CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2014. Updated in 2019. Politics and rock music have always gone hand in hand — and that...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2014. Updated in 2019. Timing is everything — and that's especially the case when it comes to music. Whether it's releasing a song at just the right time to connect with as many people as possible or choosing the right order in which to release singles from an album, decisions to do with timing can make or break careers. Sam Brown wouldn't stop until she had a hit The three new entries on the ARIA chart this week in 1989 all h

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2014. Updated in 2019. There's something to be said for quitting while you're ahead. Instead of releasing album after album with decreasing quality and impact, being satisfied with a more limited body of work that holds up decades later. Roland Gift's distinctive voice was back in the top 50 this week in 1989 That's the musical legacy of the band behind the future number 1 single which made its debut on the ARIA chart this week

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2014. Updated in 2019. One thing I failed to mention a couple of weeks ago when it was the anniversary of Coca-Cola taking over the ARIA chart was that as well as the colour becoming permanently red, the size of the chart also increased to A4. Neneh Cherry: looking good in every way Gone were the days when you could slip a chart between the pages of Smash Hits and rest assured you'd get the thing home in one piece. I remember

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2014. Updated in 2019. There have been some dud weeks on the ARIA chart, but the top 50...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2014. Updated in 2019. Less than a year after it last had a major makeover, the ARIA chart...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2014. Updated in 2019. Who doesn't love a comeback story? This week in 1989, an artist...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2014. Updated in 2019. Christmas 2013 might already seem like a distant memory for us in the present day, but in early 1989, people were clearly clinging on to the Yuletide spirit. This week that year, the two highest debuts on the ARIA top 50 were by festive singles — despite it being the middle of January. Merry, er, January from Cliff Richard One of those new entries was a double A-side release which included a modern spin o

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2014. Updated in 2019. Happy New Year! As 2014 gets underway, this blog reaches 1989 on the ARIA top 50 — and it would be a year during which the chart would undergo a pretty major transformation. More on that in a few weeks. Together, together... the duet demanded by pop fans around the world Our first chart for 1989 is actually also the final chart for 1988, since it's dated for the period from December 26, 1988 to January 8

Merry Christmas! What better way to celebrate than to look back at the ARIA Top 50 dated Christmas Day, 1988, right? Unlike in the UK, where the festive chart is a huge deal, Australia's never had the same rush for the Christmas number 1 spot or even much of an interest in holiday singles. From 1988's big Christmas movie came the week's highest debut That was never more in evidence than on the chart from this week in 1988, where the two big contenders for the UK Christmas num

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. After last week's bumper crop of 10 new entries into the ARIA top...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. I have good news and bad news. The good news: this week in 1988,...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. I love it when there's a common thread to the songs that debuted on...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. In the (almost) year and a half that I've been writing this blog,...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. Second albums are meant to be difficult, but as we'll see from...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. On my recent holiday to North America, I watched the documentary 20 Feet From Stardom on the plane — which is a film about backing singers like Merry Clayton, Darlene Love and Lisa Fischer. A similar film could probably be made about band members who go on to make it in their own right (or not make it, as the case may be). I'm thinking Wendy & Lisa, Sheila E, André Cymone... and that's just people who p

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. What was it about Australia in 1988? The nation was clearly having...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. I've mentioned before that 1988 is my favourite year for music, but...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. After the flood of new entries last week, it was a quiet chart...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. I always love an exciting chart week. Who wants only a couple of...