Have you ever wondered what the Australian charts would look like if you were to combine the AMR charts with the ARIA charts? Between 1993 to 2007, a group of music historians did just that on their website known as Oz net music charts which sadly went defunct in 2008 due to ARIA completely taking over the music charts (although this was nine years after David Kent stopped releasing his charts publicly.) You can access the site through here to see what our music landscape would look like had ARIA not parted ways with David Kent throughout most of the 90's and 00's.
In honour of this site's achievements, I've decided to rank the biggest hits of this time period according to their charts (although I won't include songs from 2006 and 2007 as they would dominate the upper regions of this list and have also seen representation on my digital lists for the 00's.) As usual, I won't be making any new commentary here as there's nothing more, I can add to each of these entries I didn't cover when looking at them previously on this site. Also, this will differ from the site's official recap as A: they didn't update it after mid-2002 and B: it only covered songs popularity while they were in the top ten. Also starting with this list, I'm including songs that almost qualified for my main lists but didn't because they were pushed aside for all those "fan singles" that clogged up our charts during this time, I feel it's only fair to finally give these sleeper hits the attention they deserve on this site.
This is Dannii Minogue's biggest hit in the UK, although in Australia that honour goes to "Love and kisses" from the start of the decade likely due to the goofy lyrics about eating at McDonalds on that track. If this sounds like a disco track, that's because it originally was as this is a cover of an obscure track from the 70's written by Van McCoy of "The hustle" fame, how Dannii discovered the original is a mystery.
Well, we haven't had a song like this feature on this site for a while, this is the only hit from pub rock band the Poor who managed to breakthrough this year with a song that would've been one of the biggest hits of its year had it been released in the 80's. This is the best proof I have for the times shifting against Australian music as there were plenty of songs from the underground this year that sounded just like this.
This was originally released the previous year to deafening silence for Strike in their native UK, likely because EDM wasn't the biggest genre over there throughout the decade. It was given a second chance this year due to a remix which allowed it to be a huge success here in Australia where EDM was the biggest genre of the decade. This was their only hit like so many other dance acts of the 90's.
This was the third and final hit that Corona was able to achieve this year worldwide, this time it's a song about how the narrator wants you to give them a try in a relationship which I'm sure many people were open to the idea of given how infectious the single remains to this day. They would disappear from the music industry after this to allow La Bouche to take over the mainstream with their album.
This one and only hit from ATC may be more appropriate than you realise given how the members were indeed from different parts of the world, those places being NZ, Australia, Italy and the UK despite the foursome being based in Germany. It was their only hit worldwide likely due to the novelty of them being from different parts of the world, although it could also be its fusion of teen pop and EDM.
This was a bit of a return to form for No Doubt following their pop sellout from earlier on this list, indeed I haven't heard many people chastise this track the way they have for "Hey baby" which suggests that song was meant to be more of a testing ground for Gwen's eventual solo career later in the decade. The band would have one more hit with a cover of a (then) obscure 80's track before that came to be.
Following the success she had with her debut album internationally, Kelly Clarkson was commissioned by Disney to write a theme song for Princess diaries 2 which would go on to serve as the lead single to the album of the same name that would become her biggest in her career. The film was poorly received even by fans of the original for being a cliched mess that wasn't even based on the books the original was an adaptation of.
P.M Dawn were all set to be one hit wonders in Australia given how none of their other tracks managed to crossover down under, however they were able to score a second hit seven years after "Set adrift on memory bliss" became a huge hit for them thanks to Prince Be from the duo crediting his solo hit to the project. As you can tell from the title, this is a song about how things are only getting better for him.
This was the son of Randy Bachman, the lead singer of Bachman Turner Overdrive who scored a massive hit with "You ain't seen nothing yet" around the time Tal would've been six years old. Fast forward 25 years and he scored his own hit with this track about how the love of his life is like that of several feminist icons throughout history, it became overused in films due to the lyrics and the sound of the track.
Your guess is as good as mine as to why Eternal's ballad from the previous year flopped here in Australia, although Monica was able to make it a success with her rendition this year likely due to her having a string of Billboard chart toppers following the success she had with Brandy on "The boy is mine." This would be her last hit in Australia as she wouldn't have any success in the new millennium.
Whereas her earlier entry on this list didn't spark any controversy (well at least from anyone who didn't despise teen pop with a passion) this on the other hand raised a few eyebrows due to it heavily sampling "Jack and Diane" from John Mellencamp where she takes on the role of Diane in the song. It was a massive hit here in Australia likely due to nostalgia, however fans of the heartland rocker weren't too pleased about this.
For a while, this was the final hit that Backstreet boys were able to achieve in most parts of the world given how it's often regarded as the final entry from the boy band wars before they officially came to an end, it's low placement on this list is mainly due to us Aussies wanting to move on from the phenomenon even though I do remember it being everywhere on the radio back then.
This was bundled with Jewel's earlier entry on this list in America, presumably to allow these songs to break records on Billboard which seems to be the reason for why the Billboard charts panned out the way they did throughout the 90's. Here in Australia, this was given a separate release where it managed to become a hit in its own right proving that we Aussies would've made Jewel a household name if we knew about her two years prior.
Well, this was a bit of a surprise, the last time Kate Ceberano was heard from in the music scene was during her time as Mary Magdalene in the 1992 Australia revival show for Jesus Christ superstar. Fast forward six years and she's scoring a huge hit with this track likely due to how catchy the melody is as well as the sound in general being in vogue with the more mature artists from around this time.
Given how this was coming from not one but two of the biggest albums of the decade, you'd think that this collaboration would've been more inescapable back in the day given how it was a song about protecting the children of the world from two former teen idols. I can't even say if this song's success came from Kylie's fans or Robbie's as neither fanbase seems to be that fond of the collaboration.
This was the one and only hit that Norah Jones had in her career, although she was more of an album's artist anyway and her brand of jazz pop really didn't fit well with the likes of every other entry on this list so it being a hit was more of a surprise than anything. What wasn't a surprise was that she would see so much critical and commercial success given how she's the daughter of a well-established musician Ravi Shankar
This is a hybrid of Whitney Houston's "How will I know" (the title coming from the first few lines of the song) as well as U2's "With or without you" which the British group LMC credited the latter for likely as a condition for sampling the track on here. The lyrics were performed by English vocalist Rachel McFarlane who does an admirable impression of Whitney throughout the track.
The legends are true people, Lindsay Lohan did in fact have a singing career that consisted of two albums that saw a moderate amount of success for the former Disney star. This was the lead single of her first album which was her version of "Piece of me" from Britney Spears as it addresses her public behaviour (back when it was mostly innocuous) and how she was fed up with tabloids exploiting it for profit.
This was a Hispanic hip hop duo who scored their one and only hit in Australia this year with this bop of a track, although in NZ their big hit was "On a Sunday afternoon" which topped their charts two years prior. If the production on this track sounds familiar to you, that's because Mariah Carey would sample it on her big hit "Honey" later in the decade. This wasn't a hit in America so it's anyone's guess how she came across this track.
This was the only hit for the New radicals, mainly because it was only a success worldwide due to it being big in the UK as this for some reason flopped in their native America. I'm guessing it flopped on Billboard due to the final verse where the band suddenly makes a bunch of shout outs to people they didn't like, none of these people were flattered by these shout outs for obvious reasons.
This was Stacie Orrico's other big hit here in Australia and in most parts of the world outside her native America, here she's contemplating about her purpose in life and whether she's living it to her fullest potential which no doubt helped audiences appreciate their own place in this world back in the day. It was a very poignant track considering it was a teen pop number, although it would also be her final hit.
This served both as the theme song to the second Charlie's angels' film as well as the lead single to P!nk's third album Try this, neither project was well received at the time (despite the album being excellent in my opinion) which was a sign that her time in the spotlight was coming to an end. As bad as the film was, it's still infinitely better than the 2019 film as its at least cheesy fun that's unapologetic with what it is.
This was a posse cut brought together by the producer J Wess, sort of like what DJ Khaled would release throughout the 2010's only if he actually produced the music rather than just shout out some random nonsense at the start of his songs. The performers are rapper Digga and vocalists Kulaia and Lolly who both contribute to the chorus on this track.
This was the final hit that Bon Jovi scored from their album Keep the faith, again it's a more downbeat ballad from what they had released prior to this point which no doubt led to them going full sellout material on their next album two years later. Although they saw massive success this decade, many regard them more as an 80's band in retrospect due to how little material from the 90's has stood the test of time.
This was the other big hit that Urban Cookie collective managed to achieve this year, although I feel that vocalist Diane Charlemagne doesn't give in as good a performance as she does on their earlier track which is perhaps why this wasn't as big as "The key the secret." Even so, it was a massive success for the British band, although it didn't do their album any favours as that was a huge flop this year.
This was one of many hits this decade that relied on nostalgia baiting to give it success for (then) modern audiences, in this case Pato Banton has Ali Campbell of UB40 fame cover the song from the Equals in order to given him a chorus to connect his own verses. The song was a massive hit with this formula worldwide, and likely prompted the likes of the Fugees and Warren G to follow suit.
This was the first of two hits that Italian band Alex Party managed to score in Australia, although it was their only hit in the UK as the Brits didn't get on board with "Wrap me up" from the following year. This song has a straightforward message of not giving someone a second chance after they treated you bad in a relationship, it's surprising how rare this type of song is given how most love songs are in the music scene.
It looks like Metallica were able to score massive success with their sellout tracks here in Australia, I'm personally not a fan of this era of their music as I prefer their older stuff, but at the same time I'm also fed up with their diehard fans of their older work saying that their newer stuff is not worth your time.
This was technically the biggest hit to come from the Smashing pumpkins in Australia, it's by far their most iconic song as the instrumentation is a perfect example of their sound and how its endured over the years. I'm guessing if this had of been the lead single from Mellon collie and the infinite sadness then it could've been one of the biggest hits of the decade instead of it being a mere modest success.
We won't be looking at "Jesus to a child" on this list as it wasn't enough of a hit to qualify for this list, however that wasn't the case for the third single from George's comeback album which was given its own E.P to help it stand out from the competition that came from much younger artists at the time. George would score a few more hits in his career before he faded into obscurity here in Australia.
Boyzone were indeed one of the biggest boy bands of the decade, so why not have these guys take over from them once they called it quits this year? This was their debut single and the first of many UK chart toppers for them which of course led to them gaining a bad reputation in the UK due to how inescapable they were. Their popularity wasn't as big here in Australia, although they did better than Take that for what it's worth.
I get the feeling this second single from Destiny fulfilled had a bit of an identity crisis here in Australia given how I'm actually not that well familiar with the version that has both T.I and Lil Wayne on the track and instead just with the version with the trio by themselves. I guess the two rappers were meant to be the soldiers in question that the girls were singing about throughout the track.
This was the second single to come from Good charlotte's third album the Chronicles of life and death, an album that was a huge success despite this and its lead single "Predictable" being the only songs I remember hearing from the band at the time. Granted I remember this song being played a lot back in the day, which possibly means it had its success eaten up by digital piracy like most other rock songs throughout the decade.
Well so much for these guys being in the running for the boy band wars in Australia, admittedly they would become worthy candidates on their second album the following year but in the meantime this early single from their debut album took nearly two years to find an audience here in Australia for the main rivals of Backstreet boys. I guess it didn't help there was another song that shared this title around this time from Mel B.
This was the one song from Eminem's Encore that received universal acclaim from even the most diehard of haters from the rapper, mainly because it was a song about how he feared that the youth of the day would eventually become conscripted into fighting for the American army given the questionable politics of the (then) American president George Bush. It also received praise for sampling "Toy soldiers" by Martika in a tactful manner.
We have another EDM song for this list, this time it's from the British/Australian duo the Bodyrockers who scored a massive hit worldwide with their one and only hit from their one and only album. It's a song that was a big success back in the day and has lived on due to its usage in commercials over the years, although the duo would go their separate ways when they failed to score a second hit.
Their big hit here might have been their cover of "Let's groove" from the following year, however CDB managed to score a big hit prior to that with this song that was originally meant for the Rockmelons while Deni Hines was still a part of the group. They eventually donated this to the RNB group when Deni left the band to go on a solo career which did spawn a huge hit for her next year.
This was a stacked year for Alanis Morissette, not only was her Grammy award winning album the biggest of the year but it also managed to spawn four huge hits for her throughout the world this year alone with this fourth entry being the second biggest here in Australia. This is known for its harmonica solo which has made it one of the more iconic songs in her discography, although it would prove to be her last hit in certain parts of the world.
One of the earliest viral hits to become as such at the turn of the millennium was Hampton the Hampster, specifically its theme song which was a minor top ten hit here in Australia (not enough to make this list but still.) Following the breakthrough success of his theme song, he released a cover of a John Denver track (a mere four years after his death mind you) which became a success here.
This was the debut single from Ricki Lee Coutler who achieved massive success throughout the decade both solo and as a member of Young divas despite being knocked out of the second season of Australian idol rather early in the competition (I'd say it was due to her being born in NZ except that wasn't a hinderance for Stan Walker later in the decade.) It's been mostly overshadowed by her other hits throughout the decade.
Well, this certainly took its sweet time in becoming a success here in Australia, Deborah Cox is a Canadian RNB singer who got her start with this ballad about how she's in disbelief that her partner could possibly love anyone but her. This proved to be a huge sleeper hit for her here months after it became one of the biggest hits of the year in NZ, likely due to how people could relate to the lyrics.
This was another American DJ to not find any success in his native America but have tons of success worldwide, indeed Armand Van Helden managed to go to number one on the UK charts with this track which no doubt helped him find an audience around the world including here in Australia where EDM was still at the height of its popularity.
Even though she was widely mocked online for her SNL performance from the previous year, that didn't seem to prevent Ashlee Simpson from finding further success with her second album at least here in Australia as it managed to spawn not one but two hits for her back in the day. This was the first of those two hits which is a plea to her sister to get over that she was dating someone she used to date (given that she was married and all.)
You may be forgiven into thinking that this is a song explicitly about 9/11 given how the music video depicts a relationship which ends where a guy ends up fighting in Iraq, however it was actually about Billie Joe Armstrong has to cope with the death of his father every year which happened in September when he was a child. I guess he didn't want to make the ballad too personal when he released it as a single, hence the video.
It's funny how the Razzies would revive the worst original song category for this one year only for each of the nominees to wind up on this list, this theme song to Crossroads sadly taking home the prize over Britney's other entry on this list (despite both of these songs coming from the soundtrack from the previous year) as well as Madonna's Bond theme, goes to show how much the Razzie organisation dislikes both of these women.
This was the only hit that French duo Deep Forest were able to achieve here in Australia, although I'm guessing this was due to two reasons. The first was because Enigma had already opened the doors for combining new age music with EDM earlier in the decade and the second being that their album was a huge success this year which prevented them from scoring another hit down under.
Well at least the second single from Britney's fourth album In the zone had some presence on our charts, despite also debuting at number one here, the third single barely lasted a month on the charts as it dropped like a brick due to it being heavily tampered with back in the day by Sony. It's a shame because it's a deeply personal ballad from Britney that she wrote herself for once.
This is the final hit that Bon Jovi was able to achieve anywhere in the world, it was a bit of a surprise hit here in Australia given how they didn't have one since the start of the decade with "It's my life." I guess the general public wanted to give them one more hit before they became a legacy band as everything they've released ever since has only been a success due to nostalgia for their older work.
There are two songs from Kylie Minogue with this title, although this song was the only one that was released as a single given how her other song came from her debut album back in the late 80's. Both of them have the same theme of falling in love at first sight, although given how she clarified that she believed in it back in the day, this was more her simply expressing the feeling she had of experiencing it once more.
This will be the only song of Jet's to appear on this site given how the rest of their catalogue were too much of sleeper hits to qualify for these lists of mine, this one managed to crack the upper echelons of our charts this year due to its similarities to John Lennon's "Imagine" on a musical level despite the song having lyrics about a breakup rather than imagining a better world for tomorrow.
This was a great year for artists to discover older tracks and remix them for their own songs, here we have the German group Boogie pimps taking the Jefferson airplane song of the same name and remixing its chorus for an easy worldwide hit for them. This won't be the only song on this list to find success with this formula as we'll see other entries as we go further down.
I would be interested to know how much of this second single's success was eaten up by the album sales of Fever and how much of it was taken away due to digital piracy at the time, it was a number one hit for Kylie and all over the radio and yet it only barely made the cut for appearing on this list of mine. As for the music itself, it was Kylie returning to her roots of bubble-gum pop whilst injecting maturity into the genre with her lyrics.
This was the only hit single that Soul asylum managed to achieve worldwide, mainly due to the video which serves more as one of those missing persons posters you find at a police station as the band tries to help locate these people who have gone missing throughout America. If you couldn't tell from that, this is a song about how running away from your problems does nothing but hurt those around you.
While this wasn't their debut single by any means, it was the song that made Sugar ray into a household name thanks to them ditching their nu metal sound in favour of a more pop friendly direction starting with this track. Lyrically it's about how Mark McGrath is finding out he's been cheated on with his girlfriend, although instead of confronting her about it he's going to get even with her by sleeping around himself.
It seemed like Kelly's earlier entry on this list was a fluke given how her victory single from American idol wasn't a hit anywhere in the world except on Billboard from the previous year, however this third single from her album proved that she was the real deal given how it showcased a more personal side of her in a way that was becoming quite prominent with female vocalists throughout the decade.
Well, this was an attempt for a previously successful group to rebrand themselves for the "hip" and "radical" crowd of the day, in this case we have a song from Girlfriend which they had branded themselves as GF4 that was a hit for them but didn't lead to anything other than them breaking up two years later. I guess this was meant for a third album, but that album never came to be.
The last time these guys had any success here in Australia was eight years prior with their debut album Southside, here they are this year with the lead single to their critically panned album White on blonde which nonetheless has its fans to this day from people who refuse to believe it's as bad as people say it is. I'm guessing something that contributed to this reputation was the Wu Tang remix it received the following year.
Following the success of their cover of a Carly Simon classic, Chocolate starfish released their second single "All over me" which was a flop for them, potentially rendering them a one hit wonder. Fortunately, this third single from their album was a huge success and saw a more mature side of the band, thus allowing the album to become a huge success for them this year.
Even though the Backstreet boys scored many more hits worldwide than these guys did, the fact that this was able to go to number one on Billboard did allow them to win the boy band wars in their native America as far as TRL was concerned. This song is also a breakup track much like their earlier entry on this list, further giving them an identity that separated them from their contemporaries of sentimental lover boys.
Does anyone remember the "Wazza" meme from the early 00's? Nowadays it's best known for that scene in Scary movie which admittedly grinds the movie to a halt but is still hilarious to watch (I have a weird sense of humour) but it was originally concocted for the beer company Budwiesers which was so influential that it was turned into a dance remix by Shaft (credited as Da muttz) using the beat from Rick James' "Superfreak."
Rob Thomas was on a roll here in Australia as he managed to score a second hit with his solo debut, this is a complete contrast with his earlier entry as while that was about him wanting to be with someone, here he's complaining about how his heart was broken by someone he fell in love with too quickly which creates a narrative between the two songs. This narrative didn't continue with the third single which is perhaps why if flopped here.
Given how Martha Walsh was no longer part of the group, it looked like C+C Music factory would struggle to find an audience with their second album which they did save for this lead single which was a huge hit for them. I guess Martha did help them stand out from all the other dance rap groups of the day, however they still brought enough to the table to help them find a respectable audience.
My UK readers will likely recognise this track as credited to Puretone, I'm not sure why this song was rebranded as such, but it ended up working out as this became a huge success for Josh Abrahams and vocalist Amiel Daemon. Amiel is perhaps best known for her hit single "Love song" from 2003, a hit she scored a year after this became a hit for her and Josh throughout Europe.
This was the penultimate hit that Brandy had here in Australia, it's a cover of the Phil Collins classic (which was his penultimate here funnily enough) that she turned into a duet by recruiting RNB singer Ray J. If the name Ray J sounds familiar to you, that's because he was the reason why Kim Kardashian became famous later in the decade after the pair starred in a sex tape together.
This is the last that Britney Spears had before her infamous meltdown from 2007, as this site is meant to be a safe space, I won't go into the details of what caused it to happen, however fans feel that it was when the quality of her music began to take a noticeable downward turn again for reasons I won't discuss here. One thing I will bring up is that this song does feel like a precursor to her next hit "Gimme more."
This was originally an album track from Vagabond heart that wasn't released as a single anywhere in the world, however it finally saw the light of day as a single two years after the album's release due to Rod performing it on MTV unplugged which compelled audiences to check out the cover of the Van Morrison track this year and make it a huge success.
We have another entry from a song that would be a perfect fit for Dance dance revolution, Dreamworld were a Swedish band who scored their only hit with this song here in Australia due to it being another worthy banger for our dance floors upon its initial release. I'm not sure how we Aussies were able to discover all of these gems back in the day, however they make for a great playlist for a night out.
Normally when a NZ artist crossed over to Australian from their homeland, it's with one of their albums as we Aussies tend to favour their broader work over the hit single which made them big in their homeland. This wasn't the case for Bic Runga who scored her only hit over here with this breakthrough hit she had in her homeland which didn't translate to the album being a huge success here.
Wow was this song EVERYWHERE when it first came out, it's hard to believe that it wasn't any bigger here in Australia as it certainly felt like it was on the radio and in commercials. This was the only hit that Groove Armada managed to score down under, likely due to the novelty of a track saying "I see you baby shaking that ass" ad nauseum not allowing them to be taken seriously in the mainstream.
Bec Cartwright is best known for her role as Haley Smith on the soap opera Home and away, however during her stint on the show, she had a brief music career which spawned her a hit with this teen pop track that became a hit likely due to her popularity on the show. It regularly appears on many worst Australian songs lists likely due to her vocals not being up to the standards of most of her contemporaries.
I'm not even sure what to make of this track, I guess it's cool that the video heavily promotes queer culture even if it stereotypes the LGBT community as sexually driven who will do it whenever wherever. It was a massive success for Wayne G and helped him become an in-demand producer over the years.
This was the third and final hit that Counting crows had here in Australia, it was the theme song to Shrek 2 which was played during the opening scene of the movie where we find out that Shrek and Fiona are a happy couple before the plot kicks in. Much like the first film, I'm a massive fan of the sequel due to its quirky humour that lampoons the Disney formula without it ever coming off as too mean spirited.
This was the only hit that Tony Toni Tone was able to achieve here in Australia, although like other groups of colour, they found more success over in NZ throughout the 90's which should tell you which country was more open to music of colour back then. Here they score their only hit with a new jack swing staple that proved too irresistible for us Aussies to resist back in the day like their other material.
Following the success of No doubt and their album Tragic kingdom, it appears that the ska punk scene had little issues with finding success here in Australia which leads us to this breakthrough hit from the Mighty mighty Bosstones. This is one of those songs that was featured in just about everything you can think of back in the day, as such it's become more of a meme nowadays than a genuine hit single for the band.
This was the only hit that German DJ Da Hool managed to score in his career, again we have an EDM song making it big in Australia which is nothing new at this point of the 90's. One thing I can say about this song is that according to ARIA it wasn't a hit at all, meaning that this song's appearance is based on how well it did on the AMR charts (which is how I base these rankings on this site.)
You'd think that the album cycle to J-Lo's second album would've been more successful for her given how she was one of the most successful celebrities at the turn of the new millennium, although I think in this case, it was due to a part where she goes "play my motherf**king song" which of course had to be censored in the radio and also led to rumours that she was little more than an entitled diva.
This was only a sleeper hit here in Australia for the Gorillaz, a British band that consists of an animated counterpart with art done by the same people who made the Tank girl comics in the 90's. Their debut single was a hip hop track named after the Hollywood actor (despite his name not appearing once in the lyrics) which was a surprise hit for the band considering how quirky and unconventional the song is.
Even though it was panned by critics, Die another day was still a commercial success around the world due to it being a Bond film that had Halle Berry as the Bond girl. The theme song had more of a mixed reaction as people felt Madonna was a poor choice for a Bond theme, however it was a commercial success for her unlike the album it wound up being included on with failed to produce another hit for her.
Well, this is a song that I'm sure was a success purely through wholesome values, OK jokes aside, this was a song that was tailor made to be as explicit as possible given how we have the female rapper Khia exploiting her sexuality that only those who find her attractive could appreciate (which admittedly would be a lot of people as she is conventionally attractive.) It took a while to take off in Australia, but once it did it was a massive hit.
I wonder if the term MILF existed around the early 00's, this is essentially an anthem for that subculture as the lyrics of the song explicitly detail how the underage narrator was in love with an older woman (at least he acknowledges that this was a weird phenomenon he was having.) It was a surprise hit here in Australia likely due to us Aussies finding the situation hilarious to the point where we wound up loving it.
It looked like Kasey Chamber's third album would be a mere modest success when it was released the previous year, however it received a boost in popularity this year when this track from the album became a surprise hit during the early months of the year.
One of the better animated films of the decade was the Prince of Egypt, it's an adaptation of the story of Moses from the bible which tells the story in a way that makes both Moses and Ramases sympathetic to the audience which made it become a critical and commercial success upon its initial release. The theme song came from two of the biggest divas of the decade which ended up winning an academy award for the film.
This was the second single from Missy Higgin's debut album, although it's worth noting that this wasn't released as an E.P which explains why it wasn't as big as the other two songs from the album which did come with their own E.P as well as them receiving plenty of airplay just like this song did.
This was the third hit from Silverchair's sophomore album, this was more of an acoustic ballad which is perhaps why it wasn't as big despite it having a higher peak position here than their previous entry.
There was no escaping 50 cent during the midpoint of the decade as he managed to rack up hit after hit both as a lead artist as well as with his features, most notably with the Game who won't be appearing on this list despite scoring two hits worldwide with his hip hop numbers. I feel the production is why this song was a hit as it's by far the most recognisable of producer Scott Storch from his catalogue.
This was the second hit to come from D:ream this year, it was also released the previous year to deafening silence likely due to the Irish band needing that extra promotion to ensure their bright and happy dance tracks would find an audience for them. Indeed, they did as the band were able to find massive success with these songs and their album they came from, although their popularity faded soon after.
We have our first new entry on this list, yeah, I've decided to include songs that nearly made the cut on my official lists here but didn't due to all of the "fan singles" that pushed them aside on both ARIA and AMR back in the day. Anyways we have this single from the 2000 Olympics that the 12th man released which went over really well with his fellow Aussies upon its initial release.
This is the final hit that George Michael had in his lifetime, it was the lead single to his final album Patience as well as another victim of the high amount of Australian idol contestants of 2004 which pushed aside everything in the mainstream in favour of the show’s monopoly on our charts.
It looked like Terence Trent D'arby would be a one album wonder as his second album was a complete failure for him at the start of the decade, fortunately his third album spawned this hit for him in Australia and NZ which helped him escape that fate in both countries. This is a departure from his earlier material as he went in a more rock direction from here on out in his career.
This nearly made my 1999 list given how it cracked the ARIA top ten upon its initial release, however it appears we Aussies couldn't decide if we liked these guys because they were teen idols or a pop rock band which resulted in it spending most of its chart run in the lower half of our charts. Thankfully because of my decision to include sleeper hits on this list, it more than qualifies for this entry.
This was originally the second single from Chris Isaak's biggest album Forever blue, it flopped here likely due to how inescapable the album was but was given a second chance four years later when it appeared in the film Eyes wide shut. The film is notable for being the last one to be directed by Stanley Kubrick before his death and also for being the third to star husband and wife Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
This was the only solo hit that Sophie Monk managed to have in her career following the demise of Bardot from earlier in the year, although it was likely only a hit for her due to hype built up from her time with the group as it was quickly forgotten about once her album became a flop for her. Nowadays she's best known as a reality TV star given how she appears in shows such as the Bachelorette and Celebrity apprentice.
Named after the heritage he was a part of Panjabi MC initially broke through with this track throughout Europe the previous year given how popular Indian style music was becoming throughout the early 00's worldwide. This year, he recruited Jay-z to provide him a guest verse which allowed this to crossover here in Australia, although I get the feeling the true intent of this remix was to gain him an American audience.
Apparently, this cover of the Bangles classic was meant to be a tie into a Happy day's musical that premiered this year, although I doubt anyone even remembers this and likely thinks this was just the big hit off their second album which was named as a way of counting down to the new millennium. They would have further success in the 00's still as a boy band before switching over to being a throwback group.
One of the more popular songs to come from the UK this year was this cover of an obscure reggae track from the early 70's, in fact I'm willing to bet more people are familiar with the Baha men version from the mid 90's than the original as that's seemed to have popped up in recent years for some reason. In any case we have this version from the British band Toploader crossing over here in Australia due to its funky beat.
This will be the final appearance from Mandy Moore on my site as the teen idol didn't have any hits as an adult later in the decade, it's a pity because her voice didn't deteriorate transitioning to adulthood and she shifted from teen pop to adult contemporary with her later material. Here she incorporates middle eastern production which was a surprisingly common troupe throughout the decade in western music.
Remember how I said in my 1985 list that "Dr Beat" would be more well known nowadays for a dance remix from the mid 00's? Well, here's that remix which was a massive hit worldwide for the British DJ Mylo who was part of a trend of reviving older songs for a (then) modern audience which no doubt helped younger generations discover the original track 21 years after its initial release.
This was the only notable success for the Wallflowers likely due to it referencing the Disney princes Cinderella in the lyrics which was receiving a resurgence in popularity this decade due to the Disney renaissance pushing all of its older characters back into the spotlight. This led their album to being a moderate success before they forever faded into obscurity.
This was a huge hit for Eternal months after it had already left the charts in NZ and their native UK, I guess we Aussies thought we were done with the trio from earlier in the decade but changed our minds when we realised how insanely catchy this track was from them. This is also the only hit single to have Bebe Winans on a track, I thought I'd bring that up since I've heard of him from different sources.
While they never had a hit single here in Australia, Grinspoon were able to make up for that by having a successful E.P chart with some of the more popular songs of the decade. I get the feeling that they were destined to have a ton of success with songs such as "Chemical heart" and "Hard act to follow" but didn't due to being victims of digital piracy throughout the 00's.
No comments:
Post a Comment