This was the second UK chart topper in a row for the Police, although I get the feeling this was a hit here more due to them performing it on Countdown rather than us wanting to hear about how Sting desires to be an astronaut. Regardless it was a huge success for the band and confirmed them as a household name here, heck their debut album even managed to become a success because of this.
This was the only success that the British band Sailor were able to achieve outside their native UK, I'm guessing this was a success due to glam still being popular this year despite it being more in line with what would eventually become new wave in the 80's. True to their band name, these guys did in fact have a gimmick of being a band of sailors who played for their ships captain.
This was the final hit that the Hollies managed to achieve here in Australia, although I'm sure they would've had continued success in the second half of the decade had Countdown not pushed them aside in favour of our local music scene. It's strange to think these guys found more success in the 70's than they did in the 60's down under considering how they greatly benefitted from the British invasion in America.
Before he became one of the biggest RNB stars of the 80's, Billy Ocean was a decently successful disco star of the 70's with this being his first major hit throughout the world. Even though he saw massive success in his native UK throughout the rest of the decade, this was his only hit here in Australia until he reinvented himself as an RNB singer for his 1984 album Suddenly.
Although they had success with their first album in NZ and their native UK, this was the big breakthrough that Sting and company had in Australia likely due to how they repeat the phrase "sending out and SOS" ad nauseum during the outro. Fortunately, the rest of the track is fairly complex thanks to the tight reggae inspired instrumentation as well as the lyrics about finding help for this doomed relationship.
We've featured the Joan Jett cover on this site on my list of Countdown performances, time now to look at the original version of the glam rock track from Gary Glitter which continued the icon's winning streak back in the day given how it was the lead single to his second album Touch me.
This is the first of two entries to come from the Kinks, it remains as their final hit single in most parts of the world due to the 60's band struggling to carryover their success into the 70's likely due to their two hits from the start of the decade being very different to the garage rock of their earlier material. It could also be that there's more of a novelty both of these tracks have compared to their earlier work lyrically.
We have another two for one deal on this list, this time it's from Elton John who decided to bundle "Rocket man" from Honky chateau with "Tiny dancer" from Madman across the water in order to cross promote both albums even though the latter had been out for about a year when this was released. Naturally this became a success for him here in Australia months prior to his top entry on this list.
For the longest time, I was more familiar with the Jimmy Cliff version of this song given how that became a huge worldwide hit in the 90's due to being the theme song for Disney's Cool Runnings. It turns out this was originally a hit for reggae singer Johnny Nash who scored a huge number one hit on Billboard with this track as well as it being a massive hit worldwide for the American soul singer.
Here we have another song that was inescapable from the Bay city rollers this decade in Australia, there's only so much I can say about these tracks without coming off as repetitive and redundant.
While this wasn't the debut single from Olivia Newton John (we'll look at that entry way down this list) it was the song that made her a household name given how it was easily one of the biggest hits of the decade here in Australia for the British born (at the time) country singer. It was due to this song's success that she decided to permanently migrate to Australia, at least until she decided to migrate to America a decade later.
This was the lead single to Queen's sequel album to A night at the opera, A day at the races. While it wasn't as big a success as "Bohemian rhapsody" (which admittedly few songs have been over the years) it did retain their popularity during the album cycle and led to them having a huge hit with their earlier entry on this list. The albums themselves were also a huge success back in the day in case you were wondering.
Wow was Suzi seeing diminishing returns in the mainstream worldwide as the decade went on, to think this woman was briefly the most successful in the rock scene with her first two albums both here and throughout Europe. Here she scores a hit with a song that's much softer than the glam rock that made her a household name earlier in the decade, although it did lead to her having a revival period.
And who says that feminist anthems are only a recent phenomenon? Here we have two of the most powerful women in the music industry to ever exist combining forces with this song about how they've had enough with being mistreated in this world. This comes after Donna realised that she was sending a dangerous message with her earlier material as well as Barbra wanting to appeal to Helen Reddy's audience.
This was the only notable hit that the Manhattans were able to score in Australia, I'm guessing because musicians of colour were finding it easier around this time to find international success given how inescapable Stevie Wonder was with his music. They did score a second hit over in NZ with "Shining star" in 1980, proving that there was some further crossover potential here that was squandered.
This is another musician of colour that had to wait for quite some time before they finally found any success in their career, in this case we have Dorothy Moore who scored a massive hit this year with this cover of an obscure track from around the time she began said career. This led to her album of the same name being a massive worldwide success before she was sadly relegated to yesterday's news.
So, have you ever watched Don Blueth's Anastasia and wanted to know what really happened with the historical figure portrayed by the film's villain? Well Boney M has you covered with this track that serves as a (admittedly brief) historical lesson as to what the man was really like during the Russian revolution which brought an end to the Russian tsars, all set to a catchy disco beat to boot.
Well, this is just depressing, not the song itself as it remains a disco classic to this day but rather that it was the only hit that both bands involved had here in Australia. There was little chance this was going to fail as it's a celebration of disco right when the genre seemed to be at the peak of its popularity, although it's likely due to this oversaturation that the disco backlash took place in America.
We have our final Oscar winning track on this list, I've saved the best for last as it's the title track from the Shaft series courtesy of Isaac Hayes who scored his only American hit with this jam. For the rest of the world, he scored another hit in the late 90's as his character in South Park Chef with "Chocolate salty balls" from the Chef aid soundtrack (it only barely failed to appear on this site.)
A decade before Joan Jett scored a massive hit with "I love rock and roll," we had Suzi Quatro tearing up the international charts with her debut single which comes from the glam rock genre. I bring this up because for whatever reason, Suzi didn't have any success in her native America until much later in the decade where she sold out in favour of an adult contemporary artist.
If you can believe it, this remains the biggest hit in David Bowie's career here in Australia given how none of his other songs managed to get to number one or even last long enough to be among the biggest of their respective eras. This comes from his covers album Pin ups, meaning that this is a cover of an obscure 60's track (from the McCoy's of "Hang on Sloopy" in this case) which resulted in said albums success.
This was the third time this ballad became a hit in Australia, the previous two were from the original singer Dusty Springfield and Bay City roller's version from 1976. This time we have Annie Lennox taking a stab at the track with her first band the Tourists, although technically this was the Eurythmics as David Stewart was part of the group as well. They would become the Eurythmics while the band were on tour here in Australia.
Often considered to be Suzi Quatro's signature track, this was indeed a massive hit for her here in Australia back in the day, so much so that she would perform it in the dying days of Countdown thirteen years after its initial release to massive fanfare. This just goes to show how fondly remembered the track remains even after all these years, as well as further proof women in rock was a thing in the early 70's.
This was originally written for a much younger performer to sing these lyrics, that makes sense as the lyrics are written in a way that suggests that the narrator is more than a little naive to the concept of sex. Confident though she may be on this track, Anita Ward was nonetheless able to take the world by storm with her one and only hit likely because of how titillating she comes off on the track which I'm sure turned audiences on.
For the second single in a row, Racey were able to top the Australian and NZ charts proving that there was still plenty of love for the rockabilly revival craze that people often forget is affiliated with the 70's. Their third single from their album was also a huge hit in Australia, however this would prove to be the end for the band as they haven't released any new material since.
It looked like Queen's fortunes had run out as the 70's was coming to an end given how they had failed to score any noticeable hit singles since the release of "We are the champions/We will rock you," however their popularity was revived with this lead single from their album the Game. One thing I'll point out about this track is how different Freddie sounds on here, almost like he was going for an Elvis impersonation.
This is the final entry from Donny Osmond on this list, he did quite well for himself with us Aussies despite his band being MIA on our charts back in the day. Heck if it wasn't for his sister Marie having a hit with her entry on this list as well as his younger brother Jimmy, he would've been the only member of the family we knew about.
#47 for 1974
This was the first solo single that Ringo Starr released in his career, naturally it was an immediate success for the drummer of the fab four given how his former bandmates had dominated the charts with their earlier entries on this list following their breakup from the start of the decade. His true peak in success would come with his second solo album which contains his other two entries on this list.
I always felt that Eruption was just Boney M under a different name given how similar the British band sounded to their German counterparts, as it turns out both of their biggest hits were produced by Frank Farian, so my assumption wasn't far off from the truth after all. This was the bigger hit that the group had thanks to vocalist Precious Wilson giving a well, precious performance of the Ann Peebles number.
Although these guys had success in their native America prior to this hit, this was the first of several Billboard chart toppers that Three dog night had likely due to them taking an Eric Burdon track and running through the funk sound with their interpretation. The rest of the world liked what they did with the track which allowed it to crossover internationally.
This is one of those hopeless romantic ballads that along with Nilsson's earlier entry on this list, tends to drive more cynical listeners (such as myself) insane with how pessimistic the lyrics are. This clearly wasn't the case for audiences back in the day as it became the breakthrough single for Irish crooner Gilbert O'Sullivan, although strangely it wasn't his biggest hit in his homeland like it was internationally.
While this wasn't their debut single, this was the song that put Abba on the map thanks to the song winning Eurovision for this year with its upbeat instrumentation and lyrics about the historical surrender of Waterloo used to compare to the love the two couples shared for each other. It's a song that's endured throughout the decades thanks to its unique premise as well as how cheerful it is.
I'm a bit surprised that these guys weren't more successful back in the day, mainly because of how well remembered their catalogue is as well as them being persistent on oldies stations. This was their first major hit in Australia due to it being a throwback track to the glory days of surf rock, and indeed this led to them having huge success here throughout the second half of the decade.
#36 for 1972
If you're unfamiliar with who Telly Savalas was, he was a crooner and part time actor who scored a massive hit in the UK with this spoken word track that also managed to become a moderate success here in Australia for him. This feels like it came from over a decade prior, meaning that this would've been an excellent year for pre-Beatles music here in Australia were it not for Countdown's presence.
This was the only hit to come from American singer Bobby Bloom, mainly because he would tragically pass away four years after its release due to a self-inflicted gun wound (there's actually speculation on if it was a suicide or his gun misfiring on him.) The song would be covered by Australian band Allniters a decade after his death where it became a modest success for them (albeit a sleeper hit.)
This was the only hit that South African singer John Kongos had in his career (side note this was an excellent time for African artists if this list is any indication) it's a song that's since been eclipsed here in Australia due to the Party boys cover from 1987. It's a song that's best known for its strong African style production from the drums to it having somewhat of a tribal ambience to it.
Given the success of the Mike Curb congregation from earlier on this list, these guys had to be referred to as the English congregation here in Australia as well as anywhere else in the world that "Burning bridges" had charted in order to avoid confusion with them. In any case, this was a decent hit here in Australia, although it was much bigger internationally likely due to the lack of confusion.
In most parts of the world, this was the final hit that Ray Stevens had as "Misty" from the following year didn't do very well due to it being one of his rare country ballads that was devoid of any humour or irony that connected with audiences in the places where it did become a success. Here we have him writing a comedy track about a streaker harassing a married couple that I'm sure audiences found hilarious at the time.
So, there was this trucker's craze during the 70's which apparently was so popular that this novelty track from country singer C.W McCall became a huge worldwide hit to cash in on it. Oh, I'm sorry did I call this guy a country singer? Technically he is but it's more accurate to say he's a marketing director who became C.W McCall after a bread commercial he originally created the character for failed to sell its product.
This was the lead single from Abba's album Voulez vous, an album that proved to be more successful than their previous effort likely due to it being released when the decade was coming to an end and audiences were overlooking the biggest music trends of the 70's. Indeed, this is one of their most well-known songs to this day, so there's little surprise that it was a huge success for them back in the day.
This was the final hit that Ray Stevens managed to achieve anywhere in the world, at the very least it's neither one of his comedy tracks or a song about racial harmony to try and make up for his blatantly racist humour. Instead, we have this country ballad which no doubt connected with audiences due to it being released during the height of John Denver's popularity worldwide.
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