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.
Also to note, I’m using the chart run from the AMR charts for this list as I feel that’s a better representation of how long these songs stuck around for back in the day as opposed to the ARIA charts. As such, many songs that refused to die on the latter charts will be appearing much lower on this list due to them going away much quicker on the former charts (particularly from late 1997 and early 1998.) The exception of course being from 1999 as David Kent ceased publication the final week of 1998 and has only reproduced top twenty charts from that point on, meaning I had to use ARIA charts for songs that charted in 1999. That said, I’ll bring up how long a song from 1998 charted on the AMR charts before it ceased publication as a bit of a fun fact even though I’ll be using its ARIA run to determine its placement on this list.
#66 for 1996
Although it wasn't a top ten hit here in Australia like it was internationally, it appears we Aussies still had enough room in our mainstream to allow this second hit that Enigma had in their career to become as such upon its initial release. I'm guessing you can blame the strong album sales for why this didn't do as well here as it did in NZ and America.
While this didn't have any chance in topping our charts like it did on Billboard and nearly did in NZ, this was regardless a huge success for Boyz II men here in Australia likely due to how influential they had become by the time it was released here. In a way, it's bizarre that this wasn't as big here as some of the other songs that were influences by the quartet that have already appeared on this list.
Although it didn't spawn multiple hits like her second album did, Tina's third album did manage to spawn a huge single in the form of this gem which likely would've been even bigger here had it not been relegated to said album's third single over "If I didn't love you" which was a massive bomb for her here. It remains her final big hit here even though she's had varying degrees of success with her albums since.
#71 for 1995
19 weeks
#72 for 1993
#83 for 1999
#73 for 1993
#76 for 1998
#63 for 1994
#67 for 1996
#64 for 1994
#77 for 1998
#76 for 1997
#84 for 1999
#78 for 1998
#72 for 1995
#60 for 1992
#68 for 1996
#85 for 1999
#73 for 1995
#69 for 1996
#79 for 1998
#76 for 1990
#77 for 1997
#74 for 1995
#70 for 1996
#69 for 1991
#71 for 1996
#70 for 1991
#61 for 1992
#74 for 1993
#65 for 1994
#71 for 1991
#80 for 1998
#72 for 1996
#77 for 1990
#78 for 1997
#78 for 1990
#62 for 1992
#66 for 1994
#67 for 1994
#63 for 1992
#72 for 1991
#73 for 1991
#68 for 1994
#73 for 1996
#74 for 1996
#75 for 1996
#75 for 1993
#76 for 1996
#74 for 1991
This likely would've been able to dominate the upper echelons of our charts were it not released as the fourth single here in Australia from No doubt's breakthrough album, after all, it did last for quite some time on our charts proving how well loved the band was following the success of "Don't speak" from way earlier on this list.
#69 for 1994
Well, it was only inevitable I would feature one of the songs from Hole's sellout album Celebrity skin on this list, although I'm more familiar with the title track even though that definitely had no chance of appearing on this list even with my rules relaxed for said list. I guess we Aussies were a bit conflicted on whether we approved of their pop direction with the album and its singles.
This is the final hit that Icehouse had here in Australia, it's the lead single to their album Code blue which you'd think would be a runaway smash due to them coming off one of the biggest albums of the 80's with Man of colours. Alas, it appears these guys had very little shelf life in the 90's even at the beginning of the decade as they would be yesterday's news once this fell off the charts.
#77 for 1996
This was originally released in 1984 to deafening silence here in Australia, I'm guessing because Severed heads were a bit ahead of their time when it came to spoken word lyrics set to a dance beat. It was resurrected a decade later likely out of nostalgia for the Pet shop boys where it became a decent sized sleeper hit for the band.
This will be the only appearance that Malcolm McLaren will be making on this side of my site, I'm guessing we Aussies finally gave into his quirky brand of music enough to make this a success even if its success here pales in comparison to what he achieved over in NZ. At least this was a hit here as opposed to the UK where it was a complete failure for him.
18 weeks
#76 for 1993
#81 for 1998
#79 for 1990
#78 for 1996
#70 for 1994
#80 for 1990
#75 for 1995
#86 for 1999
#87 for 1999
#64 for 1992
#77 for 1993
#71 for 1994
#79 for 1996
#76 for 1995
#77 for 1995
#82 for 1998
#80 for 1996
#72 for 1994
#88 for 1999
#73 for 1994
#75 for 1991
#78 for 1993
#79 for 1993
#81 for 1990
#79 for 1997
#65 for 1992
#89 for 1999
#82 for 1990
#83 for 1998
#66 for 1992
#81 for 1996
#76 for 1991
#80 for 1997
#78 for 1995
#83 for 1990
I guess ATB was able to score a second hit in his career with this follow up to his earlier entry on this list, although I say that knowing full well that many struggle to differentiate this with "9PM" given how similar the two songs are to each other. I guess that explains why this was more of a sleeper hit here in Australia rather than a genuine mainstream success like that song was.
#74 for 1994
Although this was originally intended to be the third single from Janet's album err.... Janet, it was also chosen as the theme song to her film Poetic justice which was panned by critics for her terrible acting. Despite that, the ballad received an Oscar nomination which explains why it was a Billboard chart topper for her, well that and audiences did appreciate the performance of her co-star Tupac Shakur.
#84 for 1990
#67 for 1992
#75 for 1994
#82 for 1996
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