (at least outside of the internet if felt like that.)

Of the three hits that JB scored on his comeback album Purpose, this is the one whose success had the biggest improvement over in NZ given how it managed to sneak in at number one before his previous entry on this list overtook it as a chart topper over there.

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 is another surprise on this rather predictable list of mine (don't worry, things will shake up as we go further on) we have this posse cut from Skrillex, Diplo from Major Lazer and JB which proved to be twice as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia likely due to Major Lazer having a massive hit with their earlier entry on this list over there more so than anywhere else in the world.

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.

This is another song to see a massive improvement with its success over in NZ, I guess the kiwis really wanted to hear a tribute for the (then) recently deceased Paul Walker and felt that this ballad from Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth was a fitting song for the job. It's likely because of this track that Charlie went on to have more success over there than he did in most parts of the world.

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.

Much like the other singles in her catalogue, this proved to be equally as successful for Adele in NZ as it was here in Australia, although the rest of the singles from 25 were more successful over there likely due to strong streaming numbers which obviously didn't factor into their success here in Australia.

Although the method for why this song was a success was the same in NZ as it was here in Australia, the fact that this was more of a hit over there than it was over here should give you an idea as to how much the kiwis were on board with resurrecting this previously unheard-of track for the tropical house trend that was booming during the midpoint of the decade.

I guess the kiwis really liked this remix of an album track from Maroon 5's album V much more than we Aussies did, as such it proved to be far more successful over there for the band than it was over here.

Given how both Rihanna and Kanye West were more popular in NZ than they ever were here in Australia, it only makes sense that this collaboration between them and Paul McCartney would be even bigger over there than it was here in Australia. As of this writing, only Rihanna has been able to maintain any sort of success since this collaboration, even then, she's been absent from the charts for a while now.

There was little surprise this song would be more successful in NZ than it was here in Australia for Abel, mainly because it succeeded "Can't feel my face" as a Billboard chart topper which meant that the Canadian indie RNB singer managed to become one of the hottest new names in America which naturally impressed the rest of the world given how rare it is for one to replace themselves at number one on Billboard.

Even though we Aussies were beginning to grow tired of Jason Derulo being the prince of RNB when this track became a hit here, this wasn't the case in NZ as he would score another hit after this with "Swalla" proving that his popularity over there was the inverse of his popularity here in Australia this decade.

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 guess the kiwis had more fond memories of the Baby Bash classic that this interpolates than we Aussies did, so much so that it finally gave Robin Schulz a second hit over there following the success of his remix of "Prayer in C" with Lilly the Prick.

For the most part, Rudimental didn't have as much success in NZ as they did here in Australia throughout the decade, the exception came when Ed Sheeran decided to collaborate with them for the lead single to their second album which allowed the song to be a massive hit for both parties involved over there more so than it was over here.

I wasn't expecting to see this so high up on this list, mainly because this is one of the most critically panned songs of the entire decade due to what many have described as cultural vandalism that this song commits against the titular Marvin Gaye (I'm not inclined to argue with this assessment.) I guess the kiwis didn't agree with this sentiment at all as this was a massive hit for both parties involved.

I guess the kiwis weren't as interested in listening to Macklemore rap about how much he wants to own a moped given how much less successful this song was over there than it was over here, indeed his overall popularity would see a steady decline over there as his album without Ryan Lewis didn't see as much success later in the decade over there as it did over here either.

I guess it's safe to say that the kiwis were bigger fans of the 50 shades franchise than we Aussies were, at least that seemed to be the case with the first film as both character themes managed to be bigger hits for both Ellie Goulding and especially the Weeknd over there compared to what they were over here.

This was more of a hit over in NZ for Calvin Harris than it was here in Australia, this is after a rather long dry spell as far as the kiwis were concerned as he didn't have much success with his second album this decade save for "Outside" with Ellie Goulding which will be appearing much later on this list.

Sam was on a roll when they released their third single from their debut album over in NZ, although it didn't reach the dizzying heights of their first two singles from much earlier on this list even though this still managed to be a bigger hit over there for them than it was over here.

This proved to be equally as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia for Meghan Trainor and John Legend, I'm guessing its popularity over there was because of her given how this was released immediately after her collaboration with Charlie Puth from earlier on this list which was far more popular over there than it was anywhere else in the world.

Even though this was equally as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia for Charlie Puth, it's worth noting that this song from his album came out much sooner over there than it did everywhere else in the world likely due to the success of his two earlier entries on this list. That's the best explanation for why this came out much sooner over there than it did in his native America.

This was as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, mainly because while it didn't chart as high over there as it did over here, it lingered around for quite some time which balanced its success out in both countries. The success these two had moving forward was the same over there as it was over here given how Zara scored a second hit immediately whereas MNEK had to wait five years for his second hit.

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 was the third and final hit to come from Six60's second solo album, it was a massive hit for them likely due to it being a funky mash up between rock and reggae that the kiwis always seem to love throughout time.

(this song is "White lines" if you couldn't tell from my commentary)

It seems odd that Shawn Mendes would achieve far less success in NZ than he did in Australia this decade, mainly because his debut single from 2014 "Life of the party" was a moderate success over there that year (which we'll look at much later on this list.) I guess he was one of the many artists to make it big on our digital charts during the second half of the decade more so than our streaming charts.

Even though this didn't chart as high in NZ as it did here in Australia for James Bay, it's obvious that the kiwis were more impressed with this debut single from the folk singer than we Aussies were which allowed it to nonetheless have a higher ranking on this list of mine than its Australian equivalent.

This was way more successful in NZ than it was here for Ellie Goulding, I guess you can argue that it was due to it being a huge hit on streaming services except I didn't see much of a difference this had on those charts here in Australia compared to our digital charts. I guess this means that the kiwis were genuinely more invested in this response track to "Don't" than we Aussies were.

This is a song that I was surprised wasn't a hit here in Australia upon its initial release, after all, Nick Jonas was no longer part of Disney and him expressing his toxic masculinity on this track was no more ridiculous than his female counterparts being as sexually provocative as possible to assert their place in adulthood. The kiwis took more notice of this transition for the Disney star given its placement on this list.

This was passed up in Australia in favour of Kygo's collaboration with Conrad Sewell, it makes sense that we Aussies would do that given how this was back when we still bothered to support our local talent (not like nowadays.) This collaboration Kygo made with American singer Parson James did take its sweet time in finding an audience in NZ, however it became a hit once the kiwis got on board with it.

This was the only hit that David Guetta managed to score from his second album this decade in NZ, likely because of the controversy caused by this song where feminists claimed that Nicki Minaj was promoting a submissive life despite her being about as submissive towards people as a school yard bully is to their victims on the playground. It was clearly meant to be satire, however most people missed the joke.

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.

I did mention from earlier on this list that Abel would be making an appearance on here with his theme to the 50 shades of grey film, here we are with that theme that seems to be from the perspective of Christian Grey and how he feels the object of his affection (Anastasia Steele) has earned his love and affection which naturally made it a divisive song to use as a character theme.

This was equally as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, mainly because while it charted higher over here, it lasted longer over there which balanced out its overall popularity in both countries. It's worth noting that Adam Levine's collaboration with Gym Class heroes from earlier was more popular in NZ as opposed to this being more popular here in Australia.

Oh joy, my least favourite song I'll be featuring on this site manages to be equally as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, proving that the internet had a stranglehold on what managed to become popular by the time it was released as a single as I can't imagine this becoming a hit without the assistance of meme culture.

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.

Much like here in Australia, this fifth single from Ed Sheeran's second album proved to be far more successful than the fourth single, although unlike in Australia, said fourth single was a hit over there and is still to come on this list. I guess you can say that these songs were bigger over there due to streaming data being fully incorporated on their charts when the album was popular.

Even though this was released around the same time in NZ as it was here in Australia despite Grace Sewell being an Australian artist, it proved to be far less popular over there again, likely because she was an Australian artist who didn't have the local buzz that she had over here. I'm guessing this was big due to the version that has G-Eazy on it, given how he was a rising star in the American hip hop game.

It appears this response track to Taylor Swift "Style" proved to be more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, not only that, but it was also more popular than the lead single to 1D's final album "Drag me down" (which is still to come on this list) proving that the kiwis were more into tabloid drama from the boys at this point than anything else.

It looks like Naughty boy was able to score another hit in their career following the success of their earlier entry on this list, although I get the feeling this was more a success in NZ and in most parts of the world due to Beyonce's presence given how it was originally devoid of Queen B and was instead just a collaboration between the British DJ and British singer/songwriter Arrow Benjamin.

This was a huge flop for Ed Sheeran upon its initial release worldwide, mainly because it was the fourth single from a highly successful album that was completely overshadowed by the other songs from the album. It was given a remix from Rudimental of all people which not only allowed this to be a huge success over in NZ, but also explain how they were able to score a massive hit with Ed over there with "Lay it all on me."

This was one of two hits that the British duo Disclosure were able to achieve over in NZ this decade, this is interested seeing as they failed to achieve a hit here in Australia given how we Aussies were always more into EDM than the kiwis were. I guess this was a hit more for having Sam Smith on vocals who was certainly on a roll during the midpoint of the decade with everything they released.

This is the only other hit that Olly Murs managed to achieve outside his native UK, although this might be because he recruited Demi Lovato who would score the occasional minor hit here and there following her departure from Disney from earlier in the decade. Olly would fade into obscurity after this collaboration; however, this wouldn't be the last we hear from Demi as evidence by her earlier entry.

There was little surprise that this was going to be a hit for Disclosure in NZ given how it had Lorde proving vocals on the track, it was also a minor hit here in Australia (too minor to make it on the Australian equivalent of this list) proving that even this early in her career she wasn't above giving in to the pop trends of the moment.

In case you were wondering, Avalanche city can indeed be considered a NZ equivalent of Owl City as this is also an indie act that is actually the alter ego of a single musician. In this case, Dave Baxtor is the name of the musician who managed to score a second hit in his homeland thanks to how much of a following he acquired over there from his earlier entry on this list.

This didn't see as much of an improvement as their earlier entries on this list, I'm guessing because it didn't have the tabloid drama that "Perfect" had as well as the shock of Zayn leaving the group being worn off by the time 1D released this lead single to their (to date) final album.

This was equally as successful for Dawin in NZ as it was here in Australia, mainly due to it being a meme track given how it had Silento as the featured artist (who we'll be revisiting shortly.) It's easier to take this song seriously over "Watch me" (even with that chipmunk voice) however it didn't lead to any further success for the RNB singer anywhere in the world.

This was another huge improvement in these rankings on this side of my site, although at this point, it's apparent that Chris Brown was more well liked in NZ than he was here in Australia throughout the decade given how many of his songs performed better on this list alone.

I would've thought this would've been even more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia due to it being one of the first hit singles to dominate our streaming services as opposed to our digital charts back in the day, alas it appears the kiwis weren't too interested in this song from Lunchmoney Lewis despite it having a positive message to its sound as well as being a retro throwback to RNB of yesteryear.

I guess we Aussies weren't that interested in the sax instrumentation on this track given how this was a huge flop for both Flo Rida and Robin Thicke on this track as well as Verdine White who's best known as the bassist for Earth wind and fire (it could also be due to Thicke being cancelled by this point in time.) Fortunately, it was way bigger over in NZ which allowed it to appear on this list.

Again, we have an appearance from a track off of 1989 that could've been higher on this list had Taylor Swift not decided to pull her entire catalogue from Spotify which incidentally was the only streaming service that factored into the streaming charts worldwide back in the day. As such, her diss track towards Katy Perry wasn't nearly as popular over there as it was over here or worldwide.

This is another song that managed to be released on time in NZ that nonetheless was far less successful there than what it was here in Australia, in this case it's the second single that Flo Rida released during the midpoint of the decade as it appears the kiwis felt that this wasn't worthy of being a huge success due to how much it sounds like it was made for car commercials.

This was slightly bigger in NZ than it was here in Australia for Pia Mia, perhaps because the kiwis weren't as deterred with the presence of Chris Brown and Tyga on this track as we Aussies were which seems to be a running theme for any track with these two on it throughout this decade. Unfortunately, this didn't lead to any further success for the young pop star over there.

This wasn't as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia for Jessie J, likely because she was considered yesterday's news over there by this time this came out but also likely because the Pitch perfect franchise wasn't as popular over there as it was over here due to them not being as familiar with Rebel Wilson as we were.

I'm a bit surprised this was less popular in NZ than it was here in Australia given how much the kiwis loved Ed Sheeran by the midpoint of the decade when this was released as a single, although I guess you can make the argument they were only interested in the genuine article as opposed to us Aussies who liked variety with our singer/songwriters.

While this wasn't as big a hit for Lost frequencies in NZ as it was internationally, the fact it managed to make a second appearance on this site proves just how much the kiwis loved EDM during the midpoint of the decade as I can't imagine this being a success over there during any other point in time.

This was slightly more successful in NZ than it was here in Australia for Silento, I guess the kiwis were a bit more forgiving when it came to this internet meme than we Aussies were even if it was at its most popular in Silento's native America during the midpoint of the decade.

It looks like the kiwis were really unimpressed with this self-empowerment anthem given how much lower it appears on this side of my site, indeed this was Rachel's only charting single over there as we Aussies at least gave her a second minor hit with "Stand by you" when she released her debut album.

This was roughly as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia for Avicii, this goes to show you how in tune both countries were with each other when it comes to the EDM scene as well as Avicii's popularity overall throughout the decade.

This is another song that was widely criticised by the public upon its initial release this decade, this time it's a song that got lost in the shuffle when JB released his album Purpose due to how much more popular the three singles I've already featured on this list were compared to this track about how he wants to prove to his audience that he's learned from his mistakes.

I'm a bit surprised that Jarryd James was able to score a massive hit in NZ with this entry, mainly because it wasn't the biggest hit over here in Australia despite how huge the trend was for folk singer/songwriters worldwide. My guess is that Triple J had enough of an influence on their market to allow this to crossover despite it not being the biggest thing over here.

This will be Demi Lovato's only other appearance on this site given how the kiwis managed to make this summer jam a hit over there, granted it was a hit in our winter which explains why it didn't do so well in the southern hemisphere, but they seemed to be on board with it regardless. The song has become an unofficial queer anthem due to the lyrics suggesting she was in a lesbian relationship.

This is the only noticeable hit to come from Tori Kelly anywhere in the world, Tori is best known for her role in Illumination's Sing where she played Meena the elephant (although I always thought she was played by Ariana Grande) given how little success she's had with her singing career outside of this one hit she had in the midpoint of the decade.