CHART BEATS: A JOURNEY
THROUGH POP

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Jan 28, 20213 min read

This Week In 1996: January 28, 1996

A decade is a long time in music, and for an artist to be able to sustain peak popularity for that long is the exception rather than the...

Jan 25, 20214 min read

This Week In 1981: January 25, 1981

There's a big difference between a covers band (think The Beatnix, Björn Again) and a band that has its biggest hits with remakes...

Jan 21, 20216 min read

This Week In 1996: January 21, 1996

Nine new entries! That's what I call an exciting week in chart history. And the highest entry going straight in at number 1, no less —...

Jan 18, 20214 min read

This Week In 1981: January 18, 1981

I'm sure I've mentioned this before — I'm nearing 700 posts, so it's likely — but I have many best of CDs in my collection that I bought...

Jan 14, 20214 min read

This Week In 1996: January 14, 1996

Regular readers will know my disdain for novelty records, but there's a different type of novelty I am a fan of, and that's when an...

Jan 11, 20214 min read

This Week In 1981: January 11, 1981

How many bands from Tasmania can you name? Serious question, because I could only think of two: The Innocents, who we saw miss the top 50...

Jan 7, 20214 min read

This Week In 1996: January 7, 1996

Back in 1996, the ARIA chart still shut down at Christmas, meaning top 50 fans had to make do with an unchanged countdown for three...

Dec 28, 20207 min read

This Week In 1980: December 28, 1980

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...

Dec 21, 20204 min read

This Week In 1980: December 21, 1980

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 to...

Dec 17, 20205 min read

This Week In 1995: December 17, 1995

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...

Dec 14, 20203 min read

This Week In 1980: December 14, 1980

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...

Dec 10, 20205 min read

This Week In 1995: December 10, 1995

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...

Dec 7, 20204 min read

This Week In 1980: December 7, 1980

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...

Dec 3, 20204 min read

This Week In 1995: December 3, 1995

I don't tend to get political on this blog. In fact, a decade ago I was fairly oblivious to politics and wouldn't have been able to tell...

Nov 30, 20204 min read

This Week In 1980: November 30, 1980

It was a major source of frustration for me how behind the times Australia was in the 1980s, with it routinely taking ages for overseas...

Nov 26, 20204 min read

This Week In 1995: November 26, 1995

Remember when singers stuck to the melody? By 1995, that style of singing had become decidedly old-fashioned as vocal gymnastics came to...

Nov 23, 20204 min read

This Week In 1980: November 23, 1980

As we've seen in our trips back to 1980, the first year of the decade was notable for many musical milestones and events. Then, in the...

Nov 19, 20203 min read

This Week In 1995: November 19, 1995

Pop music is a fickle thing. One minute you're topping charts around the globe, next minute you're not. This week in 1995, a Swedish pop...

Nov 16, 20203 min read

This Week In 1980: November 16, 1980

While some singers can wear out their welcome on the top 50, others' careers take a different approach as they land less frequent hits —...

Nov 12, 20204 min read

This Week In 1995: November 12, 1995

I have a love-hate relationship with YouTube. (Perhaps you could say that when it comes to YouTube, love and hate collide...) Obviously,...

A Journey Through Aussie Pop - green light.png

A Journey Through Aussie Pop is shining a light on classic Australian pop artists and releases from the 1980s, '90s and 2000s.

A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman is working its way through every single produced by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman in chronological order.

Chart Beats subscribers have access to exclusive content, including extended interviews and extra discussion we can't fit in the regular episodes. Click here for more info.

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About Chart Beats

Chart Beats: A Journey Through Pop has been looking back at music from the '80s, '90s, 2000s and 2010s since 2012. Run by freelance journalist and content creator Gavin Scott in Sydney, Australia.