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.
Technically this was a C+C Music factory track as C+C does stand for Clivilles and Cole, although this was a dance cover of the first hit that U2 had so I guess they wanted to establish themselves as a slightly different act from the one who dominated the mainstream the previous year with Martha Walsh. They would return as C+C Music factory two years later once they settle their legal disputes with her.
Well, this was a good year for mashup singles, wasn't it? Here we have British group Rococo scoring their one and only hit in Australia and nowhere else in the world by mashing up some of the biggest hit singles in the Italo house genre meaning that several entries on this list became a hit again because of this track.
This was the second UK chart topper in a row for the Police, although I get the feeling this was a hit here more due to them performing it on Countdown rather than us wanting to hear about how Sting desires to be an astronaut. Regardless it was a huge success for the band and confirmed them as a household name here, heck their debut album even managed to become a success because of this.
This was the first of three hits that I'm talking was able to achieve in Australia, a band that's best known for introducing Kate Ceberano into the music industry as she served as the lead vocalist for this band of otherwise middle age white men. OK that's not fair as she was one of two female vocalists of colour and there was also a third woman of colour on bass, but Kate was the star of the show thanks to her amazing voice.
You'd think that Duran Duran would've performed a bunch of their hits on Countdown back in the day, as far as I can tell, they only performed this and "Is there something I should know" from the following year. Their performance of this lead single to their second album was the reason why it was a hit here as it was a massive flop everywhere else in the world likely due to the video being rather mundane.
This was the only hit that Sister Sledge had here in Australia, I feel that it's a bad representation of their music given how the family group are best known for their disco classics from the late 70's such as "We are family" and "He's the greatest dancer." I think this was a hit here due to this being an excellent time for Motown in our music scene despite most people feeling that artistically the label was at a low point.
While their earlier entry on this list was far from the biggest hit of the year here in Australia (or anywhere else in the world for that matter) that didn't prevent Bronski beat from scoring a second hit down under with this track which was a bit more melodramatic than their earlier entry as it didn't have a poignant message attached to it. This would be the band's final hit with Jimmy on vocals here before his departure.
Following the success of their earlier entry on this list, the J Geils band managed to score a second hit worldwide with this gem that I'm surprised wasn't more of a hit here in Australia given how much love it still receives on oldies stations to this day. I guess we can chalk this up to all of the strong competition it had on this list alone given how many songs managed to make it big this year down under.
This is the only hit to come from singer/songwriter Marc Cohn, it's a song about the rich legacy of Memphis Tennessee and how music has evolved over the years in the city. It was a modest success here in Australia for him due to how well singer/songwriters were doing at the time (even if they were mainly women in this category) although his success would only be for this one and only song.
This E.P was the only success that Erasure had here in Australia following their debut single from six years prior, this is strange considering A: they were a dance act who would otherwise thrive on our charts and B: were inescapable in their native UK up until this point. I guess they needed to rely on our nostalgia for Abba in order to escape our one hit wonder bin with these four covers on this E.P.
I'm a bit surprised this was a minor hit here in Australia and not in NZ given how this feels like something Prince would record on one of his off days, it’s more surprising given how this was a Billboard chart topper for the funk band Ready for the world (what is with that name by the way?) Even in their homeland, they remain a one hit wonder with this track despite how inescapable it was in America.
This is the only hit from the American rapper Del tha funkee homosapien (man what a weird stage name) this was mainly because of it being a conscious hip hop track with what has to be one of the strangest production gimmicks I've ever heard in any single. The title of the track is chanted throughout its runtime, which I guess was what helped this stand out from the other hip-hop tracks of the day for us Aussies.
You know this year was stacked when this barely made the cut, mainly because it was the song Nik Kershaw performed on Countdown in order to promote his second album here in Australia which only barely worked for him. Still, this did better here than it did in his homeland where it only barely scraped onto the UK top ten which wasn't as prestigious an achievement as it was on our charts.
This was the only hit that either artist involved had without the bands they were a part of worldwide, Patti Labelle scoring a hit over a decade prior as a member of her group Labelle with "Lady marmalade" whilst Michael McDonald was a member of the Doobie Brothers who also saw massive success throughout the 70's worldwide. This is also a bad representation of their respective discographies as it's an adult contemporary ballad rather than a soul number for the former and soft rock for the latter.
Even though their albums from the midpoint of the decade did decently well here in Australia (as well as over in NZ) this is a period of time where fans of Icehouse would like to skip over given how neither album has held up as well as the likes of Primitive man or Man of colours from their fanbase. That said, they did score a hit with this entry from Measure to measure this year back in the day.
Even with expanding this list of mine the way I have, this is the only other entry from Def Leppard to achieve any notable success here in Australia as it was a surprise hit when Hysteria randomly saw a spike in popularity in 1989. This brings the number of hits they had down under up to four which goes to show how unpopular the hair metal band was here compared to the rest of the world.
It looks like these guys were able to score two entries on this list given how their second single from their debut album was a bit deal here in Australia, admittedly this really had a lot of stiff competition this year hence why it has such a low placement on this list. I'm sure if the competition weren't so stiff, this bombastic track that shares its name with a Blondie hit would be much higher on this list.
We have a third entry from Phil Collins on this list as he was able to score a third top ten hit here in Australia from his magnum opus No jacket required, this is a bit more in line with his experimental tracks from his time with Genesis which means it’s much better received by music snobs than his other two entries on this list. His next hit would be with Genesis as they would reunite for their biggest album yet.
This is the most recent entry from ELO I'll be featuring on this site, admittedly most people likely don't realise they released anything in the MTV era given how many of their retrospectives online stop with their album Time from two years prior. That said, we Aussies had just enough love for their work to give them one final hit this far into the MTV era.
This is the only hit that Haircut one hundred (what's with that name?) had here in Australia, it's one of many singles that got lost in the shuffle this year as this was a hectic year for music on our charts. Even so, it managed to crack our top ten thanks to how bouncy it is as well as this being a particularly good year for UK bands and artists.
15 Weeks
This is the song where many people had turned on Bryan Adams for a few reasons, first off it was number one in the UK for sixteen weeks, making it one of the best charting songs of all time over there. Secondly it was tied to the Kevin Costner version of the famous Robin Hood fable which to this day divides audiences due to his admittedly terrible performance as the titular character.
This was originally released the previous year to massive success for Nena throughout Europe, largely due to the lyrics being about how the end of the world came when a sentry mistook a bunch of red balloons for an attack against them. The song was liberally translated into English which didn't match the ton of the original story or the melody of the song, this resulted in the original version becoming the big hit internationally except for America where the English version was the big hit.
This was the lead single to Culture club's third album Waking up with the house on fire, an album which seemed to alienate their fanbase as it moved away from their more fun tracks and towards more politically charged messages. Indeed, the lead single was a blatant cry to end the cold war, calling it stupid and pointless which while I agree with their sentiment, wasn't the way to go about ending it.
This was the centrepiece of Phil Collin's Grammy award winning album No jacket required, a ballad about how he wants to spend one more night with this person before they go their separate ways. It remains one of his more popular songs in his catalogue due to it being one of his biggest hits of the decade, although it's often cited as one of the reasons why he was so hated throughout the decade.
Given that they were able to sort out the drama I mentioned with their earlier entry on this list, Euphoria released this second single from their debut album which saw no issues with becoming a huge hit for the trio and even sparked international interest in them due to how incessantly catchy their tracks were. There's still one more entry for them to come on this list before they faded into obscurity.
This was the second single to come from Footloose, although it almost never existed as the scene where this song plays had a different song given how the actor legitimately didn't know how to dance before shooting the scene. It became Deniece William's second Billboard chart topper after her duet with Johnny Mathis from 1978, although it was her final hit in most parts of the world despite how big it was.
This is likely the first hip hop song that many people heard of back in the day, after all it was technically the first song to top the Billboard charts that has rapping in it even though I've heard versions of this song which takes out Debbie's rap verse. If nothing else, at least America can take comfort in the fact that a woman became the first person to have a number one hit there with this genre.
This was released as a bonus track on the American issue of Duran Duran's debut album, as such it became a massive worldwide success as fans discovered that the band had more to offer them than what was already available at the time. Interestingly they didn't film a flashy music video for this song, presumably to help audiences understand they didn't always have the budget to do so.
Dee C Lee was the backing vocalist for the Style council, so it seems fitting that she would launch a solo career given how she's likely the reason why Paul Weller found more success with them than he did with the Jam earlier in the decade in Australia. Indeed, this was a huge hit for the singer of colour despite it being a haunting ballad that's a far cry from the post punk she made with her band.
While this was a hit for Blancmange in their native UK, there wasn't any indication that it would crossover to Australia given how it was far from the most popular song to come out when it did. I'm guessing we Aussies gravitated towards this track due to the middle eastern style of the melody as well as the admittedly funny lyrics about how this person is driving the singer insane in their relationship.
This was the final hit that Rolling stones had throughout the world, it came from their critically panned album Dirty work which was nonetheless a success likely due to the animation in the video. As it turns out, it was done by John Kricfalusi who's best known for his 90's nicktoons hit Ren and Stimpy (and its more infamous adult version from the 00's) I guess every legend in animation has to begin somewhere.
This was that other big hit that Dr Hook managed to score this year, although given how it's the story of an Irish settler in Australia that was apparently written in the first half of the century, I get the feeling this was the band's thanks for us having them be one of the biggest bands of the 70's as it was unsurprisingly released exclusively here and nowhere else in the world.
Noiseworks were another band that were able to successfully transition from the 80's to the 90's in Australia, however they did so by releasing their goofiest song likely in response to Warrant's earlier entry on this list. Despite the success they had with their third album, it was also their final album as the band would break up the following year so that Jon Stevens could pursue a career in theatre.
Technically this was the second solo single that George Michael released in his career, although by all accounts it was his first solo single as "Careless whisper" was by all accounts a Wham track that just happened to be credited to him alone when it was released as a single. Much like that track, this is also a ballad about his complicated feelings about a past relationship which seemed to be a theme in his catalogue.
This was the fourth single from Kylie's debut album, it's a song about how Kylie is in love with someone but admittedly doesn't understand why because of the way they treat her. The song is cute in that she ponders why she loves this person in French, hence the title of the song which translates to "I still love you (but I don't know why)" and why it was likely a huge hit for her worldwide.
I guess Sting was still able to find success with his second solo album which goes to show how popular he was throughout the decade despite how people feel about his songwriting abilities. Here he scored a huge hit about how him and his partner will make it through the trials of their relationship no matter what people say, it connected with audiences giving him one final hit down under.
Well, this is the trio's commentary of how songwriting had become stagnant in the music industry, let's just say Sting wasn't in a position to be making these claims considering even at the time people were calling into question his songwriting skills. The point of the song is to showcase how songs had begun to heavily rely on catchy choruses, this having a copout chorus to force audiences to pay attention to the verses.
I feel like this is the female empowerment anthem to end all female empowerment anthems, after all we have not one but two of the most powerful women in music joining forces to uplift the spirits of women around the world saying they can do whatever they want without feeling like they need to conform to the patriarchy. This song endures the test of time due to uplifting the women of the world without feeling the need to put men down.
This was the third single from Dangerous for MJ, this time the topic of the song is MJ addressing rumours that he was gay that he denounces here in a cheeky way by suggesting that him and his girlfriend should keep their relationship in the closet. The video features British model Naomi Campbell lip synching the female vocals which were recorded by Princess Stephanie of Monaco, making this another star studded single for him.
This and her next entry are songs Madonna like to pretend never happened, mainly because of the negative memories she has of the film in question which garnered her second Razzie win for worst actress. Despite the film being a critical and commercial failure (likely due to the obnoxious tone of the film from what I've seen in reviews) the soundtrack was a huge success likely due to both of these songs being among her better work.
This was the other big hit that Madness achieved here in Australia, likely due to it coming out around the time they performed this and their earlier single on Countdown making them one of the more popular bands here this year. Their next song was "Our house," a song that underperformed here despite it easily being one of their most recognisable tracks likely due to its popularity on Billboard.
Kylie Mole was a character on the TV series the Comedy club that was created by comedian Mary Anne Fahey who was obviously meant to be a knockoff of Kylie Minogue given how quickly the Australian pop star rose to prominence in the music industry. Now unlike other comedians who made fun of Kylie in a cruel and derogatory way, Kylie did so in a loving way to the point where both women were friends in real life.
This was a surprise hit for Sheena Easton given how the last time she troubled the charts in Australia was six years prior with her hit single "Strut," indeed this is another entry into her catalogue of seductive tracks where she titillates her audience with her sexual appeal. Here she tries her hand at rapping which is perhaps how this managed to become a success over the sea of Paula Abdul rip-offs here.
It seemed odd that these guys would be able to score a hit this year considering how grunge had taken over the mainstream with the likes of Nirvana and Pearl jam, however Def Leppard had one thing over those guys which was a music video that has (even at the time) some of the worst CGI you'll ever witness on screen. This helped the glam rock track become a hit long after the genre had lost its popularity.
This was the only hit to come from The Joshua tree in Australia, although as you've likely noticed, we Aussies don't tend to give out that many hits from highly successful albums due to our charts being strictly measured by capitalism. In any case, we have U2's first Billboard chart topper with this ballad about how Bono is unable to live his life whether he's in a relationship with this person or not.
It looked like Alice Cooper was back for good given how he managed to score a second single from his album Trash this year, unfortunately this was the final hit that he managed to score anywhere in the world given how glam rock and hair metal were quickly exiting the conversation in favour of newer trends that would take over the 90's. He continues to tour to this day as a legacy artist.
He already had three hits with three different acts prior to his solo debut, so why not become a one hit wonder for a fourth time here with said debut single? We may not have ever had any interest in giving the likes of Ultravox, Visage of Band aid a second hit here in Australia, but at least we were interested in what Midge Ure would do next as evidence by how often he would appear on the charts with a new act.
This was Bob Seger's other bit hit this year, it comes from Beverly Hills cop II and helped the film earn both an academy award nomination and a Razzie with George Michael's earlier entry on this list from the film. This was the critically acclaimed song of the two and the one which finally allowed Bob to have a Billboard chart topper after over a decade of scoring hits in his native America.
This is a song that's so awesome that people will claim that it became a hit twice this year, the second being Stevie Nicks track "Stand back" which was reportedly inspired by this second single from Prince's album 1999. I feel this is the song where his lyrics start to become their most poetic which is one of the strongest points of his appeal over the years and a reason as to why so many people have covered his music.
The last time Aretha Franklin troubled the charts in Australia was with her 1968 hit "I say a little prayer," that's nearly two decades where she went unheard of here (save for her role in the Blues brothers.) This makes this track about her finding love in a Pink Cadillac a triumphant comeback for her and one that gave her a second run in the mainstream given how she scored a hit with George Michael in 1987.
Bet you didn't know that Patrick Swayze had a singing career back in the day, well he didn't actually as this was one of only three songs he recorded before he realised he was a much better actor than he was a singer. This ballad he wrote and recorded was played during the emotional highlight of the film where he and Baby couldn't be together due to him being fired, it works in the film which is perhaps why it was a hit for him.
This was the only hit that John Farnham had for almost ten years as his last hit was from 1973 and his next one wouldn't come until he joined the Little river band later in the decade. This is a cover of the Beatles classic, although aside from replacing the voices of Paul and John with his own, he admittedly doesn't add much to this track which is perhaps why it's been lost to the sands of time.
Even though this has remained a classic on oldies stations over the years, I can't help but feel this was only a success for the Travelin wilburys due to the recent passing of Roy Orbison given how this was released around the same time his own song had become a success from earlier on this list. This would be the last we Aussies would hear from the supergroup, although they did release a second album the following year.
Bryan Adams was on a roll this year when he released the fourth single from his comeback album Waking up the neighbours, this was after the failure of the third single "There will never be another tonight" which signalled that he wouldn't have much success from the singles due to how big the album would be. This song proved otherwise and even led to him scoring another hit on Billboard with "Do I have to say the words."
This was the big hit from I'm talking due to it being the lead single to their debut album, evidently the songs they released the previous year were from an E.P which is why none of them appear on their album they released this year. I think they were trying to win over an international audience as there's a remix of this track that was done by Stock Aiken and Waterman, this remix was a flop unfortunately.
This was the final hit single that Rod Stewart was able to achieve in Australia throughout the 80's, mainly because it was a chart topper for him in his native UK likely due to him experimenting with new wave with this track. Indeed, he wouldn't trouble the charts again until the early 90's where he returned to his adult contemporary sound that he scored massive success with throughout the 70's.
This is the rare track to not have Fred Schneider's vocals, normally songs with Katie on the lead has him singing backup vocals but here it's all Katie and Cyndi Wilson as they sing about "roaming" from one relationship to another which is what they accuse their partners of doing. It was a massive success for the band and no doubt made Katie an in-demand vocalist for the likes of Iggy Pop and R.E.M.
Well at least this song has far less baggage attached to it thank her earlier entry due to the music video not depicting anything contentious, although it might be due to how safely it was marketed that resulted in it not being as successful as "Physical" for Olivia Newton John anywhere in the world despite this also being a sex jam that remains a bop to listen to even to this day.
Even though their earlier entry on this list was indeed one of the biggest hits of the decade here in Australia, it appears that we Aussies could only extent our love for them for one album and this throwaway track which became a success just as the year was coming to an end. At least they were able to score a minor hit over in America before they forever faded into obscurity.
This will be the only appearance from the punk band the Damned on my site, it was mainly a hit here in Australia due to them being one of the last international artists to perform on Countdown where they admittedly gave a rather compelling performance of this cover of the 60's classic from Barry Ryan on the show. It was also a decent hit in their native UK, which is proof that punk rock was still a thing over there.
Shona Laing was a NZ songwriter who broke through in her homeland as a child start in 1973 with her hit single "1905" before fading into obscurity over there, however she eventually came back this year with this folk track thanks to it being one of the last songs to be performed on Countdown which allowed it to be a success here and, in her homeland, before she once again faded into obscurity.
If you're wondering where this track came from, it was the theme song to a film that starred Cyndi Lauper known as Vibes which was so poorly received that it's now long been lost to the sands of time. Indeed, this has gone down as one of Cyndi's worst songs (not just because of that strange title) as she likes to pretend that this doesn't exist, suggesting that she has bad memories of making the film in question.
Well Queen was one of the biggest bands in the world, so why not have a band named King try their hand at success? This was said band's one and only hit which was a massive hit in their native UK as well as it being a decent hit here in Australia likely due to the novelty of Freddie and company having competition in the realms of royalty in the music world. Sadly, this would be King's one and only hit as they called it quits the following year.
This is one of the last new entries on this list given how everything after this was pulled from shelves for whatever reason back in the day, here we have the lead single from the Eurhythmics’ album Savage which continues to be polarising to this day due to how out of place if feels from their discography. Also, the less said about Annie's image makeover she underwent on the album cycle the better.
This was the first big hit that Simple minds had worldwide, it was barely a success for them here in Australia despite them appearing on Countdown shortly before its release (they performed a different song on their episode.) This would lead to a rocky career trajectory down under which was far less so over in NZ where they were inescapable.
It turns out this was a minor hit here in Australia in the start of the 80's even if it seemed like we Aussies did our best to leave this guy in the 70's when this came out. I guess we changed our minds when he released his next album given that spawned two of his more iconic hits in his catalogue.
This is the first of two hits that the Stranglers had here in Australia, this means that they're one of the few punk bands to make it big on our charts given how we Aussies seemed to be allergic to the genre back in the day. That said, this is one of their more experimental tracks which is perhaps how this crossed over here from their native UK in the first place.
Here's the other big hit that Mr. mister had throughout the world in their career, although it didn't do quite as well here in Australia as it did in their homeland despite the band performing it on Countdown during the height of its popularity. I guess we Aussies preferred the slow ambience of their earlier entry compared to the frenetic anergy of this follow up back in the day.
Finally, we have an entry from Talking heads on my site, admittedly this was a victim of having most of its sales eaten up by the highly lucrative album that spawned it as a single, however the fact it still manages to make the cut on this list (albeit barely) should a testament to how much we Aussies loved this track back in the day. That love continues through its presence of oldies stations of course.
Following the success of their earlier entry on this list, Fleetwood Mac were able to score a second hit from Tusk here in Australia which naturally set them up for great success as the decade unfolded. Indeed, they would have at least one massive hit from their next two albums even as the times rapidly changed against their favour as well as their individual members releasing their solo material.
If this song sounds familiar to you, that's because it's a song from Goanna made under a pseudonym as this is a protest song about the Franklin River and how it was against a damn being built on it. It was a modest success this year and often cited as what stopped the production of said damn being built, proving that protest music can lead to positive change when tackled in a respectful manner.
This is the final hit that the Pointer sisters achieved here in Australia and indeed anywhere in the world, this is another song that really had to squeeze in to make it on this list given how it almost got lost in the shuffle with the competition we've looked at so far on this list. That said, this is another song I would’ve thought would be a bigger hit than it actually was back in the day due to how well loved it remains to this day.
14 Weeks
There haven't been that many Olympic themes to make it big over the years, in fact this is technically the biggest hit to spawn from the games as the only other big hits I can think of to be affiliated with the games are "Absolutely everybody" and "Moscow." Even then those songs weren't officially affiliated with the games and only were due to the Australian press. In any case, we have this duet between opera singers Jose Carreras and Sarah Brightman singing a song that translates to "friends for life."
This was the only hit that country star James Blundell managed to achieve in his career, even then this was largely due to the involvement of James Reyne who was still one of the hottest Australian singers around this time. Admittedly this allowed Blundell's third album to be a huge success following the success of this cover of the Dingoes track, however neither of them found any success after this.
Following the demise of his band, Stuart Goddard AKA Adam Ant launched his solo career which was off to a good start with this track about how he felt like he had been a goody two shoes up until this point in his career. Although this promised him massive success throughout the rest of the decade, it never came for him even in his native UK as he never had another hit after this.
While this song does rely on cheap nostalgia baiting with what it used as the melody, I will admit that Dimples D makes the sample work on this track given how she promoted this song with the parenthesis "A witch for love." This is an obvious reference to how cunning the genie often was in I dream of genie, and indeed the lyrics of this song indicate a cunning side of the female rapper that helped it retain its popularity once it exploded this year here in Australia and over in NZ.
This was the lead single MJ's masterpiece Thriller, I get why it was chosen as the lead single considering it was a collaboration with his then BFF Paul McCartney, however many will agree that any of the other songs on the album would've made for a better lead single and no doubt would've made it an instant success as opposed to it having to work its way to being the biggest album of all time.
This was the lead single to Kylie's third album which was the first in her catalogue that never saw a release in America due to the failure of her second album on Billboard. This is also one of the last hits that Stock Aiken and Waterman had before they broke apart from each other, although by this point, I think people had affiliated this sound strictly with Kylie due to how much she owns these tracks.
The legends are true, Mel Brooks did in fact have a hip hop hit back in the day with a song about the joys of being Adolf Hitler. Obviously, this song is meant to be satire as if there's a bigger hater of the third Reich than Mel Brooks then I've yet to come across that person, however it's a bit shocking to see this man in his forties score a hip hop hit in Australia with this theme song to his remake of the film of the same name.
In Australia, this was the second single from Abba's penultimate album Super trouper, I bring this up here because everywhere else it was the title track which was a massive UK chart topper for the Swedish foursome. This wasn't quite as huge here likely due to it not being among their more memorable tracks, however it was a hit proving that we Aussies still loved the band until the bitter end.
It seems odd that George Harrison would be the only member of the Beatles to record a tribute for John Lennon following his death from the previous year, although I guess both Paul and Ringo still had complicated feelings about him around this time given how they never made up with him during his lifetime following the bands demise. George would disappear from the music industry for a while before coming back in 1987.
Even though it remains one of her more iconic songs in her catalogue, "Wouldn't change a thing" was too much of a "fan single" to qualify for my site which isn't the case for the third single from her second album which stuck around for quite a bit going into the 90's. I should also mention the album cycle's strange fascination with putting her in a cowgirl getup as the album doesn't have a cowboy theme to it.
This was the theme to the Bond film of the same name; it remains the most successful Bond theme of all time due to it being the band's second Billboard chart topper as well as the only Bond theme to top the Billboard charts. It appears that this song had cursed everyone involved with the project as Roger Moore would step down as the titular character after this and Duran Duran would never again have a hit in Australia.
This was the final hit that Queen was able to score during Freddie Mercury's lifetime, I get the feeling this was only a success for them due to this being released at the end of the decade and fans wanting to give the band one final hit for them to close out the decade as a relevant band. Indeed, their last hit was from five years prior when their album the Works spawned two of their bigger hits for them.
This was the lead single from Cargo in America, as such it's the reason why it was the big hit in America as opposed to their earlier entry which was a massive flop for the band on Billboard. The success of the song here in Australia was inevitable as the band were still on top of the world as far as we Aussies were concerned this year, although aside from "Down under" recharting this year, it would be their final hit.
Well, he may have lost the magic he had with Bernie Taupin from earlier in his career (don't worry he'll get it back later in the decade) however that didn't mean that Elton John wasn't able to achieve success as indeed this was a huge hit for him worldwide as was the album it serves as the lead single to. He would go on to have many highs and lows throughout the 80's, making it a very unpredictable decade for him.
This was the second solo hit that Jason Donovan was able to achieve in his career, although his success in Australia was noticeably pitiful compared to how well he was doing in the UK due to how much the Brits were in love with his role in Neighbours. This is another song that's hard for me to talk about without being mean as it's gone down in infamy as one of the worst songs to come out of the 80's.
This has to be one of the most incessantly catchy songs to become a hit throughout the 80's, this is due to the charismatic performance of Limahl as well as the instrumentation that his band Kajagoogoo (man what a stupid band name) provided for him on this track. For whatever reason, this wasn't that big of a hit here in Australia which is why it appears much lower on this list than you would otherwise expect.
This is often forgotten about in Madonna's vast catalogue, mainly because it charted around the same time both of her movie themes were dominating our charts in addition to this being the fourth single to a very successful album which prevented it from becoming more of a success even without the competition. There are also two versions of this track as the album version is very different from the live version that serves as its official music video.
This was obviously meant to come out three years prior but was understandably delayed due to the tragic death of John Lennon shortly after it was recorded, it was a huge hit here in Australia due to his fans wanting to find out what he had in store for his album Milk and honey even if it's long since been forgotten in his catalogue due to the lack of legacy it and the album has had over the years.
It looked like we Aussies wouldn't be interested in the works of Fine young cannibals given how their first two singles underperformed on our charts (admittedly this was more due to how much competition they had at the time) however this third single from their debut album managed to become a hit for them here likely due to it being a cover of an Elvis Presley classic that connected well with us back in the day.
Following the commercial disappointment of "What do I have to do" (which sadly won't be appearing on this list) Kylie decided to have the fourth and final single from Rhythm of love have a guest rap verse that didn't appear on the album on the single which paid off as it was able to become a success for her here and in the UK. Said rap verse has largely been lost to the sands of time due to it not adding much to the track.
One of the funniest films to ever be released is Monty Python's the Life of Brian, a film that admittedly caused controversy back in the day due to it mocking Christianity which got it banned by many Christian groups in several countries (then ban has since been lifted.) The film ends with this novelty track that was so popular here in Australia that it became a genuine hit eleven years prior to doing so in the UK.
This was only barely a success here in Australia for INXS, I'm guessing because this felt different from what the band had released prior to this point which must have caught us Aussies off guard when it first came out. It's since become one of their signature tracks over the years as has all of the tracks from their album Kick, proving how timeless each of these songs have become compared to many of the entries on this list.
This is the last hit that Culture club were able to achieve in their initial run together, it was a more stripped back ballad from the band given how they were no longer the biggest name in music and thus decided to move away from the new wave sound that made them big initially. They would break up shortly after their fourth album was released due to it being a commercial disaster for them.
Boy howdy did this really scrape by to make it onto this list, this was the theme song to the TMNT film that was mostly passed up here in Australia in favour of Hi tek 3's earlier entry on this list. Interestingly, this was a massive chart topper for the American duo in the UK of all places, suggesting the Brits were massive fans of the live action flick.
We have one final entry to look at from I'm talking, this being the second single from their one and only album Bear witness which did decently well, and no doubt helped the album become a moderate success in its own right. This is where the band's winning streak came to an end as lead singer Kate Ceberano would leave them in order to pursue a highly lucrative solo career throughout the 90's.
13 Weeks
Well, we have a second hit to come from the cartoon rabbit who felt the need to mashup a bunch of songs from yesteryear into a hit single, at least this was their final hit single here in Australia unlike in their native UK where they scored a third chart topper there with another one of these mashups.
This was the only song that the 12th man released in his catalogue, here he samples the Nine news cricket theme and recruits someone by the name of MCG Hammer (get it, Melbourne cricket ground Hammer?) to rap over the beat while he does his usual impersonations of cricket commentators throughout the track. It was a surprise hit for him and likely resulted in his comedy albums finding success throughout the 90's.
There were no signs of Kylie's popularity slowing down going into her second album, that is unless you're from America where it was such a failure that she wouldn't be able to release anything over there for over ten years due to being dropped from her American label. I guess the hits from her second album were more of the same from her first, hence why they got fed up with her when the rest of the world didn't.
Well, here's the other half of Duran Duran scoring their big hit this year with the song I mentioned earlier on this list, although it's worth noting that they didn't achieve the same level of success as the Power station did given they had replaced Simon with Robert Palmer on their songs. Still, this was a decently big hit for its time, although this was the last hit any of the members would have here.
This was the only other hit that Joan Jett managed to score in Australia, I'm guessing because it was a cover of the Tommy James classic of the same name which was also a huge hit here back in the late 60's. One thing interesting about this track is that Joan doesn't change the pronouns in the sex jam, leading to a long-standing rumour that this was her way of confessing she was in fact a lesbian.
This was a one-off project for INXS lead singer Michael Hutchence, I'm guessing he wanted to make a name for himself away from his band, so he released this in an attempt to do so following the failure of his solo single "Room for the memory" two years prior. It was a huge success for him both here and NZ, although he would dissolve the project and return to making music with INXS the following year.
Well, you know that Sesame Street was a phenomenon by this point in time when there's a popular hit single that remixed the theme song that the show uses to open up every episode. It became a huge worldwide success for the British EDM group likely due to the nostalgia people have for the show, although it hasn't received any love since its initial release this year.
So, I feel there was a bit of a minor controversy with this song, mainly because Baby animals had a song from around this time known as "One word" which had a similar chorus to this track (lyric wise that is as the two songs have different tempos.) Naturally this was the big hit as U2 were on top of the world by this stage, although Baby animals had the bigger album which I guess was their consolation from us.
While this isn't a Stock Aitken and Waterman track like all of Kylie's previous efforts, two out of the three men did produce this track, meaning that it was in the same ballpark as her earlier catalogue even if the trio were officially no more by this point in time. The song and album it came from has largely been forgotten over the years due to how much of a commercial failure said album was back in the day.
I haven't seen the Goonies (nor do I plan on doing so) so I have no idea how accurately this theme song reflects the film as it appears that fans feel it's a terrible theme due to how wacky Cyndi makes it out to be in the song and especially the video. It's one of two songs in her catalogue that she seems to have regretted making as it hardly ever appears on her greatest hits compilations despite its initial success.
There were no signs of Wham slowing down here in Australia as this third single from their debut album Fantastic managed to be a huge hit for them here, this even somewhat made up for the dip in success that "Wham rap" had for them (don't worry it's still to come on this list) which just proves that their brand of hip hop was somewhat divisive amongst us Aussies back in the day.
I'm really confused about this track, namely because this comes from the album where Prince decided to "emancipate" himself of his identity by presenting himself as an unpronounceable symbol of love (which the UK press hilariously referred to him as "the artist formerly known as Prince.") I guess the gimmick of him being referred to his dead name (for a lack of a better term) was enough to make it a hit here in Australia.
There are a ton of versions of this song floating around the internet, as such it's hard to determine which one of them is the original version given how they all have a different beat and melody to each other. Whatever the case, this is the one and only hit from Culture club frontman Boy George who took the original track from American band Bread and made it his own this year.
12 Weeks
Well, we had "Beat it" from MJ the previous year, now let's look at the Weird al parody that put him on the map by ripping off that classic from the king of pop (which his permission of course.) This was a surprise chart topper for the comedian here in Australia, likely due to how instantly funny we felt this song was, although it was one of the weaker chart toppers here due to how quickly it fell on our charts.
This was the last hit that Wham had together before they officially went their separate ways so that George Michael could pursue a solo career and Andrew Ridgely could become a race car driver (no really, he gave up music for that.) Reportedly this was a song inspired by their Chinese tour which should give you an indication of how out of control their popularity was around this time.
9 Weeks
This was a protest song about ending the war in Croatia which had begun this year due to them wanting to be independent from Russia, they earned their independence in 1995 once the USSR disbanded later in the decade due to them being affiliated with the cold war which had ended this year. It was a bittersweet hit for Tomislav Ivčić as he would pass away two years later before the war had ended.
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