I suppose I should include a ranking for songs from the second half of the 00's given how I've done one of these lists for every other time period I've covered on this site, as you'll quickly find out, these entries stuck around for quite some time to the point that many would outrank some of the biggest albums of all time in Australia through this metric. Also don't ask me to do a list like this for the 2010's and beyond, quite frankly I don't want to as many songs frequently re-enter the charts thanks to digital downloads and ESPECIALLY streaming. Heck I've had to impose a cutoff point of the final week of 2010 for each entry on this list for the sake of my sanity.
Also, the commentary from this list is a combination of those found on my biggest digital hits list as well as the main lists for entries that failed to appear on that list.
There's little surprise that this would be more of a hit on our digital charts than as a physical release given how it seems to tick all of the boxes that allows a song to become a hit in that format during the second half of the decade, so much so that it makes you wonder why none of their other singles were big on that format.
This is a song from Miley Cyrus that proved to be equally as popular on our digital charts as it was on our physical charts, as such it managed to retain a high position on this list as it did on my hypothetical list ranking these songs based on their physical sales.
41 weeks
Well at least I've been able to feature one track from the Killers on this site, you better believe that these guys would've had at least one appearance from their debut album had digital sales existed when it dropped two years prior. Here we have the second single from their sophomore album which managed to benefit from the digital charts existing when it was released as a single.
This is the best proof I have that Pete Murray was a victim of illegal downloads during the first half of the decade as this second single from his sophomore album managed to stick around the lower half of our charts for quite some time thanks to its refusal to leave our digital charts back in the day.
Given how Timbaland's entry from earlier on this list did so much better on our digital charts than our physical charts, I'm somewhat surprised this wasn't the case for the debut single for the band he "presented" on his solo album as that had the additional benefit of being from an indie band.
You'd think this song would've have most of its success on our digital charts considering that even back in the day, people felt it was little more than a meme. It turns out it was equally as popular on both formats for the rapper here in Australia albeit months after it was a worldwide phenomenon for him.
Miley Cyrus is another artist who did much better on our digital charts throughout the decade, however her older brother really benefitted from this format given how the one and only hit he had with his band managed to actually go to number one on those charts as opposed to it missing out on our main charts.
It's a bit surprising that Rihanna's previous entry wasn't more of a success on our digital charts considering that the second bonus track from Good girl bad was, it still didn't reach the dizzying heights it achieved over in NZ or her native America, however its success was certainly far more admirable there than on our main charts.
This is another song that has more than one version of it to become popular back in the day, that explains why it didn't do as well on our digital charts given how the second version of it (I'm guessing an even more tasteless version than the one we all know) managed to become a minor hit around the time this was popular.
Not only were the Presets able to score a massive hit through digital sales from their debut album, but they were also able to score a total of three with the other hit hits from the album being equally as successful as each other.
I told you these two songs were equally as big as each other, although admittedly this also rebounded on our charts when the duo won a bunch of ARIA awards from the album much like their earlier entry on this list.
What I said about Jay Sean's entry earlier on this list applies to this debut single from Jason Derulo, so much so that you can pretty much copy and paste what I said here and apply it to his subsequent releases.
We have the digital charts to thank for why this song stuck around forever in a day on our charts, then again Wolfmother saw most if not all their success on our digital charts back in the day, so I shouldn’t be surprised that we have that format to thank for why this made it on my list.
40 weeks
I guess fans of Beyonce were more willing to buy physical copies of her music rather than download them given how each of her entries were more popular on our physical charts (barring one of course) than they were on our digital charts with this signature track from her being no exception.
I don't think there's a version of this track without T.I on it, even if there was, that certainly didn't have any appeal on our digital charts back in the day which means this second single from Futuresex/Lovesounds was far less successful on there than it was as a physical release.
It seems odd that this would be less successful on our digital charts than as a physical release given how this was released slightly sooner than when Leona Lewis saw massive success in this format with her earlier entry on this list, I guess this goes to show just how unpopular Alicia Keys was here in Australia during the peak of her popularity.
I'm not that familiar with Meet the Robinsons, mainly because I was in my mid-teens when it came out and thus, into my anti Disney phase brought upon by being an edgy teenager of the 00's (I'm anti Disney now for completely different reasons.) I'm not sure how good the film is; however, it appears its theme song was a modest sleeper hit for Rob Thomas here in Australia given how long it charted for.
It's little surprise this debut single from the Ting Tings achieved more success through digital downloads than as a physical single considering A: it was from a rock band and B: it seemed to be tailor made for commercial fodder which explains the success of the few rock tracks from the 2010's worldwide.
We'll be looking at both songs from Muse's magnum opus The resistance on this list, its lead single did fairly well here in Australia mainly due to it rebounding on our charts when its second single managed to become more of a mainstream hit for the British band.
39 weeks
It feels a little weird that this was so much less successful on the digital charts than it was as a physical release, although this wouldn't feel too out of place as a single from Nelly's debut album which suggests that she wouldn't have had much success on that format had it existed earlier in the decade here in Australia.
While this wasn't as big on our digital charts as it was as a physical release, the fact that it still comfortably makes this list does suggest that it's possible Sean Paul would've had bigger success down under had ARIA bothered to track digital sales during the first half of the decade.
Well, I hope you're ready to see a bunch of tracks from the emo rock of the mid to late 00's on this list because there's a ton of them, by far the most successful was this second single from Good Charlotte's fourth album which greatly benefitted from digital sales worldwide as well as it being their biggest hit here in Australia due to strong physical sales.
Well, this was certainly an improvement on this ranking, especially considering how Ricki Lee began her career on Australian Idol which makes this the second highest entry from a former Australian idol contestant behind Guy Sebastian's earlier entry on this list.
I'm a bit surprised that Gwen Stefani didn't do better on our digital charts back in the day, although the bulk of her hatedom would've been those who felt betrayed by her selling out from her time with No doubt so perhaps there was little chance she would do better on that format back in the day after all.
This lead single to the Veronicas second album proved to be more popular on our digital charts than it was on our main charts, this is what I meant when I said earlier I was surprised that "Untouched" wasn't an even bigger hit on that format than it was as the girls effortlessly appealed to the market that was fueling our digital charts back in the day.
This may have been a hit for Last goodnight right before they decided to call it quits, however the band can at least take comfort in the fact that it was more of a hit here in Australia on our digital charts than as a physical release, meaning that it was more popular with the those who were into the likes of Panic! at the disco and Fall out boy than those who were into reality TV.
I have a feeling that Linkin Park would've greatly benefitted from digital sales during the first half of the decade here considering how both of their big hits during the second half of the decade did considerably better on our digital charts than they did as physical releases.
38 weeks
While this did very well on our digital charts back in the day, it's a bit disheartening to see that most of its success came from people buying physical copies of it, suggesting that few people found the song problematic back in the day like the world certainly does now.
This is the last song to be released that was initially denied access to our main charts due to lacking a physical release, naturally this meant the song would be much more popular on our digital charts than our main charts as many of its contemporaries at the time were able to chart without a physical release.
This was a modest sleeper hit for Akon here in Australia, although I am surprised it wasn't more of a mainstream success given how it was just that over in NZ as well as his native America back in the day.
Following the success of their earlier entry on this list, MGMT decided to release this track from their debut E.P from earlier in the decade as a single which helped it become a sleeper hit for them here in Australia. This was sadly the full extent of their success worldwide as their second album from 2010 bombed.
Unlike her earlier entry on this list which was only a single due to its connections to Neighbours, this was always meant to be a single for Kate Miller even if it was temporarily pulled from shelves in order for her label to capitalise off her earlier entry only to then be put back on the shelves for its own success.
37 weeks
It's easy to forget given how he's an Oscar winning actor, however Jared Leto managed to score a huge sleeper hit back in the day with his band 30 seconds to mars with this emo track. It's another example of an emo track making it big with the digital crowd as it was a huge bomb on our physical charts.
Folk music is another format that benefitted on our digital charts during the second half of the decade, as such it's little surprise that this one and only hit from Plain white T's managed to be even more successful on that format than it was on our main charts and indeed our physical charts back in the day.
As far as I can tell, this is the only version of this track that exists meaning that it was less popular on our digital charts as it was as a physical release despite being the perfect candidate for a song that would've done better on the former's format given how it was a rock track with an in-demand rapper.
Much like the majority of P!nk's songs even since her fourth album, this managed to be far more popular on our digital charts than it was on our physical charts, further proving that Australia's love for her came mostly from our digital storefront as opposed to physical sales. It's also proof that she would've greatly benefitted from the storefront had it existed during the first half of the decade.
I would've thought Kate Miller Heidke would've found more success with her songs on our digital charts this decade given her brand of quirkiness seems to be in line with many of the entries on this list that saw more success on that format than on our main charts, alas her one and only hit was merely as successful there as it was as a physical release.
It's strange how people have labeled the Script as music for our mothers considering how much more successful they were on our digital charts than they were on physical media, although it's possible that the mothers of the world were hip to the format given how popular the likes of Leona Lewis and P!nk were early on from its inception.
While this was equally as successful on our main charts as it was on our digital charts, the fact that it was such a success on the latter suggests that Michael Bublé would've achieved far greatest success throughout the decade (despite being considered music for our mothers) had the digital storefront existed during the album cycle of his first two albums.
36 weeks
This was somewhat overshadowed back in the day given how it was released around the time John Butler trio won a bunch of ARIAs for their album Grand national, this meant that this had to compete with a live performance of their earlier entry on this list which was released as a digital single.
I guess it was about time I featured a Powderfinger track on this site, they were indeed one of the biggest bands of the decade here in Australia and no doubt would've had other appearances on here had digital downloads been legal during the first half of the decade. As such, we have their lead single to their third album of the decade which was more of a sombre ballad compared to their earlier work.
This is another song whose success was largely due to the digital charts, although Linkin Park weren't that negatively affected by piracy throughout the decade here in Australia as their multiple appearances on this site can attest to. In any case, we have this third single from their third album which continued their trajectory towards more mainstream rock compared to their nu metal roots from their earlier work.
Of the eight albums I've featured from Michael Bublé on this site, three of them managed to spawn a hit for him here in Australia as this was the big hit he had from Call me irresponsible which likely would've been even bigger were it not for the competition from rock tracks upon its release.
I honestly would've thought this was a success through digital downloads and not physical sales, alas it appears to be the other way around as Ne-Yo was far more popular with his physical entries here in Australia than he was on our digital storefront.
This proved to be slightly more popular for Lily Allen on our digital charts likely due to it skyrocketing on there once the video dropped as opposed to our main charts where it already had some of its success prior to the release of the video due to it being released here sooner than it was in her native UK for some reason.
Although it was rather late in crossing over here in Australia, at least this one and only hit from Colbie Caillat managed to be more of a success on our digital charts than as a physical single, likely because it was a song whose popularity initially stemmed from Myspace like so many other entries on this list.
These guys were pretty huge on the airwaves throughout the decade here in Australia, so much so that it's less of a surprise that this is on here and more that none of their other tracks from the 00's are as they were very likely flops due to having their success eaten up by illegal downloads which wasn't the case for this track.
This is the only song from Beyonce to find more success on our digital charts than our main charts, I'm guessing because it was the final single to come from her album I am Sasha fierce which meant that its physical success was slightly hampered due to it coming from an album that was already highly successful by the time it was released.
It looked like Guy Sebastian wasn't going to make the transition to the digital age in music given how the singles from his third album completely flopped on those charts, indeed this lead single to his fifth album was far less popular in that format than it was as a physical release.
This was equally as popular on our digital storefront as it was as a physical single, I guess this makes sense given how it fits both as a club banger as well as an alternative rock track much like La roux's entry from the main list. It's a shame these guys remain a one hit wonder to this day despite massive attempts at escaping the one hit wonder bin.
35 weeks
This is the last hit that Jessica Simpson had in her career, mainly because this cover of the Nancy Sinatra classic serves as the theme song to the theatrical adaptation of the Dukes of hazard which was a critical failure due to its outdated depictions of the redneck culture. She happens to star in the film as Daisy Duke which earned her a Razzie for worst actress due to how bad her performance was.
There were no signs of Shannon Noll slowing down from his second album as he managed to have a huge hit with the title track from said album, in fact it looked like he had finally overtaken Guy Sebastian in the mainstream given how he would only have one hit to his name this year (which we've already looked at) from an album that wasn't anywhere near as successful as what Lift was.
This is the song that lasted the longest on the digital charts in this section, suggesting that it was an easy hit on that format given how it was released two months prior to when the charts were launched here in Australia. It's easy to see why this connected with the hipsters given that it has whistling throughout the track which was a common trend in alternative music at the time.
This saw a massive improvement in the rankings due to it being more of a sleeper hit here in Australia despite initially debuting high on our charts, I think this was the point where Good Charlotte was able to be taken more seriously in the mainstream which suggests their earlier catalogue may not have benefitted that much from digital sales unlike most other rock bands of the decade.
I guess it's safe to say that Jessica Mauboy just wasn't as appealing to those who consumed music through digital downloads comparted to those who still bought physical copies of songs given how this also managed to have a lower placement on this list than it would had I made a list based on physical sales.
This song was quite popular on YouTube back in the day, although once again, YouTube data wasn't a factor when it came to digital sales meaning that just as many people downloaded the song as they did buy a physical copy of it.
Given how every other song that appeared on this list and the one for the 2010's from BEP was equally as popular on the digital charts as they were on the main charts, it's little surprise that this third single from the E.N.D would follow suit in this regard.
It makes sense this would be more of a hit in our digital charts than as a physical release given how 80's nostalgia seemed to be more prevalent on our digital storefront than it was among those who still bought physical copies of songs, although the duo would still remain a one hit wonder worldwide with this track regardless of which format we're looking at.
It's a bit bizarre that this would be slightly less popular on our digital charts than it was on our physical charts given how well Pitbull would perform throughout the 2010's here in Australia, I guess those who consumed music through digital downloads were a bit more sceptical of him initially and grew to love him as the club boom raged on.
This is the final hit that Nickelback had anywhere in the world, even then it was a bit of a sleeper hit here in Australia due to being released right before the death of MJ which really affected the musical landscape of 2009 worldwide.
There were no signs of David Guetta slowing down entering the decade as he managed to score a third hit in a row from his breakthrough album, this time he recruits Kid Cudi who was fresh off the success he had with his own breakthrough "Day n night" from 2009 which is perhaps how he managed to maintain his winning streak across the world.
34 weeks
This was the second single to come from Christina Aguilera's Back to basics, it's a standards ballad that harkens back to the days of Vera Lynn that wasn't as appealing to audiences this year as her earlier entry on this list. It was a decent success for her, however the big hit off the album wouldn't come until the third single which was more of an Andrews sisters' tribute.
You better believe there was a time when David Guetta had some success before he got on board some of the biggest names in music worldwide, this is the biggest hit he had prior to when he got the likes of Kelly Rowland, Akon and Flo rida to sing over his beats.
While I doubt Nickelback would've benefitted on our digital charts given how both "Far away" and "Saving me" didn't exactly dominate them upon their initial release, I doubt they would've been hindered by their presence either given how Chad Kroeger's collaboration with Santana was a huge success there like it was on our main charts.
It's odd that Mika failed to score a second hit in NZ considering how popular he was on our digital charts with his first album back in the day, I'm guessing the kiwis really didn't care for his precocious nature back in the day the way us Aussies did as their digital data was far stronger on their main charts than ours was over here.
Much like their earlier entry on this list, this also saw a massive improvement on our digital charts compared to how well it did as a physical release which goes to show that these guys always had appeal on our digital storefront regardless of which phase of their career we're referring to.
This is a song from Miley Cyrus that greatly benefitted from digital sales on our charts considering how much more successful it was on our storefront than it was as a physical release, not bad for a song that was initially released as a bonus track from her second Hannah Montana album.
Sara Barelles as another artist who I'm surprised didn't find more success on the digital charts during its run, although at least her debut single was more popular on the format than as a physical release likely due to it having sharper lyrics about label disputes that can easily be interpreted as her not justifying a bad relationship as a good one.
I would say this collaboration being a success on our digital charts was due to the presence of JT, except I have a feeling that those who bought music through digital sales were hungry for music from pop diva's given how Madonna's obvious successor Lady Gaga dominated in that format mere months after this became the queen of pop's final hit single anywhere in the world.
This is the last hit that Nickelback had here in Australia, although their popularity would extend to their 2011 album which was a huge success here despite it failing to spawn a hit single for them down under. The rest of the world had moved on from the band likely due to the internet making it impossible to defend their music.
As we saw throughout the 2010's, Chris Brown and all of his would-be successors to his role as the prince of RNB performed quite well on our digital charts, this breakthrough single from Jay Sean being no exception despite it coming our fairly late here in Australia compared to the rest of the world.
This was one of the earliest songs to become a success from the club boom, so naturally some of that success would come from the digital storefront given how that's what fueled the success of the club boom during the first stretch of the 2010's worldwide.
This was a modest success upon its initial release here in Australia for Bluejuice, it qualified for this list due to placing high on Triple J's year end list for 2009 which allowed it to rebound on the charts at the start of the 2010's for the indie band.
33 weeks
Although nostalgia was what gave these girls a massive hit with their debut single as a group (and indeed fuelled the success of their entire catalogue) that success was largely from audiences that weren't using the digital storefront given how much less successful this was as a digital track.
There were two versions of this ballad floating around back in the day, this was obviously the single version as it charted prior to the release of Vanessa's comeback album. It appears the album version did take away enough of this version's success that it really struggled to make it on this bonus list of mine despite how inescapable it was on our airwaves.
You'd think this would've been far more popular on our digital charts than it was on our main charts, alas it appears that the emo scene had become mainstream by the time these guys were able to cross over which admittedly was likely due to this being released two years after it first saw mainstream success.
I'm a bit surprised this wasn't a bigger hit for T.I on our digital charts considering A: it had Rihanna on the chorus and B: it was built around one of the earliest memes to come from the internet. I guess there was a certain sector of the digital storefront that considered this to be a bit lame which prevented it becoming as popular as it arguably should've been on there.
This is another song that saw equal amounts of success on our digital charts as it did on our physical charts, further proving that Rihanna was one of the hottest stars of her day regardless of how one would consume her music.
As much flak as the Twilight franchise has gotten over the years, few will argue that their soundtracks were that bad considering how well loved they remain to this day. The first film's soundtrack was among the most successful albums of the decade worldwide which led off with this track from Paramore who finally managed to score a hit outside their native America with this theme from the film.
This is one of two hits that Dizzee rascal had here in Australia during his EDM phase, we'll look at his other hit in a bit but suffice to say, his longtime fans were disappointed that he abandoned his hip hop roots towards the end of the decade to find success with some of the biggest DJs in the music scene.
It looks like the Killers were able to have one more hit in their career before they became yesterday's news, this was the lead single to their third album which I thought was a complete bomb given how I have no memory of hearing this on the radio like I do for many other rock tracks on this list.
32 weeks
This had a high peak on the digital charts when they launched (making it have the highest peak position in this section) however it dropped fairly quickly soon after which suggests that the format launched right when this song was coming out of vogue in our music scene. It makes sense given how it had been out for two months once the format launched and that it came from a highly successful album.
This was more of a sleeper hit here in Australia as opposed to being a genuine hit in America for Nickelback, admittedly the fact this was a hit at all was impressive given how it was released a year after the album came out, however it appears we Aussies were intrigued with the message of the song to make it a success.
Here we have a less controversial James from the UK scoring a massive worldwide hit with a folk ballad, in this case it's James Morrison who made it big with this ballad that would've appeared on the list proper had I allowed the stats from our digital charts to factor in the rankings for this list. It was one of the first songs to make it big down under thanks to the help of legal digital downloads.
This is one of the few songs on this list that arguably had its success through its music video, bearing in mind that YouTube data doesn't count towards digital sales which suggests people bought the song thanks to finding the song soundtracking the video to be worth their money.
Given this second single from Good girl gone bad had more of a rock edge to it, it's natural that it would be more of a success on our digital charts as it also had the benefit of not having its success eaten up by how popular the album was on that format which is why it wasn't as big as a physical release down under.
This was a mere bonus entry on my 2008 list, which goes to show how much OneRepublic owe their success here in Australia to our digital storefront even if their earlier entry that Timbaland "presented" was a massive success as a physical release here.
31 weeks
To think this nearly didn't make the cut for this extended list of mine, although this does feel out of step with the rest of the girls catalogue, so perhaps the audience this appealed to wasn't among their main audience who likely felt alienated by these otherwise promiscuous women standing up for themselves on this track.
It looks like Stacie Orrico was able to score one more hit in her career here in Australia before she faded into irrelevancy, although interestingly this came from her final album which was released the same time as JoJo’s final album in the mid 00's.
This was slightly bigger on our digital charts than it was on our physical charts, suggesting that TV rock were enjoyed more from those who consumed music through digital downloads rather than an audience that bought physical copies of their music.
I'm a bit surprised this didn't do even better on our digital charts given how well the Fray did on that format earlier in the decade, I guess rock music had once again been considered the dominant genre in the mainstream by the end of the decade which makes its exile from the mainstream in 2010 all the more puzzling to me.
Given how this was a victory single from a reality show (even if it wasn't from an Australian series) it makes sense that it wouldn't be as popular on our digital charts and was more of a hit through physical sales even if Jordin Sparks would go on to have more success in the former format with her subsequent follow ups.
I'm not sure if there's a version of this song without Flo Rida's guest verse, if there is, then it likely explains why this song wasn't as big on our digital charts as it was as a physical release despite the no rap version not charting on our digital charts back in the day. It could also be that Jessica Mauboy was simply more popular with her physical releases than she was on our storefront.
This is the oldest song on this list that also appears on my 2010 rankings, it was equally as popular as a physical release and a digital release likely due to the combined might of Katy Perry and 3oh!3 during the height of both of their popularity.
There's little surprise this was more popular as a digital track than it was as a physical single given how it seemed like the perfect anthem for the club boom coming from a rock band, two elements that seemed to go against the popular trend of songs that were bigger on our physical charts.
This also saw a massive improvement on this ranking compared to my hypothetical physical list, although perhaps not as much as some of the other entries on this list as its success on there is much closer to what it achieved through its physical sales here in Australia.
This was the third single from P!nk's Funhouse album, though it was a hit here in Australia, it's obvious that her audience was more interested in her moving on from her husband (despite the fact the two didn't end up getting a divorce) rather than begging him to take her back like she does on this track.
This was released during the final month of the decade here in Australia, although it only took off here due to the success of JB's second hit which was the one where he began to receive tons of online hate.
30 weeks
While not a teen pop track, it likely felt too much like her earlier material which was teen pop to our digital storefront.
This was more of a hit on our digital charts than it was on our physical charts, although considering how Evanescence were often regarded as an emo band (despite being more in line with nu metal) it makes sense that they would achieve most of their success on our digital storefront with this lead single to their second album.
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