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.
While it didn't last half a year at number one in NZ like it did here in Australia, this second single from Tones and I was nonetheless a massive success over there and indeed the biggest song of the decade (or at least would've been if the decade lasted another year from when it was released.) This is her only international hit as her other singles failed to catch on anywhere outside of Australia.
Given how Ed Sheeran's entry was the biggest hit of all time until Tones and I came along, this means that this theme from Sony's Into the spider verse didn't steal that crown from the previous entry in NZ like it did here in Australia even though it came very close during its chart run.
It was inevitable that this would have a high appearance on this list like it did on the Australian version of it, after all, we're at the point where all anyone needs to do is make an online campaign to allow any piece of media to become a massive success regardless of its quality. In this case, it's by calling out Billboard's foolishness by denying this to chart on their (in my opinion) worthless country charts.
This posse cut was also rather successful in NZ like it was here in Australia, mainly because Khalid was even more popular over there than he was over here due to him being an RNB star during a time where RNB was more popular than ever in NZ. Halsey was also quite popular, although nowhere near like she was over here.
There's little surprise that this would be the song that brought Lady Gaga's career back to life after two albums that were massive failures for her throughout the decade worldwide, indeed this Oscar winning ballad of hers didn't even need to rebound on the charts in NZ when it became as such given how much the kiwis loved this collaboration with her A star is born costar Bradley Cooper.
This will still be the most recent song on this site given how everything that came out after this track from Dua Lipa didn't find success until the start of the 2020's, indeed this didn't find its true peak in popularity until she released her second album which thrived due to the lack of competition it had upon its initial release.
Even though NZ pop rock group Drax project was the lead artist for this hit single, it was likely a hit due to having Six60 as the featured artist who was among the biggest artists of the decade over there due to how many hits they were able to rack up with their brand of rock reggae.
Much like here in Australia, this debut single from Lewis Capaldi was also a success over there despite failing to reach the number one spot on their charts. I guess we Aussies and kiwis originally meant for this to be a big but not massive success but changed our minds once we saw how it was becoming a huge success in America much to the chagrin of the internet.
The only reason why Billie Eilish's biggest hit (as of this writing) isn't higher on this list is because it didn't rebound on the charts when it helped her sweep the Grammys like it did here in Australia, I guess the kiwis have some restraint when it comes to songs becoming critical darlings becoming a hit more than once during their chart run.
This wasn't quite as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia for George Ezra, I'm guessing because it was a massive hit on our digital charts as well as our streaming charts which would explain why it managed to be so inescapable over here as opposed to over there where their digital charts had no impact on their main charts.
While this wasn't quite as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia for Post Malone, it was nonetheless a massive success for the rapper/RNB singer going into the 2010's over there proving how well loved he and this particular track was exiting the decade.
Well, this is a song where Post Malone finally raps, so I guess the kiwis were bound to make this an instant success for him given how it was a huge hit everywhere else in the world for that reason. No surprise that its popularity was equally as such over there as it was over here.
This didn't stick around for quite as long in NZ as it did here in Australia, perhaps because no one really cared about Shawn Mendes's relationship with Camila Cabello over there which means this was just another hit for the duo and not the theme song to their relationship like it was here and in their native America.
I guess the kiwis weren't as in love with Halsey as we Aussies were, admittedly she was a fan favourite by listeners of Triple J so perhaps that's why this breakup ballad from her where she interpolates "Cry me a river" from Justin Timberlake about her relationship with G-Eazy was more successful here than it was over there. It could also be that the kiwis knew who the rapper was given he had a hit as a lead artist prior to them dating over there.
It shouldn't be much of a surprise that Khalid was more popular over in NZ than he was here in Australia, after all, RNB was always more popular over there than it was over here even in recent years as we Aussies have become more receptive to the genre. Still, it is impressive with how much more popular the singer is over there considering he got his big breakthrough down under due to exposure from Triple J.
I guess the kiwis were more into allowing Tik Tok to take over their music scene than we Aussies are as this managed to be even more of a success for Arizona Zervais over there likely because of how inescapably popular this was on the social media app worldwide.
Even though this was Khalid's biggest hit in his native America (at least as of this writing) it still wasn't the case in NZ as his earlier entry on this list claims that prize to this day. It's no surprise to me that the RNB singer is way more popular over there despite him gaining his popularity down under through his exposure from Triple J, RNB was always more popular in NZ after all.
I guess it was due to the video that this managed to be a worldwide success for Ariana Grande as the rest of the album this was named after proved to be rather controversial for the pop star upon its initial release. She has since released another album which showcases a more mature side of her, however it wasn't nearly as successful as this was.
I guess the kiwis didn't seem to care as much about this collaboration between Ed Sheeran and JB as we Aussies did, at least when you compare its success over there to what it achieved here in Australia they didn't. Still the fact it was this successful over there proves just how popular both men were over there and indeed throughout the world coming out of the decade.
I guess this was technically Khalid's biggest hit over in Australia as this managed to be more popular for the RNB star than anything that had him as a lead artist, however I don't consider this one of his tracks given how he clearly plays second fiddle to Ed Sheeran on this track about not fitting in with the crowd. It appears the kiwis have the same philosophy as this was far from his biggest hit over there.
Well, here's the final hit that Marshmello had over in NZ, it was mainly for Bastille given how the British band did have success over there from earlier in the decade. I like to think this wasn't as big over there as it was over here because the kiwis didn't want to be emotionally manipulated by the music video, it's been widely criticised for doing so which tarnishes an otherwise decent song.
This wasn't quite as big in NZ as it was here in Australia for Maroon 5, likely because the kiwis were ready to leave these guys in the 2010's and 00's even before the decade had come to an end given how this didn't stick around in 2020 over there like it did throughout the rest of the world.
These guys were the most popular band to come out of NZ this decade, in fact if they had any international success like Lorde did, they easily would've been the most popular NZ artist of the decade as they managed to achieve multiple hits from their first three albums this decade that makes Lorde's success look pitiful by comparison.
This is another song that became a success the exact same way in NZ as it was here in Australia, heck it even rebounded on the charts once Drake's verse was added to the official version, proving once again how homogenised the music scene was worldwide this decade. That said, it proved to be far less successful over there than it was over here for the rapper.
Well, it appears the popularity of Lizzo's two tracks this decade in NZ was the inverse to what they were here in Australia as this breakthrough manages to make an appearance on this list whilst "Good as hell" doesn't. Much like "Good as hell," this was also released earlier in the decade to deafening silence worldwide only to become a surprise hit by the tail end thanks to her sudden rise in Hollywood.
This is another song that did quite well on our digital charts, so it not being as successful in NZ does make sense to me given how digital sales still had some impact on our charts even during the final stretch of the decade as opposed to NZ where that clearly wasn't the case.
It appears that the kiwis were more on board with Billie Eilish during her initial breakthrough than we Aussies were, as such, this lead single to her debut album was much more of a success over there albeit for the same reasons it was a hit here in Australia given how it rebounded once the album dropped months after its initial release.
This was one of the last songs to be released in the decade to qualify for this list, I guess the kiwis were all on board with having these guys last another decade in the charts as even to this day, they're still able to score massive success with their music which is more than I can say for any local artist in our music scene.
It makes sense that this wasn't as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia given how it's (to date) the only hit single from a Canadian EDM group to make it big over there, the last stretch of the decade was filled with EDM tracks down under, so naturally some of them would crossover to NZ regardless of how they would fit in their music scene.
I guess the kiwis weren't as excited for this reunion of the Jonas Brothers, although admittedly it's not like the brothers had any success as a unit prior to this reunion outside of their native America, which I guess means the kiwis felt that this was more the individual brothers joining forces as a supergroup more than anything else.
The controversy behind this song seemed to fuel its success over in NZ as well as the rest of the world, again I won't be talking about it as any discussion about this track will only end in hate on my part.
You'd think this would've been an even bigger hit for Billie Eilish in NZ given how much bigger her previous entry on this list was over there compared to its success over here, alas it appears that this was less successful there likely due to it being overshadowed by "When the party's over" which obviously wasn't the case here in Australia.
(this song is "Bury a friend" if you couldn't tell from my commentary)
This also proved to be equally as successful in NZ as it did here in Australia for Sam Smith, I guess the kiwis were equally as thrilled as we Aussies were once they revealed themselves as non-binary following this single's release despite it depicting them in a failed relationship with Normani who last I checked still identified as a cis woman.
It looks like Chris Brown had achieved his redemption ark in NZ like he did everywhere else in the world, more so than in Australia because this had dominated out streaming charts which of course meant it would be more successful over there where their music scene was driven by the streaming services of the world.
This was another hit that was more popular for Sam Smith over in NZ than it was here in Australia, honestly, it's a song that I can easily see people finding very annoying as the production really does have a way of standing out from all of the other songs of its time in a way that few will find endearing.
I guess the digital vs streaming theory wasn't as airtight as I thought throughout the second half of the decade given that this was slightly less successful in NZ as it was here in Australia despite him not having much luck with the former and plenty of success with the latter.
There's little surprise this would be a bigger hit over in NZ than it was here in Australia for Blackbear, mainly because in addition to having all of its success be on our streaming charts down under, this was a response track to an artist who would go on to dominate the music landscape of the 2020's (so far at least.)
This is the only other appearance from Khalid that he will be making on this list, although considering how well he did over there during the second half of the decade (largely thanks to dominating the kiwis streaming services) it's hardly surprising that this track from his third album would make a high spot on this ranking despite being a massive flop here in Australia.
I guess the kiwis weren't as interested in Dominic Fike's sexual escapades as we Aussies were as this wasn't nearly as successful over there as it was over here, I can't even say this was because of strong digital sales as this was mostly a hit on our streaming services down under.
This was slightly more successful in NZ for Ed Sheeran than it was here in Australia, I'm guessing it was due to the kiwis being familiar with the featured rappers on the track as opposed to us Aussies who likely weren't.
This was way more of a success in NZ than it was here in Australia, primarily due to streaming having way more of an impact on their charts compared to ours which means this was able to dominate their music landscape in a way it was unable to do so down under. It's hard to say if this is the last we've seen from the RNB singer as it hasn't been long enough to confide him into the one hit wonder bin.
This is another song from Billie Eilish's debut album that saw more success in NZ than it did here in Australia, I'm guessing the kiwis didn't care if this song was homophobic or not (nobody should) which meant they had no guilty conscience in making this a hit as opposed to us Aussies where there was some debate about whether or not we should, hence why it wasn't as popular here.
(this song is "Wish you were gay" if you couldn't tell from my commentary)
This is the most recent entry that will be appearing on this site of mine, it proved to be less successful in NZ than it was here in Australia likely due to it not rebounding as well on the charts in 2020 over there as it did over here when Billie swept the Grammy awards with the album this serves as a bonus track to.
This was equally as successful in NZ as it was here in Australia, I'd say this was his redemption ark over there except that really came with his collaboration with Camila Cabello from earlier on this list given how inescapably popular that duet was worldwide as the decade was coming to an end.
Given how this was more of a success on our streaming services than people buying the song (which gives you an idea of how this became a worldwide success) it only makes sense that it would have a higher placement on this list where the kiwis didn't allow sales to impact a songs popularity on their streaming services.
Naturally this Tik Tok hit from Lil Tecca was going to be more of a success in NZ than it was here in Australia, after all it was a hit purely through the internet to the point where I doubt most people in the real world even know of its existence.
It's little surprise to me that this was a bigger hit in NZ than it was here in Australia, after all, this was a hit purely through streaming which meant it had stiffer competition here in Australia than it did internationally.
This was so much bigger in NZ than it was here in Australia, I'm not sure why given how Troy Sivan is Australian and Lauv was so much more successful here than he was over there but that seems to be the case here. I guess this did get its popularity from streaming, so that would explain its higher placement on this side of my site.
It may surprise you to learn that this song's success here in Australia was due to people buying it rather than streaming it, as such, it's lower placement on this list does make sense given how it likely was a success in NZ through digital downloads rather than streaming services which means people actively enjoyed this track that's been described as a rip-off of "Old town road."
I'm a bit surprised to see this on here given how it was only a success here in Australia on our digital charts, I guess the kiwis had a strong digital presence on their charts after all as this admittedly did fail to crack their top ten over there and only made it on here due to a massive run in their top twenty charts.
I guess this missing the cut on the Australian side of my site is proof that streaming hadn't fully taken over our music landscape even as the decade was coming to an end as that's the only way this song from J Cole managed to be as inescapable as it was throughout the rest of the world.
It looks like this was far less popular in NZ than it was here in Australia, I guess the kiwis didn't want to have JB destroy the career of Dan + Shay but felt this was too much of a trainwreck to completely ignore as the decade was coming to an end. Who knows how many more obituaries have to be written in the 2020's that involve allowing the Canadian pop star to work with the artists in question.
This is another song that became huge thanks to streaming during the final stretch of the decade, although this wasn't the case here in Australia as this didn't even chart here, proving that not everything related to Spotify streams was guaranteed to be a success down under.
This is to date the only hit that Tyler the Creator has been able to achieve anywhere in the world, he's best known for a rumour that he once went out with Jaden Smith with both parties have fiercely denied over the years.
This will be the only appearance that Yung Thug has as a lead artist on this site, here he recruits J Cole and Travis Scott for his one and only hit that managed to become as such worldwide thanks to strong streaming data, although it was pushed aside here in Australia due to how strong our digital sales were even by the final stretch of the decade.
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