CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

In my look back at the ARIA singles chart from decades past, we've seen songs like "Sounds Of Then (This Is Australia)" and "Throw Your...

What is it with actors thinking they can also be pop stars? (Of course, the same can be said of singers thinking they can act, but let's...

From The Beatles to Eagles to Models, bands with two lead singers have been around pretty much as long as there have been bands. And with two vocalists comes double the chance of solo careers — but sometimes it's not always the singer you expect that has a big hit on the side. Martin Plaza was the first Mental As Anything member to go solo This week in 1986, one of the singers from one of the most popular bands in Australia debuted on the ARIA top 50 with his first solo singl

Thanks to the leap year in 2016, our regular look back at the ARIA singles charts from 1986 has been pushed back a day. From now on, we'll revisit the top 50 from that year every Wednesday (and the one from 1991 on a Thursday). The going was pretty good for Billy Ocean in 1986 There are few songs that scream 1986 more than this week's highest new entry on the chart. It was by an artist who was never as successful as he was in the mid-'80s and it was taken from one of the year

Some bands never recover from the departure or demise of their lead singer. Others do just fine with a new vocalist in place. A change in line-up worked out perfectly for Bronski Beat This week in 1986, a British synthpop group known for their upfront tunes debuted on the ARIA singles chart with the first release with a new frontman. The song would also wind up being their biggest hit. The biggest hit in Australia this week in 1986 was "A Good Heart" by Feargal Sharkey , who

Despite the odd chronological inaccuracy, the Molly miniseries provided a fun snapshot of a bygone era — one we revisit each week as we...

It hasn't been often that a foreign language song has penetrated the Australian top 50, but it happened a few times in the '80s. Most notably, German band Nena took "99 Luftballons" all the way to number 1, although it was backed by an English version, "99 Red Balloons", on the B-side. Only in the '80s could a song in German about a dead classical composer reach the chart This week in 1986, another German language single hit the ARIA top 50 — and although it was also a chart

Synthpop was everywhere by 1986. Even artists that came from more of a rock background embraced the sound of keyboards, including a...

We'd had Band Aid, USA For Africa and, er, Incredible Penguins — and in 1986, the charity singles kept coming. On the ARIA chart from...

Since its launch in July 1983, a pile of ARIA charts had been available at record stores each and every week for customers to pick up a copy and take it home with them. Then, at the start of 1986, some killjoy decided to do away with the handy printouts and produce poster-size copies of the top 50 singles and albums instead. Grace Jones returned to music with a tasty treat These large-format charts were displayed in-store and now sell for huge amounts on eBay. Of course, seve

Welcome to 1986! At least, welcome to my recap of what was happening on the ARIA singles chart that year. If you're just joining us, each week I'll take a look back at all the new songs to appear on the top 50 — and provide a brief snapshot of the top 100 entries that never made it onto the printed chart available in all good record stores (and probably a few bad ones). Wham! did it right with one of the best songs released in 1985 The first chart bearing a date in 1986 also