Australian bubbling under charts

[Nugs]

This week in 1990: new entries from Julee Cruise, Jude Cole, TISM, Lonnie Gordon, Earth Wind & Fire featuring M.C. Hammer, Antoinette, and Tackhead.

https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...mber-1990.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1981: new entries from Rickie Lee Jones, Alabama, and Smokie.


https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...op-100-28.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1990: new entries from Michael Bolton, Wendy & Lisa, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Bats, Linda Eder, Prefab Sprout, and The Time.


https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...ober-1990.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1981: new entries from Third World, Pretenders, and The Crusaders and Joe Cocker.


https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...top-100-5.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1990: new entries from World Party, Tommy Emmanuel, Suzanne Vega, Seven Stories, and Sonia.


https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...ober-1990.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1981: new entries from Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, and Simple Minds.

https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...op-100-12.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1990: new entries from Glenn Medeiros, Belinda Carlisle, Girl Overboard, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Beloved, Mighty Big Crime, Ngaire, and Rebel MC.

https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...ober-1990.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1981: new entries from Tigers, Duran Duran, and Art Garfunkel.


https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...op-100-19.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1990: new entries from Luciano Pavarotti, Heart, Sam Brown, Digital Underground, Dieter Kleeman, A Tribe Called Quest, Van Morrison, Double Trouble, and Queensrÿche.

https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...ober-1990.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1981: new entries from Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band and Marc Hunter.

https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...op-100-26.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1990: new entries from Jeff Lynne, Deep Purple, The Pogues, Charlie Sexton, Inner City, The Jeff Healey Band, Craig McLachlan and Check 1-2, Sybil, and Morrissey. https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...ober-1990.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1981: a new entry from Stevie Nicks.


https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...top-100-2.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1990: new entries from Megadeth, The Christians, Anthrax, Giant, Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, a-ha, Agro, and Weddings Parties Anything.

https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...mber-1990.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1990: new entries from Alson, Paul McCartney, Pretenders, Paul Norton, Ray Lyell and The Storm, Dan Fogelberg, Kate Ceberano, The Vaughan Brothers, and Sting; plus 3 updated posts from earlier in the year containing new entries from Damn Yankees and Kate Ceberano and Her Sextet.

https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...mber-1990.html

[Nugs]

Preview of what's coming up in 1991...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbCe9Le0suk

[Nugs]

This week in 1990: the chart finishes before number 150 for the first and only time since it extended beyond #100 in January 1989, plus new entries from The Charlatans, Lowen & Navarro, John Williamson, and Public Image Limited.


https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...mber-1990.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1981: new entries from Models, The Tubes, and The Radiators:

https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...op-100-23.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1990: new entries from ZZ Top, Sinéad O'Connor, Julio Iglesias, The Chimes, James Blundell, Billy Idol, and En Vogue.

https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...mber-1990.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1990: new entries from N.W.A., Johnny Gill, Cliff Richard, Solange, Maurie Fields, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cheap Trick, and Tiffany. https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...mber-1990.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1990: new entries from Billy Joel, Wilson Phillips, Depeche Mode, Living Colour, Caron Wheeler, Inspiral Carpets, Status Quo, and Mr. Lee.

https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...mber-1990.html

[Nugs]

This week in 1990 (the final chart survey for the year): new entries from Daryl Hall & John Oates, Angry Anderson, John Lennon, Russell Morris, Doug Anthony All Stars, Bass-O-Matic, Clouds, 808 State, Real Life, Soul II Soul featuring Kym Mazelle, and The Human League.


https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...mber-1990.html

[Nugs]

A recap of all of the singles that peaked in the 101-150 region of the ARIA singles chart in 1990:


https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...in-review.html

[Robbie]

Thanks for posting Nugs. Why did so many singles spend so long bubbling under the top 100? There are quite a few with 10+ weeks with one spending 20 weeks as a bubbler. I know the Australian chart was slow back then with a number of records inside the top 100 spending many months on the charts but I didn't think labels would spend a long time promoting singles that were failing to make an impact on the top 100. In the UK labels would spend perhaps two or three weeks promoting a single which was icharting inside what was classed as the bubbling part of the chart (numbers 76 to 100) but they would usually give up on a single if it failed to cross into the top 75 within a month.

[Nugs]

Thanks for posting Nugs. Why did so many singles spend so long bubbling under the top 100? There are quite a few with 10+ weeks with one spending 20 weeks as a bubbler. I know the Australian chart was slow back then with a number of records inside the top 100 spending many months on the charts but I didn't think labels would spend a long time promoting singles that were failing to make an impact on the top 100. In the UK labels would spend perhaps two or three weeks promoting a single which was icharting inside what was classed as the bubbling part of the chart (numbers 76 to 100) but they would usually give up on a single if it failed to cross into the top 75 within a month.

Hi Robbie, sorry for the delay in replying - I just saw this now, not expecting anyone (else) to have posted in this thread over the Xmas break.

The Australian chart was a lot slower-moving than the UK chart back in that era. As a result, anything that made, say, the top 25 would often spend 10 or more weeks in the top 40, and would generally be considered/remembered as being a 'hit', in contrast to the UK, where even the number 1 singles didn't always spent 10 weeks in the top 40.

Australian record companies were not as keen on deleting titles as the UK ones. It was rare for a single to be deleted while it was still charting reasonably well, back in those days. I'm not sure why there were some long-running singles that peaked outside the top 100 in Australia, but it happened. I guess they sold consistently in small quantities/insufficient quantities to break into the top 100, over time.

One thing that might explain some of these factors is that Australian radio, and even TV to some extent, was not centralised back in those days. Each state largely did their own thing, with only the ABC (which was mainly focused on news) being national (but even then, each state had their own news). There were only one or two national radio networks back then; it wasn't like the BBC having Radio One. There were different radio playlists in each state's capital city, and each state also had their own schedule of TV programs. As a result, occasionally you could have a single in the top 10 on one of the smaller state's charts that wasn't even in the top 50 nationally. An extreme example that springs to mind is When In Rome's 'The Promise' (on my 30 January 1989 post) reaching number 20 on the South Australia/Northern Territory state chart, but peaking outside the top 100 (#103) nationally and on all of the other state charts (and spending 15 weeks on the chart).

Australia's population distribution is obviously a lot different to the UK's, where the majority of the population is concentrated within England. As a result, there would have been wider variation in what was popular in different states of Australia at any given time.

A single's chart life could be extended by peaking at different times in different states. One example I can think of is David A. Stewart featuring Candy Dulfer's 'Lily Was Here', which peaked at #11 in Western Australia in June 1990 (during the week it was at #74 nationally), but did not peak on the other state charts until October-December 1990. It spent 51 weeks on the chart, overall, and spent its first 7 weeks on the chart outside the top 100, before climbing to its peak of #10 in November 1990.

The Australian chart also did not remove singles from it, back then, after a period of time; unlike the UK removing singles below 75 that met certain criteria.

I can think of a couple of number one singles in Australia that took more than six months to get there - Ratcat's 'Tingles' EP from 1991, and Merril Bainbridge's 'Mouth' from 1994. Both debuted outside the top 100.

Australian record companies, prior to the late 90s, seemed to not care so much if an artist had released a string of flop singles - their next one would often still get a local release. It wasn't like the UK where an act could be dropped for their single missing the top 5.

I have thought of writing a special post on singles that spent many weeks outside the top 100 before breaking into the top 100, that went on to become big hits, and may do so at some point.

Some time ago, I also drafted a post focusing on singles that peaked outside the top 100 that spent at least 16 weeks on the chart. While I could publish it, it's also a bit of a 'spoiler' for what lies ahead.

There are two singles coming up in 1991 that peaked outside the top 100 but spent 30 weeks on the chart. One of those only spent 4 weeks in the top 150, to boot.

One of the craziest chart runs in Australia was Marilyn Manson's 'The Beautiful People', which spent 56 weeks in the top 100 despite only peaking at #42. Also, only 9 of those weeks were in the top 50. Top 100 chart run below:

75-76-74-78-79-64-57-71-59-54-51-54-55-57-62-53-50-49-55-56-55-59-53-51-61-52-53-55-42-51-48-52-45-54-45-57-66-58-54-57-58-57-56-46-58-55-51-63-52-57-62-49-46-65-62-73

[Nugs]

1991 kicks off with new entries from Clubland featuring Quartz, Hard-Ons, Tricky Disco, Chad Jackson, Cher, Kim Appleby, Hurricane, and Seduction.

https://www.bubblingdownunder.com/20...uary-1991.html