Given the sudden rise in popularity of Kate Bush, it was only inevitable that there would be knockoffs in her wake. One of the more notable examples comes from Lene Lovich who copied the quirky nature of Kate on her big breakthrough single despite being nearly a decade older than the young singer/songwriter. This became almost as big as Kate's debut single from the previous year for the record.
This was the song that Liv Maessen stole the success of here in Australia given how Mary Hopkin was also on a roll going into the 70's given how she capped off the 60's with two of its biggest hits. She was credited as one of the first clients on the Beatles Apple label, although there was some concern at the time given how she was barely in her twenties when she signed her contract with them.
This was originally a hit for the French trio Gibson brothers just as the decade was starting throughout Europe, I guess we Aussies weren't interested in it at first due to it coming off as a bit too silly for us. We changed our minds a year later likely due to us wanting to support disco whenever we could given how to this day, Americans will claim that the disco backlash of 1979 forever killed the genre.
This was another huge hit that T Rex had throughout the world, it's far more fondly remembered than their earlier entry on this list likely due to its protest lyrics about being a part of a revolution which likely helped it stand out from the many glam rock tracks of the day.
This was originally an instrumental theme for the Hollywood blockbuster Love story; however, it was turned into a love ballad at the last minute when the producers decided to recruit American crooner Andy Williams to sing over the instrumental theme in order to score a hit for the film's soundtrack. This gambit paid off here in Australia where it was a huge hit, not so much anywhere else in the world where it wasn't.
This was a collaboration between two fairly unknown singers Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley who were back up by some school choir which somehow managed to make this song a massive worldwide success. If this concoction of people involved with the track isn't confusing enough, the song is a combination of reggae with what appears to be the earliest forms of new wave making it a unique sounding song.
Well, we had to get to this track eventually, this is yet another song on this list that has gone down in infamy due to the subject matter which depicts Ringo Starr "owning" a sixteen-year-old he has the hots for. This was originally a hit for Johnny Burnette in 1960 (the father of Rocky Burnette of "Tired of toeing the line" fame) who would tragically pass away four years after his version made it big.
This is one of the less well remembered songs to become a massive success in Australia back in the day, even so it's easy to see how this was a big hit here given how joyous and happy the song is. Pilot did score a second hit with "Magic" which became a surprise hit for them in America of all places.
This was a different side to Rose Royce as they went from the happy go lucky "Car wash" to a more downbeat breakup ballad about how the love is gone and that this person should move on from them. It was a bit of a sleeper hit here in Australia likely due to the contrast of what had come before from the band, although nowadays people are likely more familiar with Madonna's version from 1996.
While this is more in line with new wave, the fact that punk band Squeeze (or UK Squeeze as they were known as here for some reason) were able to find success with this track proves that we Aussies were at least somewhat intrigued by the UK punk scene from around this time. I'm not sure why this scene wasn't widely accepted here as it caused us to miss out on a lot of important tracks of the day.
We'll be looking at quite a few instrumental tracks on this list given how they seemed to be plentiful during the first half of the decade, by far the biggest came from Hot butter who were an American instrumental band who took the world by storm with this gem. If the melody sounds familiar to you, that's because Crazy frog "covered" this track on its 2005 album and found massive success with it.
It appears that Mike Oldfield managed to achieve a third hit throughout his career here in Australia with this instrumental, although it appears we Aussies were a bit turned off by his medieval influences on the track as opposed to his fellow Brits who allowed this to be a mainstream success in his homeland.
This was the lead single to David Soul's second album, an album that wouldn't see much success despite it spawning two of his biggest hits worldwide likely due to those songs failing to become as such in his native America. Yeah, it turns out he's a one hit wonder with his first entry on this list on the Billboard charts, proving how much more popular he was internationally back in the day.
Well, I didn't think I'd be featuring a song from the man who produced the earlier albums from the fab four on this site, however he evidently gave a music career as a frontman a shot which led to him scoring a massive worldwide hit with this pop rock track as his debut single. It was his only hit worldwide as he quickly reverted back to being behind the scenes despite its success.
Although they're best known for their disco classic "Groove thing" (which sadly won't be appearing on this blog) this was the big hit from Peaches and Herb due to it being their Billboard chart topper in their native America. It turns out that the Peaches on here wasn't the original Peaches when the duo formed a decade prior, in fact Herb Fame has gone through five different Peaches over the years.
This was the first solo hit that MJ had as an adult anywhere in the world (his first solo hit overall was with "Rocking robin" from earlier in the decade) it's also the first hit of his to feature Quincy Jones as his executive producer which resulted in some of his finest work both solo and with his family. Despite it clearly being a disco track, it still remains one of his more fondly remembered songs to this day.
This is the second single released from Cosmo's factory, it was also the first of two chart toppers the band had here in Australia which goes to show how immensely popular the swamp rockers were during the height of their fame. Like many bands that began the decade on a high note, their time in the spotlight would quickly dwindle due to behind-the-scenes drama resulting in their breakup in 1972.
I guess we Aussies were familiar with this breakthrough single from Queen after all given how long it lingered in our charts back in the day, indeed you can make the argument these guys were among the first to be negatively affected by Countdown considering how successful this was internationally for the iconic band.
This was the first hit that the Glitter band managed to achieve once they had established themselves as the hottest new name in their native UK due to of course being the backing band for Gary Glitter, it's a glam rock track much likes the rest of their and their troubled frontman's catalogue which of course was guaranteed success here in Australia this year as well.
This was the debut single from Fox which they rereleased following the success of their earlier entry on this list, it became a big sleeper hit here in Australia given this was technically the follow up to that chart topper they had even though it had already been a massive success over in the UK over a year prior to its eventual success down under.
I'm not entirely sure how to categorise this track from French composer Jean Michel Jarre, I guess it's a hybrid of rock opera and actual opera which I'm sure was why this managed to become such a massive success in NZ but not here in Australia as it would've been too abstract for us Aussies to comprehend it whilst dealing with our ever-changing local music scene.
OK so I exaggerated when I said earlier in the list that "Boogie wonderland" was the only hit these guys had in Australia, it was their only top ten hit and the only hit for the Emotions, however these guys did score a hit earlier in the year with this disco classic from their greatest hits package. I guess the fact the greatest hits album was a success did mean that we were at least aware of their catalogue back in the day.
In a way, I'm kind of shocked that this managed to become a sleeper hit in NZ and a massive hit in the UK given how no one in America knew about this genre until Blondie's "Rapture" became a huge chart topper on Billboard months after this was a huge success in both countries. It's often regarded as the true introduction to hip hop given how well it holds up in the scene to this day.
This is one of those songs that is fondly remembered by 70's afficionados but is rather silly the more you think about its lyrics, I mean can anyone explain the poetic genius of lines like "there were plants and birds and rocks and things there was sand and hills and rings" and "in the desert, you can remember your name cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain?" I think because of these dodgy lyrics, this remains the band's only hit here in Australia.
There was no stopping these guys given how they saw massive success with their top entry on this list, although it's worth noting they weren't always in the glam rock genre as a lot of their earliest work was more in line with teen pop (at least what the early 70's would define as such.)
OK so this is a song that is problematic even at the time of its release, anyone who's ever found themselves in the situation that goes on in the lyrics will tell you that it's not a situation that should be glamourised the way it is on this track. Admittedly Mary quickly became aware of this as she has since distanced herself from this track even if it came at the expense of scoring another hit.
It turns out this was also a sleeper hit for the Emotions here in Australia, I would say I've evened out their representation on both sides of this site except no amount of expanding this list will allow "Flowers" to appear on it due to it failing to chart here. It makes sense we Aussies knew of this songs existence back in the day given how heavily its played-on oldies stations to this day.
Ever wanted to hear what Mike Oldfield would sound like if he combined glam rock with disco in one of his instrumentals? Well, someone named Richard Hewson did just that as under the pseudonym the Rah band, he managed to marry the two genres together with to make a song bizarre enough to become a huge hit in his native UK as well as a sleeper success here in Australia.
This was a massive hit due to it being the Bond theme for the Spy who loved me, one of the more popular films during the Roger Moore era of the franchise. Of course, Carly Simon was a good choice for submitting a Bond theme given that she was one of the more popular artists of the decade, even though this was her first hit in Australia since her cover of "Mockingbird" four years prior.
This was the first solo hit to come from MJ, suffice to say that this is very different from his later material given how he was still a child when he recorded this track for the film of the same name. Incidentally, this is a horror film which just so happens to have the occasional sentimental scene, making this ballad highly inappropriate to be its theme song regardless of the context of the lyrics.
It makes sense that these guys would perform this track on Countdown thirteen years after its initial release given how it was indeed one of the biggest hits of the decade here in Australia back in the day. Interestingly, this was only a hit in America two years after it became a massive worldwide success, even more curiously it was around the time that they topped our charts with "Fox on the run."
We looked at "Whodunit" on the NZ side of this site, time to look at the big hit that Tavares achieved internationally back in the day which the kiwis for some reason ignored even though they were clearly aware of what these guys had to offer. We Aussies also ignored these guys for the most part, however we had the excuse of this not fitting in with what Bay city rollers, Sherbet and Abba had to offer.
While this was indeed an 80's hit for the Buggles over in America, this was released just as the 70's was winding down throughout the rest of the world making these two future members of Yes score their big breakthrough two years prior to when MTV launched by playing this music video as the first thing to appear on the channel when it launched.
This is the only other hit that Badfinger achieved here in Australia, it was also their breakthrough hit even though "Come and get it" was a huge worldwide success for the Welsh band at the start of the decade. This feels like a bit of an outlier for the band given how much heavier it is compared to the rest of their catalogue.
We have one final appearance from Neil Diamond on this list, it's another big worldwide hit he had proving yet again that he was on top of the world during the first half of the decade regardless of where you're from.
#43 for 1972
This was the big breakthrough hit that David Essex had in his career, it's a bit of a far cry from all the other songs we've featured so far on this list given how this feels more in line with the glam rock scene of when it was released rather than the more pop friendly tracks from the second half of the decade. Interestingly enough, it remains his only hit in America despite how much bigger his later catalogue was over this.
This is one of those songs that I'm dumbstruck wasn't more of a mainstream success here in Australia given how much oldies stations love to put it in their rotation these days, indeed this is another early victim of the Countdown curse given how well it did throughout Europe and in Steve Harley's native UK upon its initial release. At least we Aussies did notice this back in the day unlike other staples on those stations.
This was the only hit from English pianist Peter Skellern, it was a massive hit for him here in Australia and his native UK likely due to this coming out right before Elton John took over the world with his top entry on this list. It's interesting to theorise how big this guy would've been had Elton not become one of the biggest names in music worldwide.
I think I've done fairly well in keeping my commentary neutral on this list so far, however it's difficult for me to remain as such with this entry due to how obviously high on drugs Melanie is on this track. This obviously wasn't a deterrent for audiences back in the day as it remains her biggest hit in her catalogue, which is further proof that the 60's bled well into this decade given how this feels right at home at Woodstock.
This was the only hit for Minnie Riperton during her short life on this planet, yes, she would go on to tragically pass away by the end of the decade from cancer which makes this one of the more bittersweet hits to become a success on my site. This song has gained infamy for Minnie's high note at the end of each chorus as well as the lyrics admittedly making no sense, I think the song is cute for what it is.
This was the only noticeable success that David Dundas (sorry Lord David Dundas as he does have an official title) achieved in his music career, although he did score a minor hit here in Australia with "Another funny honeymoon" which means there was some appeal to this guy's music outside of this ad jungle for a jean commercial. Oh yeah, this was written specifically as an ad jingle, hence why it sounds like one.
This is widely considered to be Sherbet's signature tune and rightfully so, it's by far their most mature work as they incorporate cricket metaphors in order to describe the infidelity of their partner in this song. Sadly, the rest of their catalogue wasn't nearly this ambitious as it was mainly used to appeal to teenage girls.
It looks like the Bellamy brothers were able to escape the one hit wonder bin here in Australia with what has to be one of the corniest songs to ever be a hit anywhere in the world, I mean the title alone should tell you what you're in for here and yet this managed to be a sleeper success right when the decade was coming to an end here and in the UK of all places.
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