CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

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About Chart Beats

Chart Beats: A Journey Through Pop has been looking back at music from the '80s, '90s, 2000s and 2010s since 2012. Run by freelance journalist and content creator Gavin Scott in Sydney, Australia.

Dec 22, 2017
8 min

This Week In 1984: December 23, 1984

It's fitting that I write this week's 1984 recap in the UK, the home of the Christmas number 1. Nowhere else in the world is the race to...

Dec 15, 2017
3 min

This Week In 1984: December 16, 1984

Landing a number 1 song can do amazing things for a music act's career. Take the two female singers who debuted on the ARIA top 50 this...

Dec 8, 2017
3 min

This Week In 1984: December 9, 1984

After the deluge of debuts over the previous few weeks, things quietened down on the ARIA singles chart this week in 1984 as those new...

Dec 1, 2017
4 min

This Week In 1984: December 2, 1984

It's not something you see very often — especially in the '80s — so when all the new entries on the ARIA singles chart come from female...

Nov 24, 2017
7 min

This Week In 1984: November 25, 1984

There are big chart weeks and then there was the ARIA singles top 50 from this week in 1984. Among the 10 new entries — the most for the...

Nov 17, 2017
4 min

This Week In 1984: November 18, 1984

Australians have always loved to laugh, never more so than in the mid-'80s when stand-up comedians were regulars on the ARIA singles and...

Nov 10, 2017
5 min

This Week In 1984: November 11, 1984

Up until the last month of 1989, every Madonna single released in the '80s except one had reached the top 20 (and most had gone top 10)...

Nov 3, 2017
4 min

This Week In 1984: November 4, 1984

The phrase "jump the shark" is usually employed in relation to the moment when TV shows go from awesome to awful, but it could equally be...

Oct 27, 2017
6 min

This Week In 1984: October 28, 1984

Some singers have the worst luck — and the female vocalist behind the highest new entry on the ARIA top 50 this week in 1984 is a case in...

Oct 20, 2017
3 min

This Week In 1984: October 21, 1984

We all have those songs we can't stand. Sometimes it's an irrational, inexplicable hatred — it just rubs you up the wrong way. Sometimes,...

Oct 13, 2017
4 min

This Week In 1984: October 14, 1984

It must suck to be a celebrity with a sibling who's more famous than you are. No matter what you do, it's always going to be overshadowed...

Oct 6, 2017
4 min

This Week In 1984: October 7, 1984

This time last week, we were reminiscing about a major hit from a man in full make-up and an eye-catching outfit. This week, we look back...

Sep 29, 2017
5 min

This Week In 1984: September 30, 1984

It seems kind of appropriate with everything that's going on in Australia in 2017 for this week's flashback to the ARIA chart of 1984 to...

Sep 22, 2017
4 min

This Week In 1984: September 23, 1984

In 1984, U2 were just another up-and-coming band. They'd already had a couple of minor hits in Australia, but were years away from...

Sep 15, 2017
2 min

This Week In 1984: September 16, 1984

After a few busy weeks on the ARIA chart, things quietened down this week in 1984 with only two new entries to the top 50 — both by...

Sep 8, 2017
6 min

This Week In 1984: September 9, 1984

Some big singles were released in 1984 — songs that would sell millions of copies around the world and come to define the decade as a...

Sep 1, 2017
5 min

This Week In 1984: September 2, 1984

There were some big names behind the new entries on the ARIA singles top 50 this week in 1984. You had a male artist who'd topped the...

Aug 25, 2017
3 min

This Week In 1984: August 26, 1984

I used to get quite disappointed when songs I really liked didn't go higher on the chart. And then I reached a certain point where I kind...

Aug 18, 2017
4 min

This Week In 1984: August 19, 1984

You wouldn't get away with it today. If a new band wanted to call themselves The Avengers or Justice League, I'm sure lawyers would...

Aug 11, 2017
3 min

This Week In 1984: August 12, 1984

It's funny how many career-defining moments almost never happen. This week in 1984, a single debuted that would completely revitalise a...

A Journey Through Aussie Pop - green light.png

A Journey Through Aussie Pop is shining a light on classic Australian pop artists and releases from the 1980s, '90s and 2000s.

A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman is working its way through every single produced by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman in chronological order.

Chart Beats subscribers have access to exclusive content, including extended interviews and extra discussion we can't fit in the regular episodes. Click here for more info.