Well, I feel it's about time I tackled the UK charts for the 70's just like I did for the Billboard charts, again I'm using a homemade chart on RYM to determine the order each entry appears on this list as well as stopping at a particular point to highlight only the best of the best over there this decade. I'm also skipping over entries that didn't become a hit in the southern hemisphere whilst providing alternate art where possible for each entry to give them a visual difference compared to their other appearances on this site.
This is the third and final entry from Ray Stevens on this list, it's with what many consider to be his worst song not so much for its quality but rather for how hypocritical it is for him to be singing it. It appears the Brits were able to catch on to this hypocrisy given how much less popular it was over there compared to here in Australia and his native America, although not enough for it to flop over there.
Given how this was one of the most successful songs of the decade in Australia and the duo's native America, it makes sense that it would be a huge hit for the Carpenters in the UK even if it had a rather low peak position on the UK charts. They still have two more entries on this list, one of them being unique to this list as it was a complete failure for them in their homeland.
This is the third and final entry from Hot chocolate on this list, in a bit of a bizarre twist, it actually proved to be more successful in Australia and NZ for the RNB band than it did in their homeland given how long it's taken it to appear on this list. They did have other candidates for this list, however none of them were the other two hits they had in the southern hemisphere and thus won't be appearing.
This is the final entry from the Sweet on this list given how their latest hit "Love is like oxygen" bombed in their homeland, indeed this was way more popular for them here in Australia given how this was a bridesmaid for them on the UK charts as opposed to it easily being one of the biggest hits of the decade down under. Again, I have to assume the Americans took notice of its success here rather than their homeland.
This is the other big hit that Badfinger had in their homeland, again it was somehow popular enough for it to attract the attention of the Americans given how it also appeared on my Billboard list. If you noticed, these were the first two hits they had in NZ, meaning that their third entry on my Billboard list was in fact their most recent hit in their catalogue, which means their fellow Brits got tired of them quicker than everyone else.
This is the only appearance from Paul Simon on this list, although he did have a second hit in the UK with "Take me to the Mardi Gras" which was actually his sole chart topper as a solo artist in NZ. Had that been more of a hit in the UK, it would've been a shoe in for this list given its appearance on my NZ list for this decade, other than that, he would have to wait until 1986 before he scored another hit over there.
Here's the big hit that Shirley Bassey had here in Australia this decade, why we Aussies decided it was worthy of being one of the biggest hits of the 70's here when it only barely cracked the UK top ten for the Welsh woman of colour I'll never know, but that's why its appearing on this list. She had one more hit in her homeland with "For all we know" which was sandwiched between her two entries on this list.
Unlike here in Australia where this was only a hit for the husband-and-wife duo due to us Aussies showing our support for Tina leaving Ike in 1976, this was a hit upon its initial release in the UK in 1973 which technically means it's ineligible for this list but I allowed it since it didn't chart over there when the two separated. Besides, how can I not acknowledge its success when it was a failure in their native America?
Full disclosure, the only time I had ever heard of the Wombles prior to looking over the NZ charts was in an episode of the Vicar of Dibley where Dawn French makes a joke about wanting to be a part of them before her character decided she wanted to be a priest instead. That should give you an idea of how clueless I was about their phenomenon back in the day in the UK as this was one of three hits they had during the shows run in their homeland.
I'm a bit surprised this was a bust in Carole Bayer Sager's native America given how it was a decent hit for her in the UK as well as a monstrous chart topper here in Australia, if I had to guess, it was big here due to her performing the song on Countdown even though I can't find any footage to verify this theory. In any case, it was a shoe in for this list due to how big it was in the UK despite its low peak position.
It's been a while since I mentioned the Saturday night fever soundtrack, hasn't it? Here we are with the third biggest hit from the album in the UK which comes to us not from the brothers Gibb but rather Yvonne Elliman who escaped the one hit wonder bin over there with this track with another song we'll be looking at in a bit. Don't worry, we'll get to the biggest hit the soundtrack spawned here in Australia in a bit.
It turns out this being a huge hit in the UK in 1973 was the reason why it became a hit for Boris "Bobby" Pickett here in Australia eleven years after it became a Billboard chart topper for him in his native America, although for what it's worth, this was a minor hit in his homeland that year due to its international success. Much like here in Australia, this also didn't chart in the UK upon its initial release.
It feels odd that Australia was the only place in the world where this wasn't at least a top ten hit for the brothers Gibb, although admittedly I always felt the charts throughout the 70's were a bit too floaty which is perhaps why Countdown improvised a top ten on their weekly charts until 1983 (for a bit of a fun fact.) Indeed, this was a top ten hit in the UK like it was over in NZ for the trio.
I wasn't expecting to see Crystal Gayle on this list, mainly because as you've noticed, country music didn't do so well in the UK at any given point in time. In any case, this more than explains why it was a hit for her in the southern hemisphere, although it appears that we Aussies were a bit conflicted in whether we wanted to make it a hit for her or not given its sleeper hit status.
This was the only hit that Roberta Flack had in the UK, it makes sense why given how her other big hit in Australia was as such due to it appearing in a Clint Eastwood flick as opposed to this being a hit in its own right. This also explains how the Fugees interpolation from 1996 became a massive hit over there as Lauryn Hill and company were able to nostalgia bomb the Brits just like they did everywhere else.
If you wanted to know if this was a hit in NZ due to the kiwis love for the blaxploitation comedy Good times, it turns out that wasn't the only reason as it was also a huge hit in the UK for the star of the show Jim Gilstrap despite it being a massive failure in his native America. Again, I have a feeling it was due to this failure that he stuck to acting rather than pursuing a music career moving forward.
This is the final appearance from Rod Stewart on the list, although he did have five other hits in his homeland that would've appeared later down this list if they were as such in Australia and/or NZ. There's only one entry I skipped over from him, that being the second appearance that "Sailing" has on my RYM list, meaning that song had two runs that were bigger in his homeland than the biggest hit he had in America.
If you're wondering why it's taken me this long to feature an ELO track on this list, that's because A: they're a rock and roll band trying to find success in a country that seems to be allergic to the genre and B: they had two candidates on my RYM list that I skipped over due to their failure in the southern hemisphere (those being "Mr blue sky" and "Sweet talking woman".) It's a bit of coincidence that their first entry on this list was their biggest hit here in Australia.
I'm not exactly sure how this managed to be an even bigger hit here in Australia than it was in the husband and wife duo's native UK, it might be due to a Countdown performance as there are a lot of concert footage of them performing this song at the time floating around the internet that doesn't explicitly state what show they were on. In any case, it was a big hit in both countries even if they didn't have a second hit in either one.
Here's the big hit that Fox had here in Australia, again it's hard to say if this was a huge chart topper down under due to a Countdown performance that's since been lost to the sands of time given how that would explain why it did so well here when it only did decently well in their native UK. It could also be because lead singer Noosha Fox is Australian, although that raises further questions for their earlier entry.
I forgot to mention on my Billboard list that this was a hit in America almost a year after it became as such in Australia and NZ, this was also the case in the UK even though this had no chance at topping the UK charts like it did internationally for the Carpenters. This means that in a bizarre twist of fate, the duo owes their second Billboard chart topper to us Aussies and kiwis.
If you're wondering how this managed to be a huge hit in Australia and NZ despite it flopping in Ram jam's native America, it turns out the Brits somehow got a hold of this track from them and made it a massive hit in the UK. This definitely explains why it needed several attempts to take off here in Australia given how it would've seemed odd to us that this American band was only popular with the Brits.
This is another entry from two American artists that failed to appear on my Billboard list, this means that once again, we have the thank the Brits for why this was a success here in Australia even though this would feel better at home with all the soft rock I skipped over on my previous list. Neither Dean Freidman nor Denise Marsa managed a second hit anywhere else in the world.
We haven't looked at an entry from Wings in a hot minute, so here we are with the title track to their biggest album which was a hit in the UK just like it was in every country where it was released as a single. Admittedly it didn't quite get to number one over there as was the case for all their singles barring their top entry on this list, however at least it saw the light of day which wasn't the case here in Australia.
I have no idea how this managed to become one of the biggest hits of the decade here in Australia given how long it's taken me to feature this solo entry from Bryan Ferry, I guess it was due to an appearance on Countdown, however all I can find is his episode from 1981 with his band Roxy music where he performed "Jealous guy." In any case, this was a decent hit for him in his homeland and a massive hit down under.
It's a bit odd to see these guys so low on this list with this entry given how it was a big hit here in Australia for them, they did appear on Countdown this decade, however they performed their top entry on this list as well as another song in their catalogue that didn't catch on anywhere, meaning from what I can gather, this wasn't a hit in Australia due to their appearance on the show.
It's been a hot minute since we last looked at Blondie on this list, although the only song I skipped over from them was their other UK chart topper this decade "Sunday girl" which would've come shortly after their previous entry on this list. This was a bridesmaid for the band on the UK charts, although at least they had a hit with this and the second single from Eat to the beat over there "Atomic" which wasn't the case in their native America.
This is the second weakest chart topper of the decade in the UK, we'll get to the weakest chart topper in a bit but suffice to say, it's obvious this only went to number one for Billy Connolly due to his star power and not because his fellow Brits were that big of fans of his "cover" of the Tammy Wynette classic. Rather hilariously, the original version actually recharted because of this cover and even became a UK chart topper for the country legend.
This is the other appearance from Roxy music on this list, although it comes to us thanks to its sleeper hit status here in Australia as the kiwis didn't give these guys or lead singer Bryan Ferry the time of day until their earlier entry on this list from the end of the decade. This was another bridesmaid on this list, proving that having a high peak on the UK charts didn't necessarily mean you had an inescapable hit.
It's neem a hot minute since we looked at Tina Charles on this list, here she is with her third and final hit in her career chronologically that naturally was as such upon its initial release in her native UK as opposed to needing two attempts like it did here in Australia. I don't know why this and her third entry that's still to come on this list needed more than one attempt to appeal to us Aussies when her earlier entry didn't.
Here's the other big hit that Yvonne Elliman had in the UK, she was the original Mary Magdalene in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production of Jesus Christ superstar as well as in the film adaptation from 1973, so perhaps it was due to her status as an actress that allowed this to become a hit for her everywhere in the world except for her native America. It could be that, or it could be she didn't count as an American given she's from Hawaii.
We haven't looked at these guys in a bit, so here we are with the fourth and final entry from 10cc which was also their other appearance on my Billboard list for the decade. This wasn't even their biggest hit from Deceptive bends in their homeland as that honour goes to "Good morning judge" which outranks it slightly on my RYM list, I'm not even sure why as both songs are from the same genre.
This is the only hit that Odyssey had outside of the UK, I bring this up because they had four candidates for my 80's list including a chart topper with "Use it up and wear it out" which just goes to show how much in love the Brits were with the American trio. Why their fellow Americans left them in the dust I'll never know, however that more than explains why the best they could do in NZ was this sleeper hit.
Oh yeah, the Beatles had a hit in their homeland this decade. It was only a bridesmaid on the UK charts, and it seemed like that was only out of pure obligation give how quickly this sunk on their charts compared to many other entries on this list from the start of the decade. How weird is it that their fellow Brits were so keen to leave them behind in the 60's the minute that decade came to an end?
I'm really stretching out Elton John's representation on this list, aren't I? Here we are with the second single from Don't shoot me I'm only the piano player which wasn't nearly the success in his homeland it was in America. He only has two more entries to come on this list, neither of which came close to topping the UK charts and instead made it on here because they were genuinely popular.
This is the final appearance from Leo Sayer on this list given how "Long tall glasses" was too minor of a hit in his homeland to appear on here despite its massive success here in Australia. From what I can gather, Leo only appeared on the show three times, once to perform "When I need you" (which incidentally was also when David Dundas came on the show) once to perform "You make me feel like dancing" on its one-year anniversary and once more in 1981. As you can tell, this was after this became a bridesmaid in his homeland and a moderate success here (side note, holy crap I had a lot to say here.)
Given how this was only a decent hit at best for Frankie Miller in his homeland, I'm a bit confused as to how it became a huge hit in Australia and NZ. I couldn't find any evidence of a Countdown appearance, although even if that's why it was big down under, it doesn't explain its success in NZ where it was even bigger. In any case, I think we can bring up my theory that a song's crossover appeal was ultimately arbitrary at this point in the list.
Given how these guys saw a massive comeback in the UK with "Show you the way to go" (they had two big hits from the start of the decade over there) it only makes sense that this would be a hit over there on time even if it went on to be even bigger over in NZ for the family band. Why the kiwis decided this would be their big breakthrough I'll never know, however it explains why it was initially a flop for them in Australia.
