CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

After last week's clear out on the ARIA singles chart, you might have expected things to be a bit quieter this week in 1991. Wrong — the...

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

Despite last week being the anniversary of my favourite song of all time debuting on the ARIA top 50, not much else was happening. The singles chart made up for it this week in 1991 with nine new entries, and a bunch of other songs to talk about in the lower reaches of the top 100. Daryl Braithwaite and Dimples D both took something old and made it new Included in the bumper crop are two future number 1 singles — one, the latest rap chart-topper and the other, a cover versi

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

Given how big a fan of '80s music I am, you might think that my all-time favourite song would come from that decade. Actually, it's a...

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

Each week when I sit down to write these blog posts about the ARIA singles chart from decades past, I look for some kind of pattern or link between the songs I'll be talking about. The new entries from this week in 1991 can be approached in a couple of different ways... Vanilla Ice's other hit and Stevie B's only (Australian) hit Firstly, I could remark that it was a good week for artists who liked to remake other people's songs. Secondly, I could play another round of my fav

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

It's one thing when one artist you don't particularly like releases a new single, but when two artists you can't stand team up for a...

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

Some artists are great at reinventing themselves — able to tell when it's a good idea to change musical direction or make over their...

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

Every so often, TV characters will become so popular that someone will think it's a great idea for them to release a single. On this blog...

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...

You'd think dance acts would have wised up after what happened to Milli Vanilli. Or Black Box. Or Technotronic. But no, this week in...

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

In yesterday's trip back to the first ARIA singles chart of 1986, we saw a new entry by a band on the cusp of breaking up. Before long,...

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

Are we up to 1991 already? When I began this blog in 2012, looking back at the ARIA charts from July 1987, I never anticipated there'd be...

Regular readers will be aware of my obsession with one-hit wonders and that extends to two-hit wonders as well — those acts that score...