CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

1. Sign up as a site member or log in if you are an existing member

2. Choose a monthly or annual subscription here

Subscribe to
Chart Beats in
two quick steps

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.

All Posts
1980
1981
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1998
Chart Recap
One-Hit Wonders
Interview

2 days ago
6 min

25 Years Ago This Week: February 25, 1996

Earlier in the decade, we saw how second generation performers Nelson and Wilson Phillips had achieved major chart success (especially in...

3 days ago
7 min

When Big Stars Miss The Top 50: The '80s

Sometimes even the most successful music superstars can have off days. Or flop singles. During the 1980s, some of the biggest recording a...

5 days ago
4 min

This Week In 1981: February 22, 1981

French musicians haven't ventured towards the top of the Australian singles chart that often. And over the years, those that have been su...

Feb 18
4 min

25 Years Ago This Week: February 18, 1996

Ah, remixes. It's a topic I've covered on more than one occasion in the past, but the power of the remix was never more evident than this...

Feb 15
3 min

This Week In 1981: February 15, 1981

Mi-Sex had done it in 1979 as had Split Enz in 1980, and in 1981, another band from New Zealand made it a hat-trick by going all the way ...

Feb 11
4 min

25 Years Ago This Week: February 11, 1996

One look at the new entries on the ARIA singles chart this week in 1996 tells you everything you need to know about how far Australia had...

Feb 8
4 min

This Week In 1981: February 8, 1981

From "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" to "Blue (Da Ba Dee)", and "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)" to "La La La", music history is littered with song...

Feb 4
4 min

25 Years Ago This Week: February 4, 1996

When I compiled my list of favourite girl groups, one common trait stood out: line-up changes. It is the rare girl group that gets to the...

Feb 1
4 min

This Week In 1981: February 1, 1981

Anyone who grew up with an older sibling will no doubt have had their taste in music influenced by them to some extent. That was certainl...

Jan 28
3 min

25 Years Ago This Week: January 28, 1996

A decade is a long time in music, and for an artist to be able to sustain peak popularity for that long is the exception rather than the ...

Jan 25
4 min

This Week In 1981: January 25, 1981

There's a big difference between a covers band (think The Beatnix, Björn Again) and a band that has its biggest hits with remakes (Commun...

Jan 21
6 min

25 Years Ago This Week: January 21, 1996

Nine new entries! That's what I call an exciting week in chart history. And the highest entry going straight in at number 1, no less — on...

Jan 17
4 min

This Week In 1981: January 18, 1981

I'm sure I've mentioned this before — I'm nearing 700 posts, so it's likely — but I have many best of CDs in my collection that I bought ...

Jan 13
4 min

25 Years Ago This Week: January 14, 1996

Regular readers will know my disdain for novelty records, but there's a different type of novelty I am a fan of, and that's when an artis...

Jan 10
4 min

This Week In 1981: January 11, 1981

How many bands from Tasmania can you name? Serious question, because I could only think of two: The Innocents, who we saw miss the top 50...

Jan 6
4 min

25 Years Ago This Week: January 7, 1996

Back in 1996, the ARIA chart still shut down at Christmas, meaning top 50 fans had to make do with an unchanged countdown for three weeks...

Dec 27, 2020
7 min

This Week In 1980: December 28, 1980

There are few music acts that can legitimately claim to have the word "mania" tacked onto the end of the name. The Beatles are one. And A...

Dec 21, 2020
4 min

This Week In 1980: December 21, 1980

In 1990, Tina Arena and Dannii Minogue both reached the top 5 of the ARIA singles chart, but (unless I'm forgetting someone) you have to ...

Dec 17, 2020
5 min

25 Years Ago This Week: December 17, 1995

And so our look back at the ARIA singles chart of 1995 draws to a close with the final top 50 for that year, which featured two new entri...

Dec 14, 2020
3 min

This Week In 1980: December 14, 1980

Sometimes all it takes is a little patience. Twenty-two years' worth of patience. That's the amount of time between number 1 hits for the...

{"items":["6032fdf4ea455700177f5218","60338a8254d78500174f003d","603230c8ca84c60017b6526f","602c6f8d2990b1002d6d7a6b","6028df542abbbc001740f796","6021e2bb957821002de38bd3","601fc3968f8e7b0017d7b9f8","6018bbeac68d9800172b3d72","6015cabcc7113900175b807e","6011163365ea150017b82507","600bf77fcd545a00170577cd","60069a314a08bc001723a0fc","60037c9df97d2e002d02d821","5ffcbf934493ec001709a086","5ff914ea9b04e70017672b44","5ff2dc3892115b001754ac2a","5fdad8ac745c650017926739","5fdad5ce509fc00017a6839a","5fd96aa8e1bab30017c823d3","5fd56f7ce6a9130018b19269"],"styles":{"galleryType":"Columns","groupSize":1,"showArrows":true,"cubeImages":true,"cubeType":"fill","cubeRatio":1.3333333333333333,"isVertical":true,"gallerySize":30,"collageAmount":0,"collageDensity":0,"groupTypes":"1","oneRow":false,"imageMargin":32,"galleryMargin":0,"scatter":0,"rotatingScatter":"","chooseBestGroup":true,"smartCrop":false,"hasThumbnails":false,"enableScroll":true,"isGrid":true,"isSlider":false,"isColumns":false,"isSlideshow":false,"cropOnlyFill":false,"fixedColumns":1,"enableInfiniteScroll":true,"isRTL":false,"minItemSize":50,"rotatingGroupTypes":"","rotatingCropRatios":"","columnWidths":"","gallerySliderImageRatio":1.7777777777777777,"numberOfImagesPerRow":1,"numberOfImagesPerCol":1,"groupsPerStrip":0,"borderRadius":0,"boxShadow":0,"gridStyle":1,"mobilePanorama":false,"placeGroupsLtr":true,"viewMode":"preview","thumbnailSpacings":4,"galleryThumbnailsAlignment":"bottom","isMasonry":false,"isAutoSlideshow":false,"slideshowLoop":false,"autoSlideshowInterval":4,"bottomInfoHeight":0,"titlePlacement":"SHOW_ON_THE_RIGHT","galleryTextAlign":"center","scrollSnap":false,"itemClick":"nothing","fullscreen":true,"videoPlay":"hover","scrollAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","slideAnimation":"SCROLL","scrollDirection":0,"scrollDuration":400,"overlayAnimation":"FADE_IN","arrowsPosition":0,"arrowsSize":23,"watermarkOpacity":40,"watermarkSize":40,"useWatermark":true,"watermarkDock":{"top":"auto","left":"auto","right":0,"bottom":0,"transform":"translate3d(0,0,0)"},"loadMoreAmount":"all","defaultShowInfoExpand":1,"allowLinkExpand":true,"expandInfoPosition":0,"allowFullscreenExpand":true,"fullscreenLoop":false,"galleryAlignExpand":"left","addToCartBorderWidth":1,"addToCartButtonText":"","slideshowInfoSize":200,"playButtonForAutoSlideShow":false,"allowSlideshowCounter":false,"hoveringBehaviour":"NEVER_SHOW","thumbnailSize":120,"magicLayoutSeed":1,"imageHoverAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imagePlacementAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","calculateTextBoxWidthMode":"PERCENT","textBoxHeight":0,"textBoxWidth":200,"textBoxWidthPercent":50,"textImageSpace":10,"textBoxBorderRadius":0,"textBoxBorderWidth":0,"loadMoreButtonText":"","loadMoreButtonBorderWidth":1,"loadMoreButtonBorderRadius":0,"imageInfoType":"ATTACHED_BACKGROUND","itemBorderWidth":1,"itemBorderRadius":0,"itemEnableShadow":false,"itemShadowBlur":20,"itemShadowDirection":135,"itemShadowSize":10,"imageLoadingMode":"BLUR","expandAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imageQuality":90,"usmToggle":false,"usm_a":0,"usm_r":0,"usm_t":0,"videoSound":false,"videoSpeed":"1","videoLoop":true,"jsonStyleParams":"","gallerySizeType":"px","gallerySizePx":792,"allowTitle":true,"allowContextMenu":true,"textsHorizontalPadding":-30,"itemBorderColor":{"value":"rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.25)"},"showVideoPlayButton":true,"galleryLayout":2,"targetItemSize":792,"selectedLayout":"2|bottom|1|fill|true|0|true","layoutsVersion":2,"selectedLayoutV2":2,"isSlideshowFont":false,"externalInfoHeight":0,"externalInfoWidth":0.5},"container":{"width":792,"galleryWidth":824,"galleryHeight":0,"scrollBase":0,"height":null}}

2 3 4 5