Hits of Australia and NZ: Hits of the 90's Australia II

I've decided to rank the songs of the 90's based on how long they charted here in Australia, this is to give an idea of which songs became a success despite being pulled from shelves and which ones persisted with no resistance from our music scene. I've also included a few new entries from post 1992 given how I covered the lower half of the charts from the pre-Oz music charts era already on this site and thus wanted to give these entries some representation on my site. I’ll also spare my return readers commentary for songs that appeared on my other Australian list for the 90’s on this site and only include commentary from entries that are either new to this list or marked their debut on my Oz music charts list or the 1980-1992 list.

#12 for 2000

#3 for 1991

#12 for 1993

#7 for 1990

#6 for 1995

Yet another surprise I've made when going through the Australian charts of the 90's, I was five years old when this song came out and I can tell you this was overplayed to hell and back upon its release here. What's more curious is that the album it came from didn't even touch our charts until a year after its release, so you can't even say that this was the victim of strong album sales like most of the other entries on this list.

#27 for 1998

The last time Underworld bothered the charts anywhere in the world was with their debut single "Underneath the radar," fast forward eight years and we have them finally escaping the one hit wonder bin with their theme song to the cult classic Trainspotting. This likely would've been more of a mainstream success here in Australia were it not for how popular the soundtrack was by the time it was released.

It turns out we Aussies were somewhat familiar with the Prodigy prior to their mainstream breakthrough with "Breathe" given how this second single from their sophomore album Music for the jilted generation managed to become a surprise sleeper hit here in Australia upon its initial release. I'm not sure why this was the song which saw them breakthrough here given how it wasn't among their biggest hits in their native UK.

This is another EDM track that was a huge bomb on the ARIA charts but did fairly well on the AMR charts, as such it was a shoe in for this list as it didn't quite rack up the points from the latter charts to qualify for a year end list of mine but was definitely noteworthy to appear on this list alongside the other near hits that appear on here.

This was the song that saved Screaming jets second album, likely because it was more in line with jazz rock rather than their usual grunge sound from the rest of the album. Even so, this struggled to reach the upper echelons of our charts even though the album no longer had any issues with selling like hotcakes when this hit our airwaves.

31 weeks

#5 for 1989

#8 for 1990

#13 for 1993

#28 for 1998

#9 for 1990

#13 for 1996

#14 for 1993

#23 for 1997

#7 for 1995

#24 for 1997

#4 for 1991

#14 for 1996

#16 for 1999

People like to say that Nimrod was a flop for Green day as it only became a best seller when two of its singles were bundled together to promote the series finale of Seinfeld a year after its release, for the most part that's true, however the lead single was a huge sleeper hit for the band here in Australia which was more success that their previous album Insomniac achieved upon its initial release.

#25 for 1997

#29 for 1998

This is the only hit that Eagle eye cherry had in his career, I'm a bit surprised at this given how he's the half-brother of rapper Neneh Cherry who saw substantial success throughout the 90's worldwide. I'm even more surprised this was a sleeper hit here in Australia at the time given how it seemed to be inescapable on the radio when it was first released.

It's a bit surprising to see a British teen pop group score a sleeper hit here in Australia given how ubiquitous the 90's was when it came to this type of music, although it's worth noting that the genre didn't take off here until the success of the Spice girls which happened when this song was initially released. I guess had it come out just a few months later, it would've been as popular as a track from Steps here.

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.

We now have an entry from one of the members of Stars on 54 whose name isn't Amber as Ultra Nate managed to score a hit of her own the year prior with this EDM track here in Australia albeit as a sleeper hit despite me vaguely remembering this being flogged on the radio back in the day. As she was an American artist in the EDM genre, it only seems fitting she saw no success in her homeland and huge international success.

30 weeks

#26 for 1997

#30 for 1998

#15 for 1993

#6 for 1994

#8 for 1995

#15 for 1996

#7 for 1992

#10 for 1990

#5 for 1991

#16 for 1993

#7 for 1994

#27 for 1997

#8 for 1992

#11 for 1990

#12 for 1990

#13 for 1990

#6 for 1991

#17 for 1993

#8 for 1994

#9 for 1992

#17 for 1999

#10 for 1992

#31 for 1998

#18 for 1999

#16 for 1996

#14 for 1990

#19 for 1999

#15 for 1990

#11 for 1992

#18 for 1993

#32 for 1998

#28 for 1997

#7 for 1991

#9 for 1995

I'm a bit surprised that this was a sleeper hit here in Australia considering that it didn't even chart in NZ where this brand of new jack swing was more in vogue even during the late 90's, then again, this was from a British boy band and is a cover of a song from a decade prior that did quite well on Billboard and on the British charts but not in the southern hemisphere.

29 weeks

#12 for 1992

#19 for 1993

#20 for 1999

#18 for 2000

#33 for 1998

#21 for 1999

#9 for 1994

#10 for 1995

#8 for 1991

#13 for 1992

#20 for 1993

#17 for 1996

#29 for 1997

#13 for 1989

#16 for 1990

#17 for 1990

#22 for 1999

#21 for 1993

#10 for 1994

#11 for 1995

#18 for 1996

#11 for 1994

#12 for 1995

#19 for 1996

#23 for 1999

#18 for 1990

#13 for 1995

#24 for 1999

#9 for 1991

#14 for 1995

#22 for 1993

#19 for 1990

#23 for 1993

#25 for 1999

#15 for 1995

#24 for 1993

#12 for 1994

#20 for 1996

#25 for 1993

#30 for 1997

#26 for 1999

From what I can gather, this only took off here in Australia due to it being chosen as the theme song to the 1996 film Flipper rather than there being any hype for Shaggy's second album here. To this day, I'm not sure why this and "Boombastic" from earlier took so long to connect with us Aussies as he didn't have any issues winning us over three years prior with "Oh Carolina."

#20 for 1990

#34 for 1998

This is another song that I'm surprised was merely a sleeper hit here in Australia given how I feel this would've been a perfect candidate for a song that dominated our charts despite only achieving sound success in Alisha's attic's native UK back in the day. They tried to replicate the success of this ballad for a few years before finally calling it quits in the early 00's.

While it's true that "Stay" remains the song that everyone affiliates with Shakespear's sister to this day, it's worth noting that their debut single was also a decent success for them back in the day likely due to the star power that Siobhan Fahey had following her departure from Bananrama. As you can imagine, this was completely different from anything she has released with her former band hence its mixed reception upon its release.

Although this was a huge hit in NZ and only a sleeper hit here in Australia, it's worth pointing out that this second single from their album Permanent shade of blue was released much sooner here there it was over there which likely suggests that the RNB ballad would've likely fallen into obscurity over there were it not a radio hit over here.

28 weeks