I wanted to do a follow up to my OZ Media list by covering the thirteen years prior to when those charts were calculated, the problem of course is that no such alternate charts exist which combines the ARIA and AMR charts of 1988-1992 (as well as there being no alternate charts here prior to that since the Go-set charts ended in 1974.) As such, I've decided to rank the biggest hits of the 80's and early 90's based on how long they charted here back in the day, this means I'll be including several songs which were sleeper hits here during that time that failed to make my official lists due to charting mostly outside of the top twenty here back in the day. As usual, any commentary from returning entries on this list have been unaltered as I feel the change of their placements on this list compared to my earlier lists should speak volumes as to how their success played out here upon their initial releases.
64 Weeks
Even though this only peaked at number five on the Australian charts, the fact that this managed to linger on our charts for 64 weeks (mainly due to the B-side "Pink Cadillac" being promoted on radio) ensured that this would be the second-best charting single of the decade according to David Kent, I ranked it a bit lower as I tend to not take into account stats from the lower half of the charts.
Two entries in and we already have a new appearance on this list as this also managed to stick around for a staggering 64 weeks on our charts even if it failed to appear in our top twenty back in the day. I'm guessing this was due to it the song being a success twice given how it charted around the time the film first came out and then rebounded once it won an academy award months later.
49 Weeks
The Use your illusion era of Guns n roses career was already a huge success by the time they unveiled the video to this song, which fun fact was released months prior to deafening silence likely due to it being one of the more long-winded songs on both albums. The video was such as success that it quickly became not just their biggest hit but also one of the biggest hits of the twentieth century.
48 Weeks
The ballad which won Stevie Wonder an Oscar at the academy awards, although many will tell you that this is easily one of his worst songs in his catalogue due to how sappy they find the lyrics to be. I can't say I've seen the Woman in red despite it starring Gene Wilder and Kelly Lebrock of Weird science fame.
44 Weeks
Oh, you thought we were done with looking at comedy routines on this site, weren't you? Well, here we are with another comedy routine this time courtesy of Billy Birmingham AKA the 12th man who scored a massive hit with this E.P where he does accurate impersonations of some of the more popular sporting commentators of the day.
This is a song whose success came completely out of nowhere here in Australia, mainly because the last time anyone cared about the lead vocalist Mick Jones was during his time with the Clash before he was unceremoniously fired from the band almost a decade prior. He came back bigger than ever with this track which seemed to go off in different directions throughout its runtime, thus explaining its success.
There haven't been that many instrumentals to make it big in Australia over the years, have they? Here we have David A Stewart (one half of the Eurythmics) and Dutch saxophonist Candy Dufler scoring a big hit with this track which I'm sure was the soundtrack to some steamy love scene that I wasn't able to track down to verify for this post. Candy would go on to be an in-demand session musician following this collaboration.
41 Weeks
This remains the biggest hit in Robert Palmer's career in Australia, mainly due to the video which depicts him in what appears to be a precursor to the set of a Deal or no deal show with a bunch of women who appear to be clones of Bebe Neuworth who's best known for her performance as Lillith Crane on Cheers and later Frasier. All I can say is that Robert is clearly having the time of his life in the video.
Well, this was the first big hit that Milli Vanilli managed to score in Australia admittedly this was only a sleeper hit here due to our scepticism towards whether they were the real deal or a what they really were which was hired models to lip synch to music that otherwise would've gone unnoticed in the mainstream.
This was all set to flop here in Australia upon its initial release given how we Aussies were a bit slow when it came to the hair metal craze of the late 80's, naturally this rebounded once the album took off here thanks to the success of its second single which allowed it a very high placement on this list of mine due to how long it stuck around for.
40 Weeks
In case you were wondering, yes, this song is deliberately gay as it was made by an openly gay band meant to shock and titillate audiences who seemed to be put off by the queer community in general. Basically, if Culture club was easing people into accepting others for who they are, these guys were forcing it down everyone's throat albeit with a highly catchy and provocative sex jam.
This was originally released in Glenn's native Hawaii following his victory in a singing competition which he won with this cover of a George Benson track from earlier in the decade. Somehow this managed to become a surprise hit over in the UK which allowed it to crossover to Australia, I'm guessing due to how romantic people felt he sounded throughout its runtime.
This was the only Billboard chart topper that Taylor Dayne managed to achieve in her career, and admittedly this was the song which saved her second album from tanking across the world given the crushing failure of its lead single "With every beat of my heart" outside of America. In Australia, the song which saved the album was the next single which was more upbeat than this ballad.
This is one of many songs throughout the 80's that didn't get much of a look in here in Australia but nonetheless had massive legs on our charts, this is a new wave track from the obscure Canadian band Rough Trade who charted for quite some time on the lower half of our charts likely due to it being a favourite on late night MTV.
39 Weeks
This was originally released on Bob Seger's 1978 album Stranger in town to deafening silence, probably because Bob was considered to be a bit ahead of his time as his popularity didn't shine outside his native America until this was featured in the Tom Cruise flick Risky business (specifically that famous scene where he dances to it in his underwear.) For some reason, this finally became a hit four years after that film in Australia, presumably through the strength of his other big hit this year "Shakedown."
38 Weeks
This was the only notable success that Phil Seymour had in his career, admittedly this sounds completely different from everything else that got popular this year as this would've felt more at home several years prior. Australia was the only country in the world to make it a hit for what it's worth.
It felt weird to me that this song wasn't a huge instant success and instead a sleeper hit here in Australia back in the day given how much airplay it continues to receive on oldies stations to this day, alas it appears we largely passed up this single in favour of its album and the second single for said album given how "Waiting for a girl like you" proved to be the song which broke these guys into our mainstream.
37 Weeks
Even though this appeared on the Use your illusions albums, this was released as a single due to a performance the band gave at a Freddie Mercury memorial concert which helped this become a huge success for the band a year after the album's release. It seems curious that they would choose their Bob Dylan cover to perform at the concert, although I guess it's not like they covered any of Queen's discography by this point.
Well, I told you that Alannah Myles managed to have massive success here in Australia with both of the lead single from her debut album, although this had a very slow rise to its success here given how it was initially a flop for her much like it was throughout the rest of the world. I'm not sure why as this is catchier than her earlier track, I guess because it's happier compared to "Black velvet" which is more sombre.
This is meant to be the big showstopper of Andrew Lloyd Webber's adaptation of Phantom of the opera, although curiously he replaces Michael Crawford on this single for Cliff Richard likely to try and have it become a mainstream success which it admittedly was in the UK for him and Sarah Brightman. Sarah of course got her big break with this duet as well as her performance as Christine Daae in the show.
If you can believe it, famous Hollywood composer Danny Elfman began his career as the lead singer of the new wave band Oingo boingo who's best known for their theme song to the 80's classic Weird science (a film that holds up fairly well despite its problematic premise of making a real-life woman out of a barbie doll.) Here in Australia, this was the big hit they had albeit only after months of charting in the lower half of our charts.
36 Weeks
Now normally I'm not the biggest fan of country music, in fact when it comes to either loving or hating the genre, I'm more towards the hate camp even if I don't hate a lot of country songs out there. With that said, I have to say that I adore this collaboration between Kenny and Dolly, the two have amazing chemistry and it rightfully allowed the song to linger on the charts for quite some time here in Australia.
It gives me great joy to know that one of the biggest hits of the decade in Australia was an honest to God pub rock anthem, true the Choirboys had been hustling in the industry for four years at this point, but their determination paid off with a track that's still fondly remembered by Australian audiences to this day. This even saw moderate crossover success in NZ, proving how much wide appeal these guys had.
This was the other big hit that Tone Loc had in Australia, and indeed it relies on the nostalgia people have of the Kinks classic of the same name as while it isn't a cover of that track, it does heavily sample the instrumentation which is a trend that would become all too common in hip hop throughout the following decade. As I said earlier, he would go on to become a popular voice actor in children's media.
35 Weeks
Yep, this comedy routine wound up being the biggest hit single of the year in Australia. Bear in mind this was back in the day where comedy tracks were considered to be singles and thus were able to chart along the likes of everything else that will appear on this list. As for Austen Tayshus himself, this was the only notable success he managed to achieve throughout his career as far as the Australian charts are concerned.
Oh, rick rolling, why did you have to ruin this otherwise cute and innocent song from one of the more impressive vocalists to emerge from the 80's? Nowadays people think this is one of the worst songs of all time due to that immature meme from the late 00's, however back in the day it was the biggest song of the decade in Australia thanks to how many demographics it managed to appeal to back then.
Johny Logan set up a record with this ballad as it allowed him to become the first artist to win Eurovision more than once for a particular country, in this case it was for his native Ireland who likely were as surprised as everyone else when he took home to top prize for the second time this decade following his earlier victory "What's another year." It appears we Aussies finally understood what made him so special as this became a huge success for him down under.
Well, this is a surprise, you'd think this would be one of the most successful songs of the decade here in Australia considering how inescapable it was internationally for Tiffany Darwish. Alas it was only a sleeper hit here despite how catchy the song is and it arguably being her best performance in her catalogue, although she did find success with her follow up from earlier on this list.
34 Weeks
Now I use the AMR charts to determine what the order these songs/E.P's appear on these lists (that is, how well they did on those charts) however I have to make an exception here as this E.P from Ratcat didn't chart on the AMR singles chart (rather it was on the album charts) but it did on ARIA's singles chart and thus here we are.
This was the first of several songs to be released from Black box's one and only album Dreamland, although that's likely due to the behind-the-scenes drama the band went through when lead vocalist Martha Walsh (of Weather girls fame) was replaced with a more attractive woman on the cover art and in the videos. This led to her leaving the group which in turn led to them disbanding once the album cycle was done.
Well, I guess we Aussies aren't opposed to allowing cheesy RNB to become a hit here after all given how this highly ridiculed ballad from Boris Gardiner managed to become a huge success here. It's hard to talk about this song without coming off as mean, as such I won't say anything else here.
It feels odd this was a hit considering it was released not long after the launch of MTV, although considering that one half of this duo had just won an academy award when it became a success throughout Europe, its success isn't as surprising as you might think. Jon Anderson is of course best known as the lead singer of Yes, although he briefly left the group to form this project with the Greek composer.
Not only did this song achieve all of its success upon its initial release here in Australia, but it also came out much sooner here which is odd considering this feel like a shoe in for instant success over in NZ like I'm sure it seemed like at the time when the kiwis nearly made it a chart topper over there. I guess this was a sleeper hit here due to us Aussies vaguely remembering his first hit "Patches" from eighteen years prior.
We have another example of a song appearing on here due to it rebounding on our charts once a much more popular song became as such here in Australia, this time it was when "Electric Avenue" nearly topped our charts like it did in America that compelled us Aussies to check out what the fuss was about with this big chart-topping hit Eddy Grant had in NZ and his native UK.
It looks like R Kelly had some success in the 90's here in Australia after all as his breakthrough single with Public Announcement managed to be a massive sleeper hit here upon its initial release despite it not being a huge success anywhere else in the world. It's a bit odd to hear the RNB legend (at least he's a legend as far as his music is concerned) on a new jack swing track given what he would be known for.
33 Weeks
This was a massive success for Laura Branigan this year, likely due to how unique and powerful her vocals were but also for the lyrics which seem to depict a vein woman by the name of Gloria and the narrator calling out how her vanity has alienated her from anyone wanting to do anything with her.
So, it's come to this, what's often considered to be one of the worst songs of the decade which was indeed also one of the biggest worldwide. I unfortunately agree with the consensus which is that this is an annoying song with lyrics some of the corniest lyrics known to man, however it does have its merit as it did spear head the line dancing craze that would persist throughout the decade in America.
Well, I think I found the reason as to why Julio Iglesias was able to score massive success the following year with his first English album, we have Renee and Renato who were a UK based duo singing a song that you'd expect in an old Dezi Arnaz film that became a surprise hit in Australia and throughout Europe.
For eight years, this was the only hit that Underworld managed to achieve anywhere in the world, they eventually escaped the one hit wonder bin with "Born Slippy" from the Trainspotting soundtrack. In the meantime, their only hit was this infectious EDM track which was much bigger here than it was in their native UK despite EDM not being our favourite genre until well into the 90's.
This was the debut single from 1927, a band that serves as a spiritual successor to Moving pictures as it has Garry Frost as its founding member who was a key member of the former band. They were off to a good start with this track given how it became a huge success for them, and indeed their second single and debut album from later in the year made them one of the hottest new names in Australian music.
Celtic music might not have reached its peak until the Riverdance craze of the 90's, however it did see a massive spike in popularity around this time which no doubt led to Foster and Allen scoring a hit with this ballad dedicated to a Maggie in their lives. The success it had in Australia led to it being one of the biggest hits of the decade in NZ.
Well, this was something else from Janet Jackson, we have a rock track from her album Rhythm nation which I'm guessing she included on the album to appeal to the rock snobs of the world much like how her older brother included "Beat it" on Thriller seven years prior. It paid off for her as this became a huge hit in Australia and other parts of the world which would appreciate her attempts at rock and roll.
This needed two attempts to become a hit here in Australia as it was released towards the start of the year to deafening silence for the French pop star FR David. I'm not sure what allowed us Aussies to change our mind about this track other than it being a catchy number and its success throughout Europe.
There was a popular British drama series known as Minder that ran throughout most of the 80's, it came with a theme sung by its star Dennis Waterman that needed several attempts to find success worldwide on the singles chart. This was the fourth attempt to have this be a hit here in Australia, becoming as such two years after it succeeded in NZ and his native UK.
Ever wanted to hear a disco rendition of a signature track from Frankie Valli? You're in luck as this track from the 80's disco band Boys Town Gang (yes there were 80's disco groups) managed to find success here in Australia albeit as a sleeper hit due to how much of a surprise hit this was in the UK for the American band. Naturally this was a huge flop on Billboard due to the disco backlash in their homeland.
I've yet to see St Elmo's fire the movie, although I've heard nothing but terrible things about it even from diehard 80's afficionados so I'm in no hurry to watch it anytime soon. This was the theme song to the movie which was a bit of a surprise hit here in Australia likely due to how well received the film was here back in the day, it was basically the quintessential brat pack flick after all.
Well MC Hammer didn't have one of the biggest hits of the decade here in Australia out of nowhere, here we are with the song his signature track heavily samples which was indeed a massive sleeper hit here nine years prior to when that song saw the light of day. Interestingly enough, this was released on time here in Australia as opposed to almost a year late over in NZ where it was a much bigger success.
32 Weeks
There was a lot of controversy surrounding this theme song to the comedy classic Ghostbusters, namely that Ray Parker jr stole the melody from Huey Lewis and the News "I want a new drug" which resulted in a lengthy lawsuit between both parties. As for the film itself, it's remained a comedy classic for a reason as the premise is inventing, the jokes are hilarious and the visual still hold up to this day.
I always thought this was a 90's track, although admittedly there was an inferior cover made a decade after this song came out that I do vaguely remember so maybe that's why I thought this was released later than it was despite the obvious usage of synths on the track. Something I'm sure most people don't realise about this track is that it's a breakup song, I'm guessing because of how repetitive it is without spelling out the moral of the track.
This is a song that sparked massive controversy upon its initial release, mainly because it contains homophobic slurs in its second verse which even at the time, was a big no no in the music industry. Fortunately, the radio tends to edit out this verse so there's a good chance that most people aren't even aware of what I'm talking about, even if you are I think we can all agree that it's far from the most harmful thing to happen towards the LGBT community.
This was a huge UK chart topper for the American RNB singer Phyllis Nelson, this was enough of an incentive for it to be a sleeper hit here in Australia which was impressive for a musician of colour during the midpoint of the 80's. Sadly, this was her only hit as she failed to find any further success anywhere in the world.
I have no idea what took us Aussies so long to make this a success back in the day given how effortless it was for the other two hits from Wow to become a hit here, heck this only barely missed the cut on appearing on the NZ side of my site given how it briefly cracked their top ten upon its initial release. I guess audiences felt it was a retreat of "Venus" right down to the music video being very similar to that classic.
31 Weeks
This version may seem very different compared to the one that wound up being a huge international success for Kylie Minogue, this is because it was originally made without the assistance of Stock Aiken and Waterman and was more of a vanity project for Kylie following the popularity she had on Neighbours. It's surprise success assured audiences of her singing talents which led to her success in the music industry.
This was the biggest hit of Bananarama's career in most parts of the world, likely due to the nostalgia people had for the original by Shocking blue back from 1969. This is also the first song of theirs to have Stock Aiken and Waterman produce their track, something that would happen for their next album where all of the tracks received this treatment.
Ah yes, we have yet another Oscar winning ballad to become a massive success in Australia, this time it's the love theme from Dirty dancing (yet another movie you either love or hate which I love for the record) which captivated audiences upon its initial release thanks to the chemistry between Righteous brother Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes simulating the characters from the film it was written for.
This was the first solo hit that MJ had as an adult anywhere in the world (his first solo hit overall was with "Rocking robin" from earlier in the decade) it's also the first hit of his to feature Quincy Jones as his executive producer which resulted in some of his finest work both solo and with his family. Despite it clearly being a disco track, it still remains one of his more fondly remembered songs to this day.
I think my American readers will be surprised to see this song appear on this list and not one of my 90's lists, this is because this signature track from the Proclaimers was eventually chosen as the theme song to the Johnny Depp flick Benny and Joon in 1993 despite it being five years old by the time that movie was released. I guess this does serve as the perfect song to use on a road trip montage.
This was the signature track from Wendy Matthews given hot it easily remains her biggest hit in her career, admittedly it does showcase her vocal talents quite nicely even though I'm a much bigger fan of her more upbeat tracks such as "Let's kiss" and "Token angels." This song did lead her to having a widely successful album which goes to show how much love it had from Australian audiences.
It's strange to think that the biggest hit these guys had outside their native America would be the rare non disco track in their catalogue, I guess mainstream audiences always preferred sentimentality over dance floor bangers and admittedly these guys certainly had earned the right to make a breakup ballad at this point in their career.
I'm willing to be that Chris De Burgh watched the Gene Wilder flick Woman in red and used that as a basis for writing this love ballad supposedly about his wife, it's as good an explanation as to how he managed to achieve so much success worldwide with a song that seems to be the complete opposite of his other hit from earlier in the decade "Don't pay the ferryman." His popularity would carry on in his native UK for the rest of the decade.
One of the earliest forms of electronic dance music (or EDM for short) was known as acid house, this is basically music you dance to while taking substance known as acid (look up what that means in your own time.) By far the biggest hit from this sub-genre is this breakthrough single from Yazz who managed to achieve massive success around the world with this trumpet heavy dance track.
So Carly Simon was still able to find success going into the 80's, admittedly there was every indication that she would be one of the most popular artists of the decade had MTV not launched this year and ruined her chances at replicating the success she had throughout the 70's. I also have to admit that outside of her magnum opus "You're so vain," I've never been that much of a fan of her music.
This was the debut single for one of the most prominent female hip hop stars of all time, although it's interesting to note that this never became a hit for them in their native America and only saw crossover success when it became a surprise hit for them over in the UK. The girls would go on to have massive success throughout the 90's even though they wouldn't score a massive hit on Billboard until 1993.
This guy scored a massive success eight years prior with "Baby don't get hooked on me," it was by far one of the cheesiest songs of the 70's that seemed destined to trap him in the one hit wonder bin. He was able to escape from that bin with this track due to a performance that had Kenny Rogers on stage with him.
This was the second single to be released from Heavy nova, a song that initially struggled to find success here due to it being one of his more subdue ballads but eventually became a success due to it being one of his bigger hits in his native UK. Apparently, the Brits didn't care for "Simply irresistible" but latched on to this track from the album, proving what they liked about his music and what they didn't.
While this wasn't Yothu Yindi's debut single in Australia, it was the song which made them a household name due to how incessantly catchy it is despite the lyrics being about how the band wants the Australian government to sign a treaty with the aboriginal community (something that's still yet to happen as of this writing.) International readers will recognise this as the song that plays when Brendan Frasier flips over to MTV in Encino man, which gives you an idea of how American audiences received this.
Although he remains a one hit wonder internationally with "Undercover angel," Alan O'day was able to score a second hit here in Australia with this track about how much he likes skinny girls. I guess everyone is entitled to their preferences and to be fair, this is meant to be tongue in cheek about how thin girls were becoming from around this time.
Here's a song that became a hit purely through the controversy caused by the music video, after all it's not every day where you see a nineteen-year-old woman dancing around in a bikini that's clearly too small for her to the point where she has to adjust the bikini multiple times throughout the video's runtime. This resulted in the video being banned in the UK due to partial nudity, which of course made the song a huge success worldwide.
This is one of those melodramatic songs that's received a ton of backlash over the years due to its podophilic storytelling, I guess this is why it was only a sleeper hit here in Australia as there's been very few tracks to make it big with such a problematic premise to them. Still its success in Benny's native America was undeniable which was enough for us to check it out likely as a guilty pleasure.
This wasn't Robert Palmer's first hit single here in Australia (that of course was "Bad case of loving you") however this was a huge sleeper hit for him years before he joined forces with members of Duran Duran to become the Power station which gives you an idea of how his sound shifted throughout his career. This was the second single he released in the 80's after "Johnny and Mary" which remains a favourite on oldies stations.
Gary Moore is best known as the guitarist from Thin Lizzy who curiously never had much success here in Australia back in the day, heck he had more success with his solo outing than his band ever did which began with this cover of the Easybeats classic two decades after its success in the UK. I wouldn't say this replaced the original given how it only became a success due to its refusal to die on our charts.
30 Weeks
Were it not for the popularity of the biopic about Ritchie Valen's life, I doubt Los lobos would've achieved any form of success during their impressive career. Fortunately, the biopic was a critical and commercial success which led to their cover of Valen's signature tune becoming a massive worldwide success for them.
This remains the biggest hit in Cliff Richard's career in Australia, although I guess if we were going with sales then technically his remake of his debut single from later in the decade would claim that prize. In any case we have the crooner score a massive hit with this upbeat track right around the time MTV first launched proving he was still hip with the kids when the music scene drastically changed.
It looked like the third album from the Bangles would be a huge commercial disappointment worldwide, however much like their previous album, a huge chart topper from the album saved it from flopping in the form of this heartfelt ballad which some have described to be creepy due to Suzanna Hoffs performance. I personally disagree as she's too earnest and lovestruck for it to be intentionally creepy, although it didn't prevent the girls from breaking up this year.
So, this turned out to be Julian Lennon's biggest hit outside of America, granted "Too late for goodbyes" wasn't that big of a deal in Australia as even "Now you're in heaven" managed to be a bigger hit for him here. That said, this was also decently successful for him in his native UK, in fact it was able to match the success of his debut single over there seven years after that came out.
Although their debut single was a huge success for them, it was this second single from 1927 which made them a household name and allowed their album ....Ish to become a huge success just as the decade was beginning to wind down. They were pipped for great things going into the 90's, however their second album was a huge commercial failure for them much like it was for Icehouse.
The last time we saw Linda Ronstadt in the mainstream was over a decade prior when she scores a massive hit with her album Living in the U.S.A, although it's worth noting that Linda is known for experimenting with her sound and as such often reinvents it to varying degrees of success. Here she decides to release a song about how growing old kind of sucks but at least she's with the person of her dreams, that apparently being Aaron Neville who is the person she's duetting with here.
It looked like that Daryl's previous album's success was a fluke and that he would again fade into obscurity, however he then released this cover of the Ricki Lee Jones track (best known for its usage throughout Jerry Maguire later in the decade) which became a huge success for him likely due to backing vocals from Margaret Urlich who was fresh off the success of her solo album Safety in numbers.
Much like Joan Jett from earlier in the decade, these guys had a hard time trying to market their music to a mainstream audience as they were too rock for pop, too sexy for rock and too successful to be alternative. Eventually they threaded the needle in their native UK which allowed them to score a hit with this lead single from their debut album that saw even more success here in Australia likely due to audiences being infatuated with lead singer Wendy James.
You'd think that this would be one of the biggest hits of the decade here in Australia, admittedly it was huge and the reason why it wasn't bigger was due to it being the second single to come out of Slippery when wet after "You give love a bad name" which somehow flopped here. This song's success was more likely due to it being a huge hit in the UK where it was the lead single from the album rather than their other track.
This doesn't feel like an 80's song to me, I'm guessing because there were so few songs whose main instrument was the violin this decade that it feels like something that came from the 90's or even early 00's. In any case, it took Sam Brown a few tries for this to become a success for her likely due to how different it sounded to everything else on the charts, she eventually got there in the early months of the year.
Although this did take a while to become a hit here in Australia, at least it eventually became as such on its initial release unlike the rest of the world where the girls needed to find success with their next album Break out in order for this to be a success. This is one of the most upbeat songs in their catalogue as well as the most sexually suggestive which is likely why it won us Aussies over initially.
This is one of those cheesy duets which has endeared over the years due to how sincere both performers are on the track, although it's worth noting that neither Gloria Loring nor Carl Anderson saw much success in their respective careers outside of this duet even in their native America.
This was originally written by Michael Bolton for Laura Branigan, that would explain his earlier entry on this list as Cher made this ballad her own following the success of her performance in Moonstruck which got her an academy award for best actress. Although this was a massive worldwide success for her, it would be her next album where she would truly be welcomed back in the music scene.
This was the second version of the Little Eva track to become a hit in Australia, although considering that the original was a flop here back in the 60's, I feel that these covers being a success was our way of atoning for sleeping on the original. Here we have a disco cover of the song which proved to be a huge hit for Ritz this year, although it was an even bigger hit over in NZ where it was the biggest hit of the year according to RIANZ.
This was the final hit single that Ol'55 managed to achieve in Australia, it makes sense as they were one of the biggest rockabilly throwback bands of the 70's down under scoring a string of hits with their rockabilly tracks throughout the decade. They would breakup not long after this became their final hit.
This was the final hit that Cliff Richard managed to score in Australia for the rest of the twentieth century, although he did return in 1999 with "The millennium prayer" which was the last time anyone had heard from him in the mainstream. Even though this was a big hit for him in his native UK the previous year, it took a while for this to become a success here likely due to us Aussies not wanting to make him relevant but changing our minds several months later.
This was a big hit in Swing out sister's native UK the previous year, however it didn't end up crossing over to Australia or NZ until the band became the final act to perform a song on Countdown during the final episode of the show. It was a big enough success in the southern hemisphere for it to crossover to America, making this a rather circuitous route for the band to make it big worldwide.
There'll be plenty of disco tracks on this amended list of mine that were only sleeper hits here in Australia back in the day, although this was far more of an immediate success in NZ given how it was easily one of the biggest hits of the decade over there for the German band Ottawan. Interestingly none of their other songs managed to crossover in the southern hemisphere for whatever reason.
For some reason, this took two attempts to become a success here in Australia which is why it failed to appear on this side of my site up until now despite it being a huge chart topper everywhere else in the world. I guess in a way this was Falco's biggest hit here in Australia like it was internationally given how "Der Kommissar" was more of an immediate success and thus didn't chart as long here.
It turns out Kim Carnes isn't a one hit wonder after all as she managed to gain a second hit outside of her native America with this hidden gem that got pushed aside back in the day in favour of all the Live aid promotion. I guess this charted around the time she provided backup vocals for "I'd die to be with you tonight" on Jimmy Barnes big hit which would explain its success here in Australia.
29 Weeks
Although she had already seen massive success with her song "I found someone," this was the comeback that Cher needed to reinvigorate her career following a long absence in the music industry. Admittedly this absence was due to her involvement in Hollywood where she starred in a string of some of the more memorable flicks of the decade such as Silkwood, Mask and the Witches of Eastwick.
Most people will be familiar with the Celine Dion version of this track from eight years later, however this was originally a hit for American born German pop star Jennifer Rush who took the world by storm with her strong vocals (though not as strong as Celine's) as well as the lyrics of devotion that struck a chord with audiences.
This was the second single from Prince's Diamonds and pearls album, although given how it was the runaway success from the album, you'd be forgiven into thinking it was the lead single. I don't think he's ever sounded hornier on any other track than he does on here, which is perhaps why this remains his most successful single even if it's not one of his more iconic.
I have no idea why this signature track from the Rocky horror picture show became a hit five years after the success of the theatrical adaptation, I'm guessing it was due to the scene in Fame where the characters referenced the scene that this song takes place in the film which reminded us Aussies about how awesome the song was. It became one of the biggest hits of the decade as a result, and to be fair it's not the only time and older album found success much later here than it did internationally.
One of the more poignant films of the decade was An officer and a gentleman, mainly because it depicts the blooming romance of a renegade navy soldier and a working-class woman who both bring out the best in each other. To highlight this steaming romance, Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes were commissioned to record this duet which played over the ending scene of the film and led to it winning an academy award.
One of the more promising Australian artists from the EDM scene was this trio, although they were mired with behind-the-scenes drama as the vocalist on this track Keren Minshull didn't appear in the video which had future vocalist Holly Garnett lip synching to her vocals. The trio patched things up on their next single which featured both women singing on the track as well as appearing in the video.
It's a shame that Alannah Myles remains a one album wonder outside of her native Canada considering how rich and dynamic her vocals are throughout her debut, indeed we Aussies were quick to recognise how special she was given that this was released shortly before it saw the light of day in America. This songs success encouraged us to give her debut single "Love is" a second chance which allowed both songs to chart in the top twenty for a while simultaneously.
This was the first of many hits from the house sub-genre of EDM music, as I mentioned earlier, this is where the emphasis of the track is placed on the groove rather than the vocals or lyrics and that's a description that perfectly describes Technotronic despite them having a pretty good vocalist to sing over these beats. This was a surprise hit over in America which no doubt led to EDM exploding in popularity worldwide.
For some reason, the lead single to Bananarama's fourth album Wow flopped here in Australia, or more accurately it was a minor sleeper hit as it failed to reach the upper echelons of the charts. Fortunately, this second single (which incidentally was the album's lead single in their native UK) was a massive hit here likely due to how much cheesy fun it is, although it also stands as the final song they released before Sioban Fahey left the group.
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