CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. Last New Year's Eve, I ended up playing a board game version of...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. How do you follow up a massive hit single? This week in 1988, three...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. Punctuation in song titles is not a subject you see discussed...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. If you've read any of my posts before, you might have gathered...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. In the world of TV, shows are said to have "jumped the shark"...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. I have a huge soft spot for Aussie pop/rock from the 1980s, and...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. What's in a name? And, can it make a difference to the success of...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. When I first wrote this post, I had just finished counting down...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. Back when chart singles were released on 7" vinyl, there was...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. Sometimes it takes a while for a song to become a hit — and in the case of the highest new entry this week in 1988, three years passed between the single's original release and it peaking inside the Australian top 10. Oh yeah, Yello were possibly 1988's least likely chart stars That was one year extra than it took the song to reach the chart in the US — but in 1988, it wasn't unusual for Australia to take l

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. It had a been a while since a comedy record had entered the...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. When I started looking back at the ARIA charts from decades past,...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. I've often heard it said that kids buy singles and adults buy...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. It had only happened once before, but this week in 1988, Kylie...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. This week in 1988, the new-look ARIA chart was into its second...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. This week in 1988, it was a time of great change for the ARIA chart. After years of using the data compiled by the Kent Music Report (which later became known as the Australian Music Report), ARIA took their chart compiling in-house and a new era was born. Crowded House were soon back at home at the top of the charts in 1988 To mark the occasion, the weekly chart printout was given a makeover — and a fancy

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. This week in 1988, it was one of those times when pretty much...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. I've just returned from three weeks in Europe and besides it...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. The '80s were a great time for Australian bands having...

Originally posted as 25 Years Ago This Week in 2013. Updated in 2018. Music and controversy often go hand in hand, and this week in 1988 saw the arrival on the ARIA chart of Sinéad O'Connor, a female artist who'd rival Madonna for headline-grabbing antics in years to come. Sinéad O'Connor came out fighting in 1988 Also this week: the return of a man who'd once released a song called "Controversy" and would court it over the next few years with racy lyrics and unpredictable ca