Well I’ve looked over the Go-set charts on this site, time now to look at the biggest hits from the NZ Listener charts which was the organisation that covered the NZ music scene from the first half of the 70’s. Again I won’t be including commentary on here as the entries are somehow more generic than the ones that were big over here around this time (in addition to the NZ exclusives that I’m obviously unfamiliar with.)
Craig Scott returns once more to feature on this list; this time it’s his second single (technically his first as his “debut” was an E.P) which continued the winning streak he had in his homeland that would last until 1974 where he could no longer score any hits on the Listener charts.
#37 for 1970
This is the only solo entry from Marie Osmond on this list, namely because it was the only song she released on her own that anyone in the world cared about given how she needed the help of her older brother to score a second hit even in her native America. Indeed, those hits would come as we’ve seen already on this site.
#41 for 1974
This will be one of two entries from the Fifth dimension as their popularity as opposed to just the one they had on the Australian side of this site, neither of these entries was the one that appeared on the Australian equivalent of this list meaning we have a total of three entries from them on this site. This is another carryover from the 60’s as it peaked on the Listener charts right at the start of the decade.
#38 for 1970
This is the only hit that Judy Collinms had in NZ, hey at least she had a second hit here in Australia with “Send in the clowns” which the kiwis were clearly disinterested with as that didn’t even chart over there. Although this was a bigger hit for her in NZ than it was down under, it still got overshadowed by the version of this track played on the bagpipes from earlier on this list.
#43 for 1971
This is the first of two entries to come from Elton John’s album Caribou which is impressive given how that album failed to spawn a single hit for him here in Australia back in the day. Of course, this would eventually become a hit for him down under when Elton did a duet with George Michael in 1991 for charity.
#42 for 1974
From what I can gather, this was released exclusively in NZ as it was surprisingly hard to track down album art from this entry from Seals and Croft who were among the more popular American bands of the decade. They did have a minor hit on the Listener charts with “Summer breeze,” however this was what connect the best with the kiwis.
#43 for 1974
This was sandwiched between Middle of the road’s earlier entry on this list with their third entry that’s still to come, meaning that we have another example of a band finding more success with each new single just like Cat Stevens from earlier. The difference of course is that the hits dried up by 1974 for these guys.
#44 for 1971
Here’s the other big hit that Cher had in the southern hemisphere from the first half of the decade, it was her first chart topper in NZ, and she wouldn’t have a second one over there until 1999 when “Believe” debuted at number one on their charts. Funny how both her chart toppers are among her least successful hits over there.
#40 for 1973
Just like here in Australia, Murray Head is a two-hit wonder in NZ given how he scored a hit over there fifteen years before he took the world by storm with his magnum opus “One night in Bangkok.” I have to imagine this was a hit in both countries due to its affiliation with the Jesus Christ superstar soundtrack even though his version doesn’t appear on the album.
#39 for 1970
This is the other big hit that Russell Morris had in NZ, again it’s odd that the two biggest hits he had over there weren’t his two chart toppers he had here in Australia but hey ho. He had two other minor hits over there, although neither of them was worthy of being on this list.
#45 for 1971
This is where the Scott English version of the song would go had it been released in NZ instead of this cover from Bunny Walters, it appears he began his career as a covers thief (that is, someone who made covers of popular songs to steal the success of) before becoming his own artist with his earlier entry on this list.
#45 for 1972
Unfortunately, “Rocket man” wasn’t a hit in NZ like it was throughout the rest of the world for Elton John, that’s likely because the kiwis passed up on that track for the second single to Honky chateau which became a huge hit for him over there despite it being a massive failure for him everywhere else in the world.
#46 for 1972
Whereas this took forever in a day to find an audience here in Australia for Nana Mouskouri, it found more of an immediate audience in NZ for the Greek singer/songwriter even though she didn’t achieve any success in the UK with this ballad. In fact, the Brits wouldn’t give her a hit until the 80’s with “Only love.”
#47 for 1972
We have our third entry from Badfinger on this list, this was sandwiched between their two earlier entries given how much popular those two songs were internationally than this song. That said, I would say these guys were more popular in NZ than anywhere else given how we still have one more entry to feature from the British band.
#46 for 1971
Generally speaking, I allow just about every song to crack the Australian top ten on this site unless it was obvious it was a “fan single.” This one and only hit from Billy Paul is one of those “fan singles” due to it disappearing on our charts the second it reached our top ten. Fortunately, it was a much bigger hit in NZ for the RNB singer likely due to the heartbreaking tale the lyrics tell.
#41 for 1973
This was Dave Edmunds only hit in NZ given his failure to appear on this side of my site up until this point, admittedly I’m more surprised this was a huge hit here in Australia given how its success led to him having a second hit here with “The promised land,” but this does mean he wasn’t a one hit wonder on our charts.
#47 for 1971
This is the final entry from Helen Reddy on this list; it’s fitting it would do better in NZ than it did in her native Australia given how there wasn’t a Countdown equivalent to discourage her fellow Aussies to making it a hit over there like there was over here. Obviously, this wasn’t her final hit as “Free and easy” would take that prize, however it was her final hit down under.
#15 for 1975
This was another one of the final hits on the Listener charts to complete its run, meaning that this was the best that Carol Douglas can do in NZ which obviously is impressive given how it was only a decent hit at best in her native America. Again, I get the feeling her fellow Americans weren’t as ready for the disco craze as the rest of the world was.
#16 for 1975
And the hits keep on coming for Tony Christie on this list, this one coming in shortly before his TV theme from earlier on this list and after his previous entry which eventually became a hit in his homeland as a charity single. Again, I don’t know why the kiwis loved this guy so much over his fellow Brits, but they did as we haven’t even seen the last of him yet.
#48 for 1972
This also proved to be slightly more popular in NZ than it was here in Australia for the Carpenters, not by much as this did have the benefit of having far less competition over there than it did here in Australia but enough that I feel I should point this out in my commentary of it.
#48 for 1971
Given how these two never saw success in the UK or their native America, I have to wonder how on earth we Aussies and kiwis came across their country ballad at the start of the decade to make it a hit in the southern hemisphere. As you can imagine, they’re a one hit wonder in both countries due to the lack of international success they had.
#40 for 1970
Well, it took us a hot minute to get to a second appearance from Don McLean on this list, here he is with the second single from his debut album which wasn’t nearly as popular in NZ as it was here in Australia despite charting for quite a bit over there. Admittedly the charts don’t list the B-side like other charts from the era do, so perhaps “Castles in the air” didn’t count towards its success.
#49 for 1972
We have our fourth appearance from CCR on this list as well as their oldest entry on here given how this only started charting in NZ once the decade begun as opposed to it being a carryover from the 60’s here in Australia. They have one more entry left on this list which is of course the only entry left from 1970 I haven’t featured from them yet.
#41 for 1970
Well, this is certainly a surprise, I bet you thought I’d forgotten about the fab four when making this list given how inescapable they were throughout the rest of the world with their final album. It turns out they did just fine with this album in NZ as far as the singles were concerned, not as good as they did here in Australia but better than they did in their native UK.
#42 for 1970
One of the bigger names in music over in NZ throughout the 60’s was Shane, this is his most recent entry on here which is a carryover from that decade but peaked in the early months of the 70’s and thus became eligible for this list. With this information in mind, you can assume he was a hippy artist and you’d be correct.
#43 for 1970
This was also a success in NZ just like it was here for Joan Baez, although considering how there aren’t as many women on this list than there are on the Australian equivalent, I am surprised she managed to have such a big hit over there like she did over here. She didn’t have another charting single on the Listener charts after this.
#49 for 1971
This is our second appearance from the brothers Gibb on this list; this time it was with their biggest hit here in Australia from around this period given how this was their highest placement on the Australian equivalent of this list. Their third and final entry will be unique to this list given how it was a dud on our charts.
#50 for 1972
Here’s the other big hit that the Bulldog’s Allstar good time band (what am I typing throughout this list?) had in their homeland, it was actually quite the decent hit for them which leaves me to wonder how well their album did that spawned both of their big hits we looked at on this list.
#44 for 1974
I’m not sure how I feel about this being a flop here in Australia as on the one hand, it was a huge international hit for Steam but on the other…….. I mean just like at what it’s called. Steam themselves are an international one hit wonder who immediately called it quits once their one hit took off around the world including their native America.
#44 for 1970
We haven’t looked at these guys in a while, so here we are with a song that’s perhaps better known for having Prince sing it given how infamous his version from the 90’s was back in the day. This was what put these guys on the map in NZ as opposed to “You are everything” here in Australia.
#51 for 1972
Well, this is a surprise, I bet you forgot that I mentioned that these guys had a second hit during the first half of the decade, didn’t you? Here we are with Dr Hook and their comedy track about being on the cover of the Rollihng stone magazine and how the band lamented about what would happen if it were to happen to them, it happened shortly after the song came out for the record.
#42 for 1973
Here we are with the final hit from the fab four’s catalogue as they at least went out with a bang in NZ just like they did internationally, that is except for the UK where this was a huge flop for them in their homeland. From here on out, the four men went on to widely different success depending on where in the world you’re from.
#45 for 1970
Here’s the second of three entries from Albert Hammond on this list, again this was only a hit in NZ as the rest of the world were only willing to give the lucrative songwriter one hit as a lead artist in his catalogue for whatever reason. In any case this proved how lucrative the genre this is in was at the time over there.
#43 for 1973
This is the only other hit the Kinks had in NZ this decade just like here in Australia, this makes it their final hit in the southern hemisphere even though they would periodically score a hit in America and their native UK after this. I honestly would’ve thought they’d have another surprise hit on this list, but they don’t.
#50 for 1971
This is the third and final hit that Lobo had in NZ, it was a bit way off from his two earlier entries on this list I’ll admit, however there’s no denying that he was still on a roll over there even if this did better here in Australia for him. I’m guessing it was due to all this success in the southern hemisphere that the Brits finally decided to give him a chance with his top entry on this list after this became a hit.
#44 for 1973
Here we are with our final entry from Craig Scott on this list, there was a bit of a gap between his previous hit “Smiley” and this on the charts, suggesting this was from a new album that I’m guessing didn’t perform as well as his earlier material.
#45 for 1973
This is the only hit that NZ band Ebony had in their homeland, they appear to be a little late to the party given how this would’ve felt at home at the start of the decade when Woodstock had an impact on the music landscape. In any case, they did connect with their fellow kiwis for one song and maybe one album as I can see it doing well over there.
#45 for 1974
Here’s the other big hit that Anne Murray had in NZ, although I had to improvise with the album art as the Listener charts insists that this B-side to her international hit “You won’t see me” was the big hit over there even though the A-side did chart prior to this becoming a hit for her. In any case, she escaped the one hit wonder bin four years after she was threatened to be trapped in there forever.
#46 for 1974
Now this is a surprise indeed as we have a entry from the Osmonds which came towards the tail end of their international popularity. They also charted in NZ with “One bad apple,” so it’s not like this came completely out of nowhere over there, however I have to wonder why they decided to make this a hit and not the handful of hits they had in their native America.
#47 for 1974
We have our second mashup on this list as Tom Clay decide to make spoken word covers of “What the world needs now is love” and “Abraham Martin and john” to cash in on the surprise success Les Crane was seeing with his earlier entry on this list. Or I would say that if this didn’t come out before that song as if anything, Les Crane was ripping Tom Clay off with his entry.
#51 for 1971
We have our final entry on this list that has already appeared on the Australian side of this site, although I do find it funny how this wasn’t as big in the southern hemisphere as it was in New seekers native UK given how it was easily one of the biggest hits of the decade over there. Indeed, their popularity would sharply decline worldwide after this.
#48 for 1974
This is the final entry from Blue mink on this list as it appears the kiwis saw the writing on the wall when it came to their international popularity, even so they at least let the band go out with dignity given how they would go their separate ways less than a year they released their final single in their catalogue.
#46 for 1973
Whereas Caribou failed to spawn a hit single for Elton John here in Australia, it managed to spawn not one but two big hits for him in NZ which leads me to believe it was a massive hit over there even if there’s no way for me to definitively verify that. I still can’t believe how this was a hit given how this was back when bitch was considered a derogatory slur towards women.
#49 for 1974
#17 for 1975
Remember how I said on the Australian side of my sit that this was Cuff links biggest hit here in Australia? Well, it turns out I can actually feature this big hit on my site as the kiwis were a bit late to the party when they decided to make it a success for them. I’m guessing they were following the Brits lead as this was a big hit in the UK, much more so than it was in their native America.
#46 for 1970
Unlike here in Australia where this was the only entry Tom Jones had on the Australian equivalent; we’ll be looking at a second entry from him later down this list to make up for the fact this didn’t come close to becoming a chart topper on the Listener charts like it did on our charts. For what it’s worth, he had quite a number of hits over there throughout the 60’s.
#52 for 1971
This is so obscure from Daniel Boone’s catalogue that I had trouble finding the vinyl to feature on this list, that should tell you how well loved he was in NZ even though he’s essentially a one hit wonder with his top entry on this list everywhere else. There’s still two more entries to come from him on this list.
#47 for 1973
Here we are with the final entry from Don McLean on this list, it’s a song that failed to become a hit here in Australia likely because Countdown pushed him aside in favour of our local talent who would indeed go on to dominate our music scene for the remainder of the decade. I guess the kiwis grew fed up with him as well after this as this is his final hit over there.
#18 for 1975
This was the final hit that Engelbert Humperdinck had in most parts of the world given how he struggled the transition from the 60’s to the 70’s, that is until his triumphant comeback in 1977 where “After the loving” became a surprise hit for him worldwide. You can rest assure that he would see plenty more representation on this site if I were to cover the 60’s.
#47 for 1970
This is the only other entry from Donny Osmond as a solo artist on this list, I guess the kiwis weren’t quite as impressed with his cover of the Johnny Mathis classic as we Aussies were even if they made it enough of a hit to appear on this side of my site. He had several other minor hits over there; however, this will be the full extent of his representation on this list.
#48 for 1973
This is one of the last songs to become a hit on the Listener charts, so much so that this actually feels a little low on this list when you consider the fact that it kept charting on the RIANZ charts given how it was on the final week of the former chart. This is quite impressive for a British duo who saw limited success in their native UK.
#19 for 1975
We have a second appearance from Hogsnort Rupert and company on this list, this one coming to us from the same album as all of their entries on here given how they seem to be a one album wonder in their homeland. Indeed, this makes me wonder how inescapable said album was in their homeland.
#53 for 1971
This is the final entry from the New seekers on this list as the kiwis didn’t give any of their other songs from their catalogue the attention necessary to qualify to be on here, here we have a rare entry from Eurovision that managed to be a bigger success in NZ than it was here in Australia in that it was an actual hit over there as opposed to over here.
#52 for 1972
I guess the kiwis were also intrigued by this track which depicts two banjo players looking to outplay each other like we Aussies were, although I will say that this makes it on here more for how long it lasted on their charts given how much lower it appears compared to the Australian side of this site.
#49 for 1973
This is the only other hit that Wizzard had in NZ, it was their second biggest hit in their native UK which makes sense as it was the follow up to their earlier entry which was their biggest worldwide hit. They had other hits in their homeland, however none of them saw any success internationally like these two entries did.
#50 for 1973
This is our third and final appearance from Hogsnort Rupert, it was their second single following their top entry on this list which goes to show how popular the band was during the first stretch of the decade. Sadly, their popularity would dwindle almost as quickly as it came.
#48 for 1970
#54 for 1971
Much like here in Australia, both versions of this track charted on the Listener charts, although it appears the kiwis weren’t the biggest fans of either version as opposed to us Aussies who couldn’t decide who was better due to our love of the novelty track. Lally’s version does appear higher on here ever so slightly.
#55 for 1971
This is the second of three entries that Paul McCartney had away from Wings on this list, that’s right a song that was a huge chart topper here in Australia wasn’t nearly as popular in NZ or indeed anywhere else in the world which should give you an idea of how much we Aussies were rooting for him following the breakup of the fab four.
#56 for 1971
With all the English singer/songwriters we’ve looked at on this list, you’d think Peter Skellern would’ve been among the lucky few who saw overwhelming success on the Listener charts even though he’s an international one hit wonder. Alas not only was that not the case, but he had his success delayed over there given how it only took off once it was a hit here in Australia.
#51 for 1973
I guess the kiwis weren’t as impressed with this novelty track from Benny Hill as we Aussies were given how much lower it appears on this list compared to the Australian equivalent, although considering that novelty music had more appeal with the kiwis around this time, this is a bit of a shock to me.
#53 for 1972
We have our third appearance from There goes rhyming Simon on this list, I think that’s the only album from the first half of the 70’s to spawn three hits for anyone in the southern hemisphere given how most albums struggle to spawn two hits for an artist from this time period. This just goes to show how much of a roll Paul Simon was on in NZ which is in stark contrast to the no hits he had here in Australia.
#52 for 1973
This was original released at the end of the 60’s to deafening silence for the British band Pentangle, it was the theme to a now long forgotten BBC series Take three girls that I’m guessing didn’t do very well in the UK. It became a surprise hit in NZ where I’m guessing the show did extremely well albeit a year after its run had come to an end in its homeland.
#54 for 1972
Well, how about this? We have an appearance from the Doobie brothers with Tom Johnston on lead vocals. Obviously, these guys were a huge deal in America given how well regarded they remain on oldies stations to this day; however, it appears the kiwis liked them as well as they had a ton of minor hits during the first half of the decade in NZ.
#50 for 1974
We have another entry from Gilbert O’Sullivan on this list; this time it’s with a song I honestly forgot I had on the Australian side of my site to give you an idea of how memorable it is despite the name it has. Naturally it was an even bigger hit for him in NZ as novelty tracks like this tended to do better over there than they did over here.
#55 for 1972
Although he had a minor charting hit in NZ with “Silver bird” after this, this was the only notable success the Mark Lindsay had in NZ just like here in Australia despite being the lead singer of one of the more popular bands in his native America. That said, don’t expect any representation from said band on this list as they didn’t have any success in NZ.
#49 for 1970
It’s been a hot minute since I mentioned these guys, so here we are with the second appearance from Bread on this list given how they made quite the splash in NZ with their breakthrough single just like they did internationally. We still have one more entry to come which thankfully won’t take us as long to get to.
#50 for 1970
It looks like David Curtis was able to score a second hit in his homeland which meant this (at the time) pre-teen pop singer managed to become one of the more notable artists in his local music scene from around this time. He even had international appeal judging how I was able to find album art for this entry, although that obviously never came to be.
#57 for 1971
This was the final hit that the Tremeloes had in their catalogue anywhere in the world, they were a psychedelic band that scored a huge worldwide hit with “Silence is golden” in 1967 and would be a shoe in for this site if I ever decide to cover the 60’s (I probably won’t.) This was a carryover from the 60’s from their homeland, however it was a little late to the party in NZ which allowed it to qualify for this list.
#51 for 1970
You thought it was surprising to see Shona Laing have a hit in her homeland fourteen years prior to when she had a hit here in Australia? Well, it turns out she had three of them as this is her second of three appearances on this list. I guess this goes to show how much of a rollercoaster an artist’s career can be especially if they began it as a child star.
#53 for 1973
I was shocked when I found out this wasn’t an inescapable hit here in Australia, so you can see how dumbfounded I was when the kiwis gave Carole King less success in NZ than we Aussies did back in the day. Again, I have to assume this was another example of us Aussies handing success to both sides of the release especially since “I feel the earth move” is was more popular nowadays than “It’s too late.”
#58 for 1971
Well, this is a surprise indeed, this went from being one of the biggest hits of the decade here in Australia to a mere decent hit for Hot butter likely because no one knows how this got so big amongst us Aussies back in the day. At least it was a hit over there as it explains why the Crazy frog remix became such an inescapable hit over thirty years later.
#56 for 1972
This is the third and final entry from Albert Hammond on this list, he had several other minor hits in NZ although none of them managed to rack up the points on appear on here with his three entries. Again, I don’t know how he managed to connect exclusively with the kiwis back in the day, however it allowed him to flourish on the Listener charts and nowhere else in the world.
#51 for 1974
If you can believe it, this is the second of two big hits that the Guess who had in NZ with their first hit not being “American woman” like it was internationally, we’ll get to their other hit later down this list but suffice to say, the kiwis definitely came around on these guys in a way we Aussies didn’t back in the day.
#52 for 1974
In a bit of a surprise twist, this was a hit in NZ months before it was a hit for Tony Christie here in Australia. I guess the surprise here is that this was heavily delayed here in Australia given how he’s had four appearances on this list so far with only two of them finding any success down under for the English crooner.
#53 for 1974
It appears that this was also a huge hit for Tee set on NZ just like it was here in Australia for the Dutch band, this is another entry where I have a feeling it would’ve done even better on this list had the Listener charts not been so chaotic when it became a hit over there given how long it lasted on their compared to other entries that failed to appear on this list from that time.
#52 for 1970
Here we are with Rod Stewart’s other entry on this list, at least it had the same level of success in NZ as it did here in Australia even though it peaked higher on their charts than it did on ours. Again, his time to shine over there wouldn’t come until the RIANZ charts launched where he roamed free on there for the remainder of the decade.
#57 for 1972
This is the only other hit that Carly Simon had in NZ throughout her career, although at least she had one more hit than her (then) husband and duet partner on this track James Taylor as this is the only time he touched the NZ charts throughout his long career. This also manages to benefit from not having an (in my opinion) inferior local version over there to eat up its success as was the case here in Australia.
#54 for 1974
This is the only hit that NZ country star Anna Leah had in her homeland, I get the feeling the kiwis wanted there to be more local artists on their charts given how we’ve seen a noticeable uptake in them recently on this list. She did have a song chart on RIANZ with “Wahine,” however that bombed which put an end to her career.
#54 for 1973
Remember how I bundled the Carpenters second entry on this list with a cover from a local artist? Here’s a second hit that artist scored in their homeland as this was a huge hit for Steve Allen following the exposure he had with “Top of the world.” It was later chosen as the official theme for the 1974 commonwealth games, meaning it sparked international interest that didn’t translate to success.
#55 for 1973
After Judith Durham, Bruce Woodley is perhaps the most well-known member of the Seekers which more than explains why he decided to embark on a solo career following the bands initial demise. He was off to a good start in NZ of all places even though this bombed here in Australia, perhaps due to how well the Seekers did over in NZ throughout the 60’s.
#59 for 1971
This was a massive hit throughout Europe in Pop tops native tongue of Spanish, so it makes sense they would record the song in English to appeal to the English-speaking market. This takes the place of the Joel Dayde version, which was the big hit here in Australia, although how we Aussies came across that version over this version is anyone’s guess.
#60 for 1971
This is the only appearance from the Moody blues on this list, although they had a minor hit at the start of the decade in NZ with “Question” likely due to how big that song was in their native UK. I still don’t know why this took off six years after its initial release worldwide given how well they were doing with their albums at this point.
#56 for 1973
If you’re wondering why there’s only Maurice and Barry Gibb on the cover, that’s because Robin decided to sit out the album cycle of their first album of the decade due to him having solo success at the end of the 60’s. As such, this struggled to find success worldwide for two of the brothers Gibb with NZ being among the only places where it found any success for them.
#53 for 1970
Whereas these guys only had a sleeper hit here in Australia with this and thus were unable to appear on the Australian side of my site, the kiwis were more willing to give them a second hit which allowed it to become as such on the Listener charts and thus eligible for this list. They had two other charting singles, however neither of them had any chance to appear on here.
#61 for 1971
Much like the Moody blues from earlier, Procol Harum was album to score a hit in the early 70’s in NZ with a song that was originally released in 1967 even though this is a remix of that track as opposed to a simple rerelease from the earlier entry. As you can imagine, these guys had massive worldwide success throughout the 60’s with their earlier material.
#58 for 1972
There was no stopping this guy in NZ even though he was virtually a nobody throughout the rest of the world by the time this was released as a single, I’m not sure what the kiwis saw in this guy that everybody else didn’t, but it resulted in him scoring hit after hit and even eventually convincing us Aussies to give him a second chance.
#59 for 1972
This is the final entry from Daniel Booen on this list, he had quite the number of appearances on here even though like I said, the world had given up on him by the time this was released as a single. I would like to know if there was a Countdown equivalent in NZ as that would explain this guy’s success over there compared to everywhere else.
#57 for 1973
Well, how about this? We only have one entry from Slade on this list and it’s with a new entry to this site to boot. This was a minor hit here in Australia for the glam rock band, however it was too minor to make an appearance on that side of my site. Curious how these guys finally scored a hit in NZ right when we Aussies had grown tired of their music.
#55 for 1974
Here’s a song that has novelty written all over it, we have what appears to be the theme song from a band who calls themselves Mr Bloe. Naturally it was a huge hit for them in their native UK due to the bizarre premise of the song, it was also a huge hit for them in NZ where novelty tracks ran rampant on the Listener charts.
#54 for 1970
This is the final entry from CCR on this list, hey at least all of their noteworthy hits managed to make it onto this side of my site even if all of them did considerably worse on the NZ charts than they did here in Australia. They did chart over there with “Sweet hitchhiker,” however the kiwis were less forgiving to that track than we Aussies were.
#55 for 1970
Here’s the penultimate entry from Three dog night on this list, this was a top twenty hit here in Australia, but it was one of those weak entries that only scrapped on due to the lack of competition there was for the week it did. This is actually the song that has the passing the torch moment as we Aussies gave up on the band right when the kiwis began to make them household names.
#60 for 1972
There has been a huge dirge in country music on this list hasn’t there? Let’s rectify that by having an American duo who scored a decent hit on the Listener charts and their native America with this ballad of theirs. It was the only hit that Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley had in either country, likely due to this being an outlier on both charts.
#62 for 1971
It turns out Christie was able to score a second hit over in NZ given how well they did with their earlier entry on this list, this of course was the result of this single doing decently well in their native UK which allowed it to appeal to the kiwis in a way that it failed to appeal to us Aussies back in the day.
#63 for 1971
We have another Eurovision single on this list that failed to appear on the Australian side of my site, this time it’s an English version of the song that came in second place for 1973 which became a surprise hit worldwide including in NZ and even America for the Spanish band Mocedades. It did chart here in Australia, however we Aussies weren’t too interested in it.
#56 for 1974
Thought it was strange that Tony Christie managed to appear on this list with a song that came out months later here in Australia? Well, here’s this track from Olivia Newton John making an appearance on this side of my site due to it being a success over there almost an entire year before it was as such here in Australia. I have to assume this was only a hit here due to the success of her greatest hits album.
#57 for 1974
This had a bit of a delay to its release in NZ compared to here in Australia, mainly because it was a huge failure for Kincade in his native UK only for it to become a surprise hit here in Australia for whatever reason. It wasn’t big enough here for the kiwis to consider it an Aussie hit, so I have no idea how it saw the light of day over there.
#58 for 1973
Well at least there wasn’t a local version of this track to steal the success away from Looking glass like there was for the other song called Brandy on this list, although I wasn’t expecting this to do better over there than it did over here even though this was a huge chart topper for them in their native America.
#61 for 1972
This is the final entry from Paul Simon ion this list, this is the second single from his solo debut which proved he was on a roll with his singles on the Listener charts as opposed to here in Australia where he only had the one hit with “Mother and child reunion.” I’d be fascinated to know how well his albums did over there around this time.
#62 for 1972
It turns out John Hanlon’s earlier entry on this list wasn’t his debit single as that honour goes to this track which came out almost two years prior for him. Naturally it was a big hit over there even if the best was yet to come for the folk singer in his homeland as we’ve already seen on this side of my site.
#59 for 1973
Given how much less popular this was for Janis Joplin in NZ than the rest of the world, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that this was the only song of hers to chart on the Listener charts as it appears the kiwis just weren’t interested in her music. That said, I have no idea how well her album Pearl did, so perhaps this is a rare example of the kiwis gravitating towards an album over the single.
#64 for 1971
This is the final entry from Ringo Starr on this list, like I said earlier, he had a bit of a fumble towards his early career in NZ likely due to how overshadowed he was compared to the other members of the fab four. That said, he got the last laugh as not counting Paul’s entries on this list with Wings, he had the most entries on here post breakup.
#65 for 1971
Hits of Australia and NZ 