This was the second single to be released on Abba's self-titled album, a song that initially flopped internationally but was such a surprise success in Australia that it unofficially became their signature track here. The rest of the world followed suit eventually as the popular Broadway musical based around their catalogue was named after this track.
Sweet were on a roll when they released their biggest hit in Australia this year, although it's worth noting that around the time this became a massive success here and in their native UK, their earlier hit "Ballroom blitz" had only just crossed over to America where it became a huge success on Billboard. This is another song that was huge back in the day to be fondly remembered today by oldies stations.
For everyone who thought that David Hasselhoff was the original performer of this comedy track, allow me to present to you the original version from Ted Mulry gang who managed to achieve one of the biggest hits of the decade with a song that I'm sure many people found funny back in the day.
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 massive success for the Dutch group who began the decade with their hit single "Little green bag," I have to admit that I'm not too surprised that this hasn't stood the test of time like many of the other entries we'll come to say as this list goes on.
Although it's become a staple for the decade in Australian music, you may be surprised to learn that "Living in the 70's" was a flop for Skyhooks despite it being one of the first songs to be promoted on Countdown on the show's inception. Fortunately, the second single from the album of the same name was a massive hit for the band, likely due to them referring to the 6:30 news as a horror movie.
Before "Howzat," this was considered the signature track from Sherbet given that it was easily their biggest hit at this point in their career. I guess this is also a decent entry from the band for anyone outside their demographic as this does serve as a nice summer anthem compared to the rest of their discography which is mainly targeted towards the teenage demographic of the 70's.
This was the first Billboard chart topper for Olivia Newton John, although she had massive success in Australia and her native UK throughout the first half of the decade as a country star when female country singers were dominating the mainstream. This was written by Peter Allen around the time he came out as gay, meaning it's possible this was about how he fell in love with a guy who was in a straight relationship that he gave to Livie to straightwash the scenario.
This was the third hit single to come out of Abba's self-titled album, although technically this was the second song released from the album as "Mamma Mia" was released very early in Australia likely due to how much we Aussies loved that track. This likely resulted in the Swedish quartet's complete monopoly on our charts during the midpoint of the decade, although thankfully for their nonfans, this monopoly didn't last that long.
Ever felt that the Carpenters were too wholesome for you? If so, may I present you the Captain and Tennille who do away with the wholesomeness from the brother and sister duo in favour of this husband-and-wife duo who seem to be aiming for a more middle of the road crowd with their breakthrough single. I always found Toni Tennille to be the equivalent of Karen Carpenter if Karen let herself loose in the studio.
Sweet were on a roll when they released this cover of a rockabilly track from the early 60's, after all glam rock was at the height of its popularity this year no thanks to Countdown promoting the genre on TV over the likes of all the easy listening that these guys had to compete with during the first half of the decade.
This was sadly the second to last single that the Carpenters were able to achieve in Australia, their final hit being "Calling occupants" which only became as such due to how bizarre it was upon its initial release. It's certainly a far cry from this cover of the Marvelettes track which is more in line with what they had to offer throughout their career, although I get the feeling the Captain and Tennille stole their thunder with their earlier entry on this list.
This was the first solo hit from Daryl Braithwaite in his career, suffice to say it's quite different from the more mature tracks that he would become known for during the late 80's and early 90's. What's interesting is that this was his first number one hit both solo and with Sherbet, meaning that he didn't have any chart toppers prior to Countdown promoting his music.
These guys were already a household name by the time Countdown launched the previous year, although they saw their popularity grow even further from their debut album when this cover of an obscure 50's track became a huge success for them likely due to the glam rock phase still being as strong as ever this year. Sadly, their popularity would dwindle once their next single "Glad all over" dropped off the charts.
This was a cover of a novelty song from the 60's from a duo by the name of Paul and Paula, I'm guessing this was done as a joke given how this cover is from TV host Ernie Sigley and comedian Denise "Ding dong" Drysdale only a decade after the original track. It proved to be an even bigger his than the original here in Australia likely due to the star power on display.
The kung fu craze of the 70's was inexplicably popular, as such we have this tribute from Carl Douglas which is surprisingly not racist in the slightest as this was back in the early days of political correctness preventing people from making caricatures of non-western culture such as the kung fu craze. The song has been covered and remixed several times of the years, which is why you still hear the original to this day.
OK before people lose their minds at the thought of the English playwright managing to score a hit single centuries after his death, I should point out that this was simply the stage name of John Cave who scored two huge hits during the height of glam rock with this being the second of the two. Had glam rock persisted during the second half of the decade, I'm sure he would've had more success after this.
This was another successful ballad to come out of Rod Stewart this decade, one that I'm pretty sure led to a rather nasty rumour about him concerning sailors that I won't bother repeating on this entry.
This guy had been active in the music industry for almost two decades before he finally saw massive success with this ballad, I'm guessing this was due to him singing the second verse in Spanish to help appeal to those who find the language to be the embodiment of sexy. I have to say that this is another vocalist whose voice I never really cared for, I just find it too pitchy on his biggest hits.
One of the most popular bands of the decade has to be the Bay city rollers, although admittedly their popularity here in Australia was even briefer than that of Abba and Sherbet who at least stuck around for most of the decade. Here we have the first big hit from the Scottish band which remains popular to this day due to the lyrics being a good way of ending a bad relationship with someone.
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.
So, does any of my readers know what a bogan is? If you don't, it's basically what we Australian refer to as a redneck which in turn is someone who lives in a rural area that's highly out of touch with mainstream society (to put it mildly.) Comedian Bob Hudson decided to make a song about this type of person which he included on his comedy album which became a surprise hit for him in Australia and NZ.
This was the lead single to Abba's third album, admittedly it's one of my least favourite songs from the group as I feel the energy drops whenever they sing the song's title in the chorus. It's still far ahead of the competition in my books, however I can see this being a lightning for their haters to justify their dislike for them.
Following the success of their Billboard chart topper "TSOP" with MFSB, this RNB girl group managed to score a massive hit worldwide with this ballad which seemed to confirm them as the hottest new act of the moment. Heck this was a huge hit when Countdown launched, so it's obvious even we Aussies were interested in what these girls had to offer for a while. Alas their popularity died out even in their native America after this.
This was originally released three years prior to deafening silence for Roger Whittaker, likely due to audiences not being interested in having yet another singer/songwriter to join the ranks of Don McLean and Cat Stevens in our mainstream. The song was given a second chance during the midpoint of the decade due to it becoming a surprise hit for him in his native UK for reasons I can't seem to ascertain.
This was the title track from Skyhook's second album, and one that reassured listeners that having an ego in of itself wasn't the problem with toxic people but rather how these people carried themselves with said ego. It was a surprisingly poignant message that very few songs from this time had, hence why it connected with audiences.
Following the success of their earlier entry on this list, we have this track which was originally released as a standalone single before being included on their live album a few years later due to how explosive of a performance they gave during live shows. This no doubt led to them having massive success in their native UK for the next fifteen years and even success here in Australia for the rest of the decade.
This was the first of only two hits that British singer Peter Shelley had throughout the world (no relation to the Buzzcock's Pete Shelley) his other hit was a sleeper hit this year in Australia and thus won't be making an appearance on here. This likely would've been even bigger if Countdown had not taken over the music scene here as it was a hit the previous year before the show's introduction.
Oh, wow does Muhammad Ali deserve so much more than to have this song be affiliated with him. This was an obvious cash in from Johnny Wakelin who released this track months after the boxer scored a massive victory against the formerly undefeated George Foreman which incidentally had him compared to the comic book hero due to how much of an inspiration he was worldwide. If you can believe it, this guy scored a second hit in his home country with "In Zaire."
Sweet's popularity seemed to be bigger than ever when they released this track from their album Strung up, so to see them see diminishing returns as the decade went on was a bit of a surprise given how inescapable they were this year. I'm guessing this was due to glam rock being at the peak of its popularity and that they were among the most popular bands to come from the genre.
It's hard to say if this would've been as big a hit here in Australia had it been released well into the Countdown era as it seems to fit in nicely with all of the country ballads that permeated the first half of the 70's. In any case, we have the one and only hit from Billy Swan who made a huge splash worldwide with this ballad, although I guess even in his native America, he remains a one hit wonder with this song.
It seemed like Suzi Quatro would be here to stay in the Australian music scene given how her second single from her sophomore album became a huge success for her, alas it wasn't meant to be as her third album was a huge flop later in the year and she would only occasionally see success throughout the rest of the decade with her songs. I'm not sure why the Australian public turned on her the way we did.
So, Gene Pitney was able to score a massive hit single this year huh? I guess if Perry Como and Telly Savalas were able to find success during the midpoint of the decade throughout the world, I don't see the harm in this guy doing so only a mere decade after his last hit single "I'm gonna be strong."
While their second album named after their previous entry on this list wasn't as successful overall as their debut, it made up for that by spawning two of the bigger hits of the decade for Skyhooks as this second single about how Shirley feels left out for being single while everyone in his social circle is settling down with their significant others struck a chord with the single people of the decade.
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.
This may have been their only hit in Australia, however it's obvious that we were touched by the band's inspiring tale that the best was yet to come for them that we granted their wishes in making them a household name with the song and the album it came from. Indeed, these guys have a lot to be proud of as this remains a staple on oldies stations to this day.
This was originally a hit for the Jackson five earlier in the decade, that would explain why Gloria has a more noticeable falsetto on this track compared to her other big hit from later in the decade. It seems odd that there was a battle for who the queen of disco was this decade as I think we can all agree that Donna Summer took that prize as the decade came to an end, however Gloria was in consideration for that prize as well.
This was the breakthrough single for Marty Rhone, a pop star who was all set to break through earlier in the decade before he was drafted into the Vietnam war much like fellow pop star Normie Rowe from the previous decade. When he was discharged from the army, Marty resumed his music career which was given a second wind thanks to Countdown promoting his music.
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.
These guys were known as British Jigsaw in Australia due to there being a more popular band by that name during the first half of the decade, this was a common trend when it came to international artists finding success after a local act with the same name made it big here. In any case, we have another song that was made more popular in the 90's thanks to there being a dance track that covered it.
This was a ballad that originally went by the name "Brandy" and was a hit for Scott English earlier in the decade, I'm guessing Barry Manilow changed the name of the song to avoid confusion with that ballad even though that's the only lyrical change he made to the song. It was the first of several hit singles he scored this decade that was a cover despite him being a well-known songwriter.
This was meant as a commentary of how older artists were able to find success many years after their initial popularity died out in the music industry, yes you can also interpret the lyrics to be literal which is about a person who is coasting off on their laurels from their past achievements. Yeah, there's no other way to interpret this track, John is clearly annoyed by how older artists were making it big over younger talent.
This was another double release from Sherbet, this time we have two songs that they couldn't decide to promote from their album Life is for living and as such went for both. This proved to be a massive success for the band as it helped them retain their popularity over their main rivals Skyhooks, although it also proved that they had a specific target audience in mind for their music.
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.
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.
Frankie Valli certainly seemed to have a resurgence in popularity this decade which all began with this ballad about how he reminisces about a crush he had when he was a schoolboy. This managed to tug at the heartstrings of audiences worldwide and have it be a huge success for him, which in turn led to him having two more hits later in the decade both solo and with the Four seasons with disco tracks.
This was originally released the previous year to deafening silence here in Australia, I'm not even sure why it flopped if I'm being honest as Livie was already one of the biggest stars here in Australia and she was acquiring a massive international audience with her country ballads. This was given a second chance following the success of her greatest hits album First impressions.
This was another successful song to come from the Bay city rollers this year, in fact it's worth noting that these guys managed to spawn a hit single from each of their albums during the midpoint of the decade to give you an idea of how inescapable they were here in Australia.
Well, it appears that Keith Potger learned his lesson and finally put the New seekers out of their misery this year, he even reformed his original band albeit with the notable absence of Judith Durham who wouldn't rejoin the band until the early 90's. Instead, the band went with Louisa Wisseling as the lead vocalist who managed to help them score a massive hit with this ballad for the band.
Even though the big hit from Welcome to my nightmare in Alice's native America was "Only women," this was the big hit he had here in Australia proving that we Aussies were more interested in him being a rebel for the youth of the day rather than him speaking on behalf of women around the world about domestic violence. That said, Alice's softer side would eventually lead to him having his biggest hit here.
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 only hit that Harry Chapin managed to achieve in his lifetime, indeed like some artists who made it big this decade, he didn't live for very long after he scored his big hit as he died in a car crash in 1981 meaning there was every chance he could've scored a second hit in his career if he lived through the 80's. This song was covered by Ugly kid joe in the early 90's where it became an even bigger success for them.
This was the first pop hit that David Essex was able to score in his career, I bring this up because he scored massive success earlier in the decade with "Rock on," which is more in line with glam rock than any of his other hits. This is also his cheesiest song as he claims that associating with him will make the person in question a star.
Well, this is a ballad that still manages to hit hard all of these years later, Christmas of 1974 was a dire time for those living in Darwin as they were struck by Cyclone Tracy proving that climate change has been a thing for many years at this point. In order to raise funds for the survivors, NZ duo Bill and Boyd recorded this track which had all the proceeds going towards those that were affected by the disaster.
Continuing with his meta commentary of the state of music, John Paul Young decided to target the state of love songs which often resulted in setting up unrealistic expectations in real life romances. I guess it's good to know that people have been making these observations in music for this long, although John manages to do so while having an aurally pleasing song that managed to become a huge hit for him.
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.
This was the only noticeable hit that Richard Clapton was able to score throughout his career, although at least it remains a staple on oldies stations so he can take comfort in the fact that he wrote a song that would stand the test of time in Australia. I feel that this was the type of music that Daryl Braithwaite wanted to make during his time with Sherbet but got stuck making teen pop for his female audience.
Skyhooks were on a roll as they released the advanced single to their third album, a song that acknowledges that they needed to up their production if they wanted to remain relevant now that they've become one of the biggest names in Australian music. Although it wasn't as successful as their earlier hits, this was a huge hit regardless and reassured the band that they had a loyal fanbase.
This guy isn't the bassist for Queen despite them sharing the same name, instead he was an Australia TV composer who scored his one and only hit for the TV show Rush which was a popular Australian crime show from the 70's that was remade in the late 00's. From what I can gather, it was the Magnum P.I of its time, making this another occasion that American media stole from Australian media throughout history.
It seems odd that Glen Campbell would score so much success here in Australia and have his sellout track about well...... selling out be his final hit single here. Indeed, this song about how Glen was going to be as he puts it, a rhinestone cowboy to the masses was his final hit here in Australia despite it being the first of two Billboard chart toppers for the country legend.
While this wasn't Leo Sayer's first hit in Australia (that honour goes to "The show must go on" from the previous year) it was the song that made him a household name despite it being a far cry from the soft rock ballads or even pseudo disco bangers that he would become synonymous with later in the decade.
Even though she was based in America when she released this country ballad, Diana Trask was nonetheless able to find success back home with this ballad despite it bombing on the Billboard charts. It became a huge sleeper hit down under this year likely due to older audiences being still being in love with female country ballads buying this despite what the younger audiences wanted to hear.
This was one of several bands that Tony Burrows was a part of this decade, two others of note were Edison Lighthouse (of "Love grows" fame) and Brotherhood of man on their big hit "United we stand" from earlier in the decade. Here he is with his final hit worldwide which is a surf rock track that's clearly meant to be an homage to the Beach boys less than a decade after their last hit "Cottonfields."
This was an amazing year for Elton John given how he not only scored two massive hits this year but also managed to have each of his albums at this point be a massive worldwide success. Neither of his two songs this year appeared on his albums, and admittedly audiences likely wanted to hear this upbeat song about how awesome Philadelphia is over his more sombre ballad "Someone saved my love tonight."
This was the second Oscar winning ballad this decade to come from Maureen McGovern, an actress/singer who scored both of her hits with these two ballads in Australia as they were both attached to highly successful films that she also appeared in. This came from the Towering inferno, a disaster film about how a fire starts in what was supposed to be the tallest building in the world and the struggles that were had containing the fire in the building.
We have one final entry from Sherbet for this site, again it was a huge success for them due to how well loved they were on Countdown during the first few years of its existence.
This was the last solo hit that Neil Diamond had in Australia, although he continued to find massive success with his albums and even scored a hit with a duet with Barbra Streisand later in the decade. I guess Countdown prevented him from scoring any more hits here but allowed his popularity to flourish with his albums.
This was originally a hit for the Dave Clark five over a decade prior, however Hush managed to make it their own this year with their glam version which proved to be their second and final hit in their discography. They did have moderate success with their album this year due to both of their entries on this list, however they would struggle to find further success as the decade went on.
This was a two for one deal for John Denver as he released two of his more popular tracks from his (then) latest album Windsong in order to retain his popularity in the mainstream. This paid off for him as the double entry was a success as was the album itself, although it appears audiences suffered from overexposure from the country singer as he struggled for relevancy after this.
This was the backing band for Gary Glitter, a man who has gone down in infamy for his disgusting habits that I won't be sharing on this site. He at least had a talented band to back him up during his heyday, and it appears the public agreed as they gave them a hit without their troubled front man once his popularity began to die down this year.
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.
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.
These guys didn't have a lot of success with their singles in Australia, this was mainly due to how huge their albums were and that album artists generally didn't spawn a lot of hits here in Australia with rare exceptions such as Abba and Sherbet. They did have success during the second half of the 70's given how they had the second biggest hit of the decade with "Mull of Kintyre" from two years later.
This was one of the last hit singles that the king of rock and roll had in his lifetime worldwide, it was made during his Vegas years which wasn't having a positive aspect towards his mental and physical health due to all of the controversies he was finding himself in. At least the public hadn't forgotten about him given how he kept finding hits all the way up to his untimely death.
I guess this guy having two Billboard chart toppers this year makes sense given how much of his back catalogue was finding success through covers around this time, this was the bigger of the two hits here in Australia proving that older crooners were among the more popular artists from around this time.
This was the second of only two solo hits that Stevie Wright had here in Australia, although he did have one of the biggest hits of the decade with "Evie" from the previous year and he was the lead single of the Easybeats who were one of the biggest Australian bands of the 60's. This was one of the earliest songs to be performed on Countdown, which in addition to his previous success, made it a shoe in to be a hit this year.
This was the first big hit that AC/DC had in Australia, although curiously it wasn't included on their album of the same name as this was the lead single to their second album T.N.T which came out at the tail end of the year for the band. They would score a total of three hits throughout the decade, which is a far cry from the success you'd expect from the band as their first best seller wouldn't come until 1980's Back in black.
It looked like the Bee gees would be yesterday's news when their previous album flopped on the charts worldwide, however their fortunes changed when they decided to hop on the disco bandwagon early on in its popularity which single handedly revived their career worldwide as this topped the Billboard charts for them. For some reason, I always thought this was a Fleetwood mac single, possibly due to it lacking their trademark falsetto's which they would develop throughout the second half of the decade.
This was the only hit that Van McCoy was able to achieve in his lifetime in most parts of the world, although the Brits did give him a second hit later in the decade with "The shuffle" which is a less conventional disco record due to it being in a 6/4-time signature as opposed to the more conventional 4/4-time signature like this and many other dance tracks are. Sadly, Van would die of a drug overdose by the end of the decade.
This was more in line with some of the bigger hits that Leo Sayer would score this decade, although it wasn't as big as what was still to come given how this has become one of his more forgotten songs in his catalogue over the years. Even so it was a good steppingstone for the likes of "You make me feel like dancing" and "Thunder in my heart."
This was apparently recorded back in the late 50's when Freddy was just starting out in the music industry, apparently his label had faith in this ballad as they released it this year following the success of his earlier entry on this list. It became a huge success for him, although it was nowhere near as popular here or his native America as it was in NZ where no joke, it was the biggest hit of the decade.
This was the second and final hit that BJ Thomas was able to achieve in Australia, third if you consider that John Farnham stole his second hit here with his rendition of "Raindrops keep falling on my head." I guess Glen Campbell was the country star of choice here in Australia during the height of our fascination with the genre considering how much bigger he was compared to this guy down under.
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.
Well, I hope you're in the mood for Elton John portraying himself as a native islander trying to save the life of a sex worker of colour, because that's what he does on this song which was a Billboard chart topper for him this year. Even if this song were written and performed by a person of colour, it would still be problematic even for its time due to the insistence of them deciding what's best for the woman in question.
Judy Collins had previously scored a massive hit here in Australia with a showtunes rendition of "Amazing grace" four years prior, so it isn't too far out of the realms of plausibility that she would score a minor hit this year with her rendition of this showtunes classic even amongst all of the other entries on this list.
Well, here's that surprise hit in America I mentioned at the start of this list; indeed, my American readers will think these guys are a one hit wonder due to this being their only appearance on the Billboard charts back in the day despite their earlier entry being their big hit internationally. Again, we have a song that's the embodiment of happiness which is how it was able to stand out back in the day.
This was the debut single for the Little river band, a group who would go on to have massive international success by the end of the decade due to how well they were promoted on Countdown during their inception. While this has fallen by the wayside in terms of their popularity, it did give them the success they needed to make their classics throughout their career.
This guy was one of the biggest names in music throughout the 60's, so I guess he was able to achieve a huge comeback hit this decade along the likes of Perry Como and Bobby Vinton.
I'm guessing this was meant to be a runaway success for Tony Christie given how long it stuck around for on our charts, however it only ended up being a sleeper hit for him likely due to this being pushed away from the mainstream in favour of what Countdown wanted to promote instead.
