A while back, I made a list of the biggest hits in Australia throughout the 00’s. Unlike what I did for the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, I used someone else’s ranking which means I didn’t specify how well a song did on each respective chart. My reasoning was because the AMR have been unofficial since 1999 given that’s when David Kent stopped publishing them, however I then reminded myself that my rankings throughout this side of my site have been based on those charts rather than the ARIA charts as I feel the former is more reliable than the latter. And so, I present to you the biggest hits of the decade with both charts combined.
This was the second single to come from Holly Valance, this time it's an original track where she's telling the person she's with to pump the breaks on their relationship, although it's easy to interpret this as her being a sex worker as well given that's how I imagine them dealing with rowdy customers. Of all the cast members from Neighbours to have a music career, I can say that Holly was by the most sexually provocative.
#81 for 2002
This was the one and only hit that Norah Jones had in her career, although she was more of an album's artist anyway and her brand of jazz pop really didn't fit well with the likes of every other entry on this list so it being a hit was more of a surprise than anything. What wasn't a surprise was that she would see so much critical and commercial success given how she's the daughter of a well-established musician Ravi Shankar
#84 for 2003
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#81 for 2003
This was the third big hit that Shannon Noll had in a row this year from his debut album, at least he was well liked by the general public outside of the Australian idol sphere which is perhaps how he managed to retain his popularity with his second album he released the following year.
#88 for 2004
This was the fourth hit to come from Mariah Carey's comeback album, although like the other entries from the album, it was far more successful in her native America as the rest of the world was likely still sceptical at the time that she had recovered from her erratic behaviour from earlier in the decade which she clearly had by this point in her career. It could also be that love ballads weren't doing so well in the mainstream at the time internationally.
#77 for 2006
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#78 for 2007
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.
#78 for 2009
This was the final hit single that Celine Dion was able to score in her career in most parts of the world, mainly due to it being the perfect book end to a highly successful decade as this serves as the lead single to her pseudo greatest hits package All the way a decade of song that also has enough new tracks to qualify for a studio album. I guess she could've had more success if she didn't embarrass herself at Vegas in 2002.
#89 for 2000
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#82 for 2003
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#83 for 2003
This is to date the final hit that Blink 182 has been able to achieve in their career, it came from what was originally meant to be their final album as the band would temporarily breakup after the album cycle was completed in order to pursue other projects away from each other. They would eventually reform by the end of the decade where they've since resumed releasing new material together.
#89 for 2004
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#73 for 2006
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#79 for 2007
This was the lead single to the Rogue traders second and final album with Natalie Bassingthwaighte as their lead vocalist, as you can tell, it wasn't as inescapable as the previous entries I've featured on this site so far which should tell you how it struggled to find an audience back in the day. Their next single was a much bigger hit for them the following year, proving their time in the spotlight wasn't over just yet.
#81 for 2007
You know that Hilary Duff was inescapable when she's able to score a massive hit with a cover of a Belinda Carlisle classic with her less popular sister Haylie, this was commissioned for the Cinderella story soundtrack which stars Hilary in the titular role which was panned by critics but was a modest box office hit. Let's just say this cover was more popular than the film here in Australia back in the day.
#90 for 2004
Even though the Backstreet boys scored many more hits worldwide than these guys did, the fact that this was able to go to number one on Billboard did allow them to win the boy band wars in their native America as far as TRL was concerned. This song is also a breakup track much like their earlier entry on this list, further giving them an identity that separated them from their contemporaries of sentimental lover boys.
#90 for 2000
Sandwiched between their two earlier entries on this list was this second single from Big Brovaz, it's a song that interpolates the song from the Sound of music and updates the lyrics to be about how much the female members are into expensive luxuries that their male counterparts could give them. It was an easy hit for them in Australia and their native UK, however the rest of the world was obviously turned off by this interpolation.
#85 for 2003
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#89 for 2004
This was the second single to come from Good charlotte's third album the Chronicles of life and death, an album that was a huge success despite this and its lead single "Predictable" being the only songs I remember hearing from the band at the time. Granted I remember this song being played a lot back in the day, which possibly means it had its success eaten up by digital piracy like most other rock songs throughout the decade.
#82 for 2005
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#74 for 2006
This was originally released two years prior from the Swedish pop star September (real name Petra Marklund) it wasn't a big hit anywhere in the world for some reason which led to it fading into obscurity. It was given a second chance this year when a British DJ remixed it where it became a massive success for her everywhere in the world including America which was unusual for a European artist by this point in time.
#74 for 2008
Named after the heritage he was a part of Panjabi MC initially broke through with this track throughout Europe the previous year given how popular Indian style music was becoming throughout the early 00's worldwide. This year, he recruited Jay-z to provide him a guest verse which allowed this to crossover here in Australia, although I get the feeling the true intent of this remix was to gain him an American audience.
#86 for 2003
This will be Dido's only single appearance on the Australian side of my site, oh sure she scored a ton of success with her first two albums here and scored two additional hits over in NZ with "Thank you" and "Here with me," however this ballad from her second album was the best she could do here given how her fans knew that Sony would pull it from shelves soon after its initial release to promote said album.
#87 for 2003
We Aussies didn't seem to care that Ashlee Simpson had embarrassed herself on SNL like the rest of the world did, otherwise she wouldn't have scored three more hits after the incident down under beginning with this third single from her debut album which I remember being inescapable back in the day despite it only ranking this high on this list. I guess this could've been bigger if more people were proud to admit they enjoyed it.
#83 for 2005
This was a random hit that Nelly had this year about grillz, for the uninitiated, those are the fake teeth that rappers and other celebrities tended to wear throughout the decade, meaning Nelly made a song specifically about how he finds women wearing the mouthpieces to be sexy. I guess enough people also found the mouth gear to be sexy which is why it was a massive hit for him worldwide.
#78 for 2006
One of the more popular songs to come from the UK this year was this cover of an obscure reggae track from the early 70's, in fact I'm willing to bet more people are familiar with the Baha men version from the mid 90's than the original as that's seemed to have popped up in recent years for some reason. In any case we have this version from the British band Toploader crossing over here in Australia due to its funky beat.
#84 for 2001
This was the final hit that the Offspring were able to achieve in their career worldwide, I'm guessing it was due to the video which showcased lead singer Dexter Holland in what appears to be an homage to the CGI series Reboot which likely sparked nostalgia for audiences at the time given how their debut album came out the same time that show premiered. I guess there are worse ways one's popularity can die in the music scene.
#91 for 2004
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#81 for 2005
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#75 for 2006
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#80 for 2007
#74 for 2008
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#89 for 2000
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#84 for 2003
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#90 for 2004
If you're still convinced that James Blunt is a one hit wonder with "You're beautiful," consider the fact that he scored a third hit from his debut album here in Australia which has been much better received over the years than his other two big hits from the album. All of this success led to him making a follow up album the following year that was also a massive hit everywhere in the world except for America.
#79 for 2006
Whereas her earlier entry on this list didn't spark any controversy (well at least from anyone who didn't despise teen pop with a passion) this on the other hand raised a few eyebrows due to it heavily sampling "Jack and Diane" from John Mellencamp where she takes on the role of Diane in the song. It was a massive hit here in Australia likely due to nostalgia, however fans of the heartland rocker weren't too pleased about this.
#91 for 2000
This was the final hit that Ronan Keating had in his career, mainly because it's a cover of the Bob Seger classic but using the Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton format as that version was more popular back in the day. Here he recruits 60's legend Lulu who finally escapes the one hit wonder bin after over thirty years given how she never had another hit on her own in Australia apart from "To sir with love" in 1967.
#88 for 2003
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#85 for 2003
I wonder if the term MILF existed around the early 00's, this is essentially an anthem for that subculture as the lyrics of the song explicitly detail how the underage narrator was in love with an older woman (at least he acknowledges that this was a weird phenomenon he was having.) It was a surprise hit here in Australia likely due to us Aussies finding the situation hilarious to the point where we wound up loving it.
#89 for 2003
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#76 for 2006
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#77 for 2006
#81 for 2007
Given how Nicole Scherzinger was able to revive Diddy's popularity the previous year, it only makes sense that he was score a second hit from around this time with the assistance of Christina Aguilera who was also as the height of her popularity thanks to the success of her album Back to basics.
#82 for 2007
This was a hit here in Australia likely due to the similarities it had with "Halo" from earlier on this list as both songs were written and produced by Ryan Tedder which led to accusations of him recycling songs to give to artists. As this was the only time two songs of his sounded this similar to each other, these claims quickly went away as he continued to have success as a songwriter and occasionally with his band.
#79 for 2009
This is the final hit that Five had in their career before they went their separate ways, although the boys already had signs of tension during their third album's production as ABS would leave soon after its release due to creative differences. At least this was a decent hit here in Australia given how the boy band wars had already come to an end by this point.
#85 for 2001
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#83 for 2001
This was the penultimate hit that Brandy had here in Australia, it's a cover of the Phil Collins classic (which was his penultimate here funnily enough) that she turned into a duet by recruiting RNB singer Ray J. If the name Ray J sounds familiar to you, that's because he was the reason why Kim Kardashian became famous later in the decade after the pair starred in a sex tape together.
#86 for 2001
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#80 for 2002
#86 for 2003
Well, if you couldn't tell by the title of this song, this was a novelty track about the hobby ping pong that became a surprise hit for the Australian band Operator please likely due to this being an excellent time for offbeat songs to make it big in the mainstream worldwide. I'm willing to bet that if streaming had existed back then, this would be one of the biggest hits of all time down under as well as a huge international hit.
#83 for 2007
This was the final hit that the Veronicas had not just from their second album but for the decade here in Australia, it's a song where they're really cutting loose as it's meant to be something you play on the dance floors without it necessarily being a dance track. The next time they would have a hit wouldn't come for another six years as that's how long it would take for them to release their third album.
#75 for 2008
You'd think that the album cycle to J-Lo's second album would've been more successful for her given how she was one of the most successful celebrities at the turn of the new millennium, although I think in this case, it was due to a part where she goes "play my motherf**king song" which of course had to be censored in the radio and also led to rumours that she was little more than an entitled diva.
#87 for 2001
This was only a sleeper hit here in Australia for the Gorillaz, a British band that consists of an animated counterpart with art done by the same people who made the Tank girl comics in the 90's. Their debut single was a hip hop track named after the Hollywood actor (despite his name not appearing once in the lyrics) which was a surprise hit for the band considering how quirky and unconventional the song is.
#88 for 2001
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#81 for 2002
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.
#76 for 2008
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#82 for 2005
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#78 for 2006
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#75 for 2008
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#87 for 2003
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#88 for 2003
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#82 for 2007
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