CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

In the mid-'90s, it seemed like dance acts were trying to outdo each other with the bizarre and unexpected things they could turn into...

The Olympic Games have always been a big deal in Australia, with the nation stopping for certain medal events and taking particular pride...

Sometimes it just takes one song to change everything. This week in 1995, a new entry on the ARIA singles chart threw out the rulebook...

Some artists are lucky to have a hit at all, while others visit the top 50 multiple times. And sometimes, a performer will be successful in a number of different guises — with a band, as a solo artist, in collaboration with other artists... James Freud started his ever-evolving chart career in 1980 This week in 1980, an Australian singer whose career brought him to the top 50 in four different capacities landed his first ever hit as frontman of a new local band. He would go o

Sometimes a song needs a well-timed re-release to find its audience, who missed it first time around. Or perhaps a remix to freshen up a...

Sometimes even the most floundering of careers can get right back on track with one hit single — all it takes is the right song at the right time. Guess who's back? This week in 1980, a singer who would make two comebacks during the decade returned to the top 50 after a lengthy absence — and all it took was a little help from a former chart-topper. The chart-topper this week in 1980 was still "Can't Stop The Music" by Village People, which remained at number 1 for a third wee

Like all genres, dance music has its good songs and its bad. But what exactly did anyone do to deserve the cavalcade of crap that debuted...

Sometimes a great soundtrack single can do wonders for an average film — especially in the '80s when movie songs were big business and convinced plenty of people that if they loved the song, chances are they'd love the film, too. Of course, that wasn't always the case. The film might have been ridiculous but the Xanadu soundtrack was magic This week in 1980, the first single from a pretty amazing soundtrack album arrived on the Australian singles chart on its way to the top 5

I'm sure I've written before about the proliferation of vocal harmony groups in the mid-'90s, but you need look no further than the new entries on the ARIA top 50 this week in 1995 for proof I wasn't making it up. MN8 and Kulcha gave Boyz II Men a run for their vocal harmony money Three different R&B quartets — one American, one British and one Australian — all entered the singles chart with new tunes, although none of them got any further than the 30s. Was the trend overexp

As much as I love pure pop, synthpop, R&B and dance music, I also have plenty of time for pop/rock groups. That was especially the case in the '80s, with everyone from Toto to Huey Lewis And The News and Hoodoo Gurus to Boom Crash Opera finding my favour. The Romantics gave getting to number 1 a red hot go This week in 1980, a power pop band that ticked all the right boxes for me musically arrived on the Australian singles chart with a song that almost went all the way to num

In 1995, debuting at number 1 on the ARIA singles chart was still a rarity. Even rarer: an act managing to do it twice. In fact, up until...

Plenty of music acts gain a devoted following — in recent years, everyone from One Direction to Beyoncé has had a fanbase with a cute...

There is an inner circle among one-hit wonders — those artists who achieved the ultimate in chart one-off-ness: a chart-topping single...

We've reached the halfway point of our look back at the Australian singles chart of 1980. And to mark the occasion... a pretty dull chart...

Musical taste is a funny thing — one person's ear candy is another's noise pollution. And it always amuses me when I get a sudden influx...

A couple of months earlier, disco seemed to be on its last legs, but it's not over until the fat lady sings. Or a group of six men in fancy dress costumes. Nobody could stop Village People getting to number 1 in 1980 This week in 1980, two major disco records burst onto the Australian singles chart on their way to number 1. Genre resurgence or last hurrah? Rocky Burnette enjoyed a last hurrah at number 1 this week at number 1 as "Tired Of Toein' The Line" spent its second wee

We've already seen a number of cover versions from 1995 in our look back at the ARIA singles chart from that year, but this week featured...

Australia had plenty of successful rock bands in 1980, but with the rise of synthpop and new wave, a new breed of local groups started to hit the charts. Flowers had a big future ahead of them... mostly under another name This week in 1980, the band that became Australia's most consistently successful new wave band arrived on the top 50 with their debut single — the first of six top 10 hits they would score over the next few years. Australia's favourite imported new wave band

It's rare for a family to have one superstar performer, but for two music icons to emerge from the one household is even more unusual. So when two massively successful singers, who were also siblings, got together for a duet, it was a monumental occasion. They'd both had number 1s on their own — could they land one together? This week in 1995, a brother and sister who each had a huge catalogue of hits to their names added one more big single to their discography when they tea

From Dragon and Mi-Sex to Sharon O'Neill and Jenny Morris, many bands and singers from New Zealand have made their way across the Tasman...