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

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.

#89 for 1990

#85 for 1991

#89 for 1996

#90 for 1990

#86 for 1991

#87 for 1991

#79 for 1992

#88 for 1991

#89 for 1991

#88 for 1998

#85 for 1993

#92 for 1994

#91 for 1990

#80 for 1992

#81 for 1992

#92 for 1990

#82 for 1992

#83 for 1992

#86 for 1993

#93 for 1994

#90 for 1991

#84 for 1992

#85 for 1992

#86 for 1992

#91 for 1991

#89 for 1998

#90 for 1996

#87 for 1992

#88 for 1992

#93 for 1990

#94 for 1994

#95 for 1994

#92 for 1991

#88 for 1995

#89 for 1992

#91 for 1996

#90 for 1992

#89 for 1995

I bet you weren't expecting a 90's rendition of a Simon and Garfunkel track to appear on this list, here we are with the Lemonheads (boy howdy that band name) which became a surprise hit here in Australia due to heavy promotion from Triple J who seemed to be amused with this cover upon its initial release.

15 weeks

#91 for 1997

#90 for 1998

#93 for 1991

#92 for 1996

#93 for 1996

#91 for 1992

#94 for 1996

#90 for 1995

#87 for 1993

#96 for 1994

#92 for 1997

#97 for 1994

#94 for 1991

#92 for 1992

#95 for 1996

#95 for 1991

#93 for 1992

#94 for 1990

#93 for 1997

#88 for 1993

#98 for 1994

#96 for 1996

#99 for 1994

#94 for 1992

#94 for 1997

#95 for 1990

#89 for 1993

This was somewhat a return to form for Metallica, at least sound wise it was as this is their take on an old Bob Seger track long before the singer/songwriter became a household name with the likes of "Hollywood" or "We've got tonight." It was a sign of good things to come for the band, although aside from a live album with a symphonic orchestra, what came next is something their fanbase doesn't like to acknowledge.

#97 for 1996

If you're wondering why this song that sounds like something the Spice girls would've released was a sleeper hit here in Australia about a year prior to that group's breakthrough, that's because it was the theme song to the Power ranger’s movie which I vaguely remember being a cultural phenomenon throughout the 90's (I was an infant after all.) It was the only success that British duo Shampoo managed to have.

#90 for 1993

#92 for 1999

#93 for 1999

We have a new entry from Westlife on this list, it was their second single which of course was way bigger in their native UK than it was internationally due to how much more of a presence they had in the boy band wars over there. This was a minor hit in NZ; however, it was too minor to for me to consider it on that side of my site.

These guys were truly on a roll when they released the third single from their debut album, although this is another example of a low charting song making the cut due to peaking during our Christmas period given how it didn't last very long on our charts otherwise. This has since become a huge radio staple due to it being a popular choice for bumper music for TV shows.

14 weeks

#92 for 2000

#95 for 1992

#96 for 1992

#91 for 1993

#96 for 1991

#100 for 1994

#91 for 1995

#92 for 1995

#98 for 1996

#96 for 1990

#92 for 1993

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.

#93 for 1995

#93 for 1993

#97 for 1991

This is another song that likely would've made one of my lists proper were it not for the strong album sales eating up its commercial success here in Australia, then again, this was the second single from the sequel to Bat out of hell following Meat loaf's triumphant comeback from way earlier on this list. As it turns out, this proved to be equally as successful in Australia and NZ respectively as the Jim Steinman original was.

#94 for 1993

You'd think there'd be more hype for an album Queen made during the final months of Freddie Mercury's lifetime, alas it appears fans considered this release to be in poor taste as it was only barely a sleeper hit here in Australia as well as a minor hit in their native UK at the time of its release.

#97 for 1990

I guess we Aussies were able to give these guys a second hit after all as this peaked during the Christmas period of 1996/1997 much like it did over in NZ, yes it was only a sleeper hit, however those strong sales during that period ensured it a spot on my list.

13 weeks

#88 for 1989

#98 for 1990

#97 for 1992

#98 for 1992

#95 for 1993

#99 for 1992

#94 for 1995

#100 for 1992

#101 for 1994

#99 for 1996

#95 for 1995

#100 for 1996

#98 for 1991

#96 for 1995

Although it's tempting to call this a cover, it's only a tribute to the Bay city rollers song of the same name at best as the only similarity it has to that classic aside from its name is that the two songs share the same chorus. The rest of this track is little more than titillation for Madonna's fanbase which was enough for it to be a sleeper hit here in Australia a year after the album's release.

#101 for 1992

12 weeks

#91 for 1998

#92 for 1998

#95 for 1997

#102 for 1994

Well, it's about time I feature the Oscar winning ballad that Madonna sung in the theatrical adaptation of Evita on this site, indeed this was the lead single from the soundtrack given how the song was written specifically for the film in order to win that academy award for her and Andrew Lloyd Webber. It's largely been overshadowed these days due to the success of her rendition of "Don't cry for me Argentina."