CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

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 ABBA are another. ABBA were still surging on and on and on in 1980 After dominating the Australian charts in the second half of the '70s and causing an absolute frenzy when they visited in 1977, the Swedish quartet debuted on the top 50 this week in 1980 with what would end up being their last major hit here. Joe Dolce Music Theatre's "Shadda

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...

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...

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 artist behind the highest new entry on the Australian singles chart this week in 1980. And his latest chart-topper had a similar subject matter to his original hit. Meanwhile, the patience of some Australians — myself included — was being tested as "Shaddap You Face" spent another week at number 1. It was enough to turn you to drink... Of

Songs shooting straight into the top 10 had become more commonplace by the mid-'90s. This week in 1995, a song entered the chart within...

We've reached the final month of my look back at the Australian singles chart from 1980. I'll be announcing my plans to cover 1981 (and...