We have another successful soft rock track from Dr Hook to become a hit during the second half of the decade, although admittedly this was one of the last hit singles that they were able to have in Australia despite their growing popularity internationally, likely because they were already a huge deal with their earlier ballads.
This was the third hit that Creedence clearwater revival (CCR for short) achieved from their magnum opus Cosmo's factory, it was a chart topper here in Australia which was quite rare for a track from a highly successful album that wasn't said album's lead single. I guess when you're selling two future staples on oldies stations for the price of one, that was something that was bound to happen.
#36 for 1972
John Denver had been active in the music industry for the better part of a decade at this point, sure he had success in his native America, but it was when this lead single to his album Back home again became a surprise success in the UK that he finally saw massive international success. The song has become a bit of a meme over the years due to how overdramatic the ballad has remained since its initial release.
I guess the decade was known for its cheesy ballads, and hey the fact that there was a noticeable increase in artists whose first language wasn't English was admirable considering how most artists who were popular prior to the 70's were either American or British worldwide. With that out of the way, I've exhausted any positive comments I have for this ballad from the Brazilian crooner Morris Albert.
This was the second single from Elton John's album Don't shoot me I'm only the piano player, this is a more sombre ballad compared to "Crocodile rock" which I'm guessing was a reminder to his (then) older fans of his blues roots given how he had begun to dabble with glam rock around this time.
This is the only hit from pop crooner Wayne Newton here in Australia, it's easy to see how it connected with audiences given the subject matter of a son losing his father after said father's failing marriage to his mother. In most parts of the world, this was passed up in favour of a cover from Daniel Boone to the point where there's contention of which versions is considered to be the original (it's this version.)
This was another successful American all-girl RNB trio of colour to make it big in NZ, although unlike the Emotions, they only had the one hit in both countries likely due to the kiwis and their fellow Americans only confusing them the one time for the women who brought us "Best of my love" this year. If it's any consolation, this was far bigger over there than that Billboard chart topper.
It's easy to forget that "December 63" wasn't Frankie Valli's first foray into disco as that honour goes to this hidden gem which was only a sleeper hit for his band months prior to their magnum opus from earlier on this list. Indeed, this was a huge hit in their native America following the success of "My eyes adored you" which is funny given how that is a huge outlier on this list in his catalogue.
For the most part Donna Summer had more success in Australia than she did in NZ, this was the rare exception to that rule as this Oscar winning theme from Thank God it's Friday wasn't a hit at all here and yet was one of her biggest hits over in NZ this year. I guess she did manage to score two new entries on this side of my site even if all of her returning entries are much lower on their respective lists.
This was the last hit that Helen Reddy was able to have here in Australia, I'm guessing because she didn't fit in with the Countdown era which seems fair enough as Livie would struggle to have success as the decade went on with the same brand of pop country. Unlike Livie, Helen Reddy would stick to acting after this, her best-known role being as Nora from Disney's Pete's dragon.
This is a sample of the score that came from the film the Sting, it's another instrumental track that found success during the first half of the decade worldwide due to it doing an amazing job at recreating the feel of a 30's neo noir setting that audiences appreciated at the time. It was Marvin Hamlisch's only hit, although film composers scoring hits were becoming rarer by this point in time.
This is one of only two hits that Led zeppelin had here in Australia back in the day, it's a song that's long since been mired in controversy due to it being a rip-off musically of "You need love" from Muddy Waters which led to the latter suing the band's estate fifteen years after the song's release. As that wouldn't happen for another decade and a half, the song was free of this controversy during its initial release.
This guy had a massive success worldwide thanks to country music still being one of the biggest genres in the music scene at this point in time, it was a huge hit over in NZ for him despite it being only a minor hit at best here in Australia. Like many country artists to make it big over the years, Elvin Bishop remains a legend in the country scene to this day.
If you thought that actors trying for a singing career has only been a recent phenomenon, allow me to present to you David Soul who managed to score a massive hit worldwide with this track following the success he had with his TV series Starsky and Hutch. Even though this was his only hit in his native America, he would score two more hits throughout the rest of the world thanks to the show.
We have further evidence that the 60's kept on rolling as far as the music was concerned as this feels like it belongs during the height of summer love, although I get the feeling it would've bombed had its target audience realised that Edison Lighthouse was actually just a group of session musicians looking to cash in off the Freelove vibes of the 60's rather than genuinely be a part of it.
This is the only notable hit that Joan Baez had here in Australia, it's a cover of a song from the Canadian band err... the Band about the fallout of the American civil war. Naturally it connected with audiences at the time due to the recent outcome of the Civil rights movement, which is often compared to the Civil war when it comes to fighting for the basic human rights of the everyman.
Neil Diamond was on a roll when he released this single from his album Moods, it was his second Billboard chart topper proving how popular he was in his homeland as well as it being a huge hit internationally thanks to how in vogue his brand of soft rock was with the times.
Remember "Top of the world" from earlier on this list? Well, I mentioned that wasn't originally meant to be released as a single and was only done due to the success of a cover it received from Lynn Anderson. This was the song that was meant to sell that album which it failed to do here in Australia, although it at least was a big hit in its own right likely due to how popular the duo was here.
Now I'm not opposed to having a song that calls for racial peace and harmony (particularly in this day and age where racial tensions seem to be at their all-time worst due to idiots on the internet) the problem I have here is that we're having a call to action from someone who's infamous for their racially insensitive comedy tracks and that it's displayed as a ballad similar to that of "We are the world."
It was a new decade, meaning that Eric Burdon decided to change things up by abandoning his previous band the Animals and forming a new band known as War. He was off to a good start with his new band's debut single, likely due to being far funkier than anything his previous band released throughout the 60's. This proved to be his final hit as the rest of War's catalogue flopped as the decade went on.
This is the only hit to come from the Canadian band Edward Bear (a name that suggest this was from a solo artist) it was one of many pop rock tracks to be a success during the first half of the decade worldwide, although like many other entries on this list, it hasn't really stood the test of time due to its absence on oldies playlists.
Given how the original version of this track was never released as a single, this leaves the Elton John version the only successful version of this track supposedly about LSD given that's the initials of the song. Paul has of course denied this and reckons it's actually about a girl named Lucy who was dreaming to become a huge international superstar, and indeed it appears that's the direction Elton takes this song in.
This was the second hit that 10CC managed to achieve in Australia, although this was different from their other hits as each of them were in a different genre in music. Here we have something that feels like it belongs in the sophistopop genre a decade prior to when it became a thing in their native UK, I guess the ambience of this track was what got it to become a massive crossover success in America.
These guys had been active since the late 60's, meaning they didn't find any success in their career until this year when they released this bouncy country ballad that got them their Billboard chart topper in their native America. This was a good time for country music with a groove to it, so of course it was going to succeed internationally for the two brothers, and hey they scored another hit later in the decade.
With all of the shout outs that these guys have gotten over the years, you'd think that the O'jays would've had more success back in the day than this one and only hit they had in NZ. Granted they did have a string of other hits in their native American throughout the decade, however this was the only hit that managed to crossover there which is still one more hit they ever had here in Australia.
This was the song that made John Paul Young into an international superstar given that it became a huge hit for him not just throughout Europe but also in America upon its initial release. What's strange is that it isn't among his more popular tracks in his catalogue, unless of course you include the more popular Ballroom mix from 1992 where it was chosen as the theme to the Baz Lurhman classic Strictly ballroom.
This was a hit for Brian Hyland a decade after his first hit "Itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polkadot bikini" (I can't believe I had to type that up on this site even after mentioning its 1990 cover on the NZ side of my site.) This meant that the former teen idol was able to escape the one hit wonder bin here in Australia with this track about a Romani woman he's in love with (though not enough to not refer to her as a slur.)
Our final entry on this list comes from Roberta Flack, one of the more popular artists during the first half of the decade in Australia despite being and female RNB singer of colour which normally is a combination of words that doesn't give you much success here. Indeed, her voice was so distinct that even we Aussies fell in love with her three Billboard chart toppers as this was easily the weakest hit of the three here.
This was the only hit that Ricki Lee Jones was able to achieve throughout her career anywhere in the world, although she was always more of an album artist as evidence by her appearances on my albums lists throughout my site. Still, it appears the kiwis were intrigued by her debut single as it was a genuine hit for her over there while it was a minor success at best over here.
We looked at the second Oscar winning ballad that Maureen McGovern scored a hit with worldwide, time to look at her first big hit both critically and commercially as two years prior, she took home the Oscar for this ballad for the film the Poseidon adventure which she also had a minor role in. From what I can gather, the film has a similar plot to Titanic in that it's about the sinking of a ship albeit a fictional one in this case.
This was the final hit that Dawn had here in Australia, honestly with a title like that, it's any wonder why many people don't like going over what was popular during the first half of the 70's given how it tells you everything you need to know about how cheesy the music was overall.
I wonder how many LGBT people signed up for the navy when this became a hit for the Village people back in the day, after all, the YMCA was a safe haven for queer men, and they gave their endorsement with their earlier entry on this list. This was their final hit in their native America, although they had one more hit in most parts of the world as it was the theme to their theatrical disaster Can't stop the music.
This was clearly inspired by the Wizard of Oz given how the yellow brick road in that movie is what immediately springs to mind when mentioning it, naturally the nostalgia of the (then) thirty-five-year-old film was what made this a huge success for Elton John in addition to it being the title track of his magnum opus double album.
I keep needing to remind myself this isn't an early ELO track and is instead from Wings of all bands, I definitely wasn't expecting to have a prog track from the band make it on this site even though it honestly would've dumbfounded me if this song wasn't a hit here in Australia given that it's a Bond theme for the movie of the same name. It means that I've now featured both the original and Guns n roses version of this track on my site.
This is the only notable success that pop star Bobby Sherman had back in the day, it was a massive hit for him here in Australia as well as his native America likely due to it being an innocent bubble-gum pop track about finding out how much the love of his life Julie loves him.
In most parts of the world, this was Albert Hammond's only hit given how he never had much success in his native UK with his ballads. I'm willing to bet this only became a hit here in Australia due to its surprise success in America, although he had a ton of success over in NZ if the Listener charts are anything to go by.
Livie was on a roll when she released this title track to her album this year, it became her second Billboard chart topper in a row following the success of "I honestly love you" from the previous year. It would be her last hit here in Australia for a few years as we were growing tired of country music around this time, although she would return later in the decade in a more pop friendly direction.
I guess this was meant to be confirmation that "If you leave me now" wasn't a fluke from Chicago and that this was the direction that the band was heading in moving into the 80's, it was a decent success here in Australia as it only barely failed to appear on one of my lists due to high Christmas sales that pushed it aside from many of the other entries on this list.
This was one of only three hits that Dolly Parton had in Australia, although she did appear on Countdown back in the day so it's not like we weren't aware of her country classics here. This was her big breakthrough in her native America which is perhaps why she was able to find success with this ballad here, her other two hits came when she began her acting career and with her BFF Kenny Rogers.
This was the first duet from Grease to be played in the film, although technically it's more of an ensemble piece as both characters recall how they came across each other over the summer which would set up the basis for their relationship throughout the rest of the film. It's one of the less conventional songs to become a hit over the years, but it's catchy and well performed.
This was the debut single for a band who would go on to dominate the 80's with some of the greatest and bestselling albums of all time worldwide, although here we have a more subdue performance from the band which likely helped it stand out from all of the disco that was becoming popular around this time. They wouldn't have another hit here until "Twisting by the pool" in 1983.
This was originally released as the debut single for Bay City rollers three years prior, it was a flop for the band even in their native UK for reasons I can't seem to fathom. It was given a second chance this year when it was released as a single in America more to see if it would break the band through than anything else, it turns out it did as it became their biggest hit on Billboard despite the failure of their other songs.
This was the lead single from Rod Stewart's album Foot loose and fancy free, and like his other songs and albums this decade, it was a massive success for him worldwide.
This is the only hit to come from Brownsville station, a rare American glam rock band who quite surprisingly managed to make it big in their homeland give how rare it was for glam rock to become a success on Billboard (even from local artists such as Suzi Quatro.) Motley Crue fans will know this as one of that band's signature tracks due to their rendition being a minor success on Billboard in the 80's.
This is the only entry from Marie Osmond to appear on this side of my site, mainly because her duets with Donny failed to become a success here in Australia (possibly due to their incestual nature which was unintentional on their part.)
For over a decade, this was the only hit that Eric Carmen was able to achieve anywhere in the world, it's up there with "Without you" as one of the most melodramatic songs to come out of the 70's which is perhaps why it's endured over the years (that and the popular Celine Dion cover from the 90's.) He would score a surprise comeback twelve years later by appearing on the Dirty dancing soundtrack.
Even though she made a huge splash with this disco rendition of an old Eddie Floyd track, Amii has gone on record saying that she was never a fan of disco and would've preferred it if she had made easy listening ballads during the height of her popularity. Naturally the world disagrees with that sentiment as she makes for a great vocalist for the dance floor and even had this rechart in the UK during the height of Live aid.
This was the last song that the fab four released as a unit before going their separate ways, it was also one of the few songs of theirs that failed to reach number one here in Australia likely because of the news they were breaking up. This wasn't the case in America where it went to number one on Billboard.
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