50 Years Of The Official Music Charts In Aotearoa – The Charts Go Gold Today

The Official Music Charts turns 50 today. Produced by Recorded Music NZ, the Charts reflect the most popular singles and albums in Aotearoa each week. They are the only charts endorsed by the music industry and are compiled according to globally recognised guidelines.

In celebration of the milestone anniversary, Recorded Music has identified 50 iconic Aotearoa music moments from the last five decades. They are listed in full at the end of this release.

The list features milestones from the very first #1 single by an NZ artist – Mark Williams with ‘Yesterday Was Just The Beginning Of My Life’ in 1975 – to Pātea Māori Club’s ‘Poi E’ becoming the first #1 to be sung exclusively in te reo Māori in 1984. It covers Lorde’s breakout success with ‘Royals’, Hayley Westenra’s incredible five #1 albums, and the epic reign of Six60 and L.A.B in recent years.

Today also fittingly coincides with the release of a new recording of Sir Dave Dobbyn’s ‘Slice Of Heaven’ (Paradise Version). In 1986 Sir Dave claimed his first #1 with the legendary track and has since spent a remarkable 18 weeks at #1 on the Top 40 Singles Chart across the course of his career.

The Charts’ 50-year history is rich with stories of pikitanga, or ascension – referring to those who demonstrate great potential and are climbing toward success. Today is just the start of Charts celebrations during 2025 – Recorded Music will also be acknowledging a small number of New Zealand’s most successful artists as Aotearoa Charts Icons later in 2025.

Mark Williams, who has recently relaunched his solo career alongside his 20+ years as frontman of Dragon, says:

“It’s an honour to be remembered as the first artist from Aotearoa to go to #1 on the Top 40 Singles Chart, in 1975. 50 years on, I’ve just relaunched my solo career and am loving reconnecting with audiences, who still get excited to hear ‘Yesterday Was Just The Beginning Of My Life’ live. The title now seems so poignant – yesterday really was the beginning of it all!”

Recorded Music Director of Data & Analysis Paul Kennedy says:

"In compiling the Charts, I've been incredibly lucky to have a front row seat to the weekly ebbs and flows of the music zeitgeist for the last 25 years. Whether your favourite songs ever got to #1 or #40, making it easy for anyone to be able to look back at our national tastes and listening habits over half a century is just one of the things that makes the Official Charts a valuable resource.

“This celebration of the myriad exceptional talents and global stars Aotearoa has produced over 50 years is a both a treat and a timely reminder that we have all the ingredients here to deliver loads more artists and hits that the world needs to hear."

Previously named the Official NZ Music Charts, the Charts were renamed the Official Aotearoa Music Charts on 1 November 2024. The name change was launched alongside a new and improved website at aotearoamusiccharts.co.nz and new te reo Māori translations for each Chart title.

The new site features a search function, which allows users to easily navigate its unparalleled 50-year archive. Music fans can now search up key stats for their favourite songs and albums, find out what was #1 on their birthday in any given year, and access an artist’s entire Charts history.

The name change brought the Official Charts brand in line with the Aotearoa Music Awards, which was renamed from the New Zealand Music Awards in 2020. The Official Aotearoa Music Charts and Aotearoa Music Awards are Recorded Music’s flagship properties and serve as platforms to promote and celebrate recording artists and their recordings in Aotearoa.

As well as 50 years of the Official Charts, 2025 marks 60 years of the Music Awards in Aotearoa, an anniversary which will be celebrated at the AMA event on Thursday 29 May, closing out Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa | New Zealand Music Month in style. Music Month also celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025.

Recorded Music NZ CEO JO Oliver says:

“Reaching #1 in the Official Charts and being an Aotearoa Music Awards finalist are pinnacle achievements for New Zealand artists. The Charts and AMA are key touchstones in our musical heritage and have evolved over the years to reflect our unique cultural identity.

It is our privilege this year to be marking an incredible 50 years of the Official Charts and 60 years of the Music Awards in Aotearoa. Throughout 2025 we will be recognising the achievements of artists and waiata of the past and present; and supporting the creation of new moments to celebrate our musical icons and inspire the next generation of artists.”

For more about the history of The Official Aotearoa Music Charts, visit AudioCulture

Boilerplate

The Official Aotearoa Music Charts reflect the most popular singles and albums in Aotearoa each week. They are the only charts endorsed by the music industry and are compiled according to globally recognised guidelines.

The Charts are compiled by Recorded Music NZ and published at 4pm every Friday – the first to be published in the world each week.

Celebrating 50 iconic moments for NZ artists across 50 years of the Charts

1. 1975 – Mark Williams’ ‘Yesterday Was Just The Beginning Of My Life’ becomes the first-ever #1 NZ single
2. 1976 – Bill & Boyd’s self-titled record becomes the first #1 album by an NZ act
3. 1979 – Jon Stevens has his first #1 single for Jezebel and in January 1980 becomes the first New Zealander to have two singles in the Top Five simultaneously (‘Jezebel’ at #1 and ‘Montego Bay’ at #4)
4. 1980 – Split Enz goes to #1 with True Colours – which will go on to set a record for the album with the longest span between weeks at #1, beginning with two weeks in 1980, then re-entering at #1 again 40 years later. They’ve also had the most NZ albums in the Top 40 over time, 14
5. 1981 – Deane Waretini becomes the first artist to use te reo Māori in a #1 single as ‘The Bridge’ tops the Singles Chart
6. 1981 – An NZ single replaces another at #1 for the first time, when The Swingers (‘Counting The Beat’) bump Dean Waretini (‘The Bridge’) from the top spot
7. 1981 – Flying Nun's first signing, The Clean, reach #19 on the Singles Chart with ‘Tally Ho’. Two months later the band's debut EP Boodle Boodle Boodle would also chart, reaching #5 on the Albums Chart
8. 1982 – Sir Howard Morrison claims his first #1 with ‘Whakaaria Mai’ (How Great Thou Art). The track holds at #1 for 5 weeks
9. 1982 – D.D. Smash becomes the first NZ act to debut at #1 on the Top 40 Albums Chart, with Cool Bananas
10. 1984 – Pātea Māori Club hit #1 on the Singles Chart with ‘Poi E’, becoming the first #1 to be sung entirely in te reo Māori
11. 1987 – Dave Dobbyn becomes the first NZ artist to feature on three singles in the Top 10 simultaneously: ‘Sailing Away’ by All of Us (#5) and two smash hits from the Footrot Flats soundtrack, ‘You Oughta Be In Love’ (#8) and ‘Slice Of Heaven’ with Herbs (#9)
12. 1988 – When The Cat's Away hit #1 on the Singles Chart with ‘Melting Pot’, the first all-female NZ chart-topper
13. 1989 – Margaret Urlich becomes the first solo NZ female to claim a #1 single, with ‘Escaping’
14. 1990 – Moonlight Sax by Brian Smith becomes the first #1 jazz album by a New Zealander
15. 1991 – The Mikey Havoc-fronted Push Push go to #1 with their breakout hit ‘Trippin’’
16. 1992 – Crowded House’s third album Woodface is the legendary act’s first to go to #1
17. 1994 – Supergroove land both their first #1 single (‘Can't Get Enough’) and album (Traction). Traction spent 41 weeks in the Top 40 all up
18. 1996 – OMC go to #1 with ‘How Bizarre’. The song became a worldwide hit and is still one of the best-known tracks to come out of Aotearoa
19. 1997 – Bic Runga releases Drive, the first #1 album by an NZ solo female artist
20. 1999 – Groundbreaking pop act TrueBliss hit #1 with ‘Tonight’. They also become the first all-female NZ act to go to #1 on the Album Chart, with Dream
21. 1999 – The General Electric becomes the first of five #1 albums for Shihad – having just played their final shows in 2025, the rockers still hold the record for the most #1 albums by an NZ band
22. 2000 – Fur Patrol claims the coveted Christmas #1 with their smash hit ‘Lydia’, bumping Destiny’s Child from the top spot. All up, ‘Lydia’ spent 19 weeks in the Top 40
23. 2001 – Hayley Westenra’s eponymous debut goes to #1, her first of an incredible five albums to do so – a record for any NZ solo artist
24. 2001 – Anika Moa arrives on the scene with Thinking Room – the album peaks at #1 on the Top 40, and spends 45 weeks on that Chart
25. 2002 – NZ artists dominate the end of this year, with The Datsuns, Blindspott and Nesian Mystik all notching up #1 albums during November and December
26. 2003 – Scribe hits #1 with double A-side single ‘Stand Up / Not Many’, beginning a 12-week non-consecutive run at #1. All up, the single claims the most weeks at #1 of any NZ artist (13 weeks)
27. 2003 – Elemeno P go to #1 with their debut album Love & Disrespect. All up the act have spent 68 weeks in the Top 40 Albums Chart
28. 2004 – Ben Lummis wins the inaugural NZ Idol and debuts at #1 with ‘They Can't Take That Away’
29. 2004 – Goldenhorse claim their first #1 album with Riverhead and set a record for the slowest climb to #1, reaching the summit 55 weeks after the album's release
30. 2004 – In general, 2004 was the biggest year for NZ #1s – 28 weeks of the year had a local release at the top of one or both of the Top 40 Charts, including Misfits of Science with ‘Fools Love’, Dei Hamo with ‘We Gon Ride’, and Adeaze feat. Aaradhna with ‘Getting Stronger’
31. 2005 – Fat Freddy's Drop claim their first #1 album, Based On A True Story. The record stayed in the Top 40 for a whopping 111 weeks, and remains in the Aotearoa Catalogue Chart even now
32. 2005 – Savage releases back-to-back #1 singles, ‘Swing’ and ‘Moonshine’. The artist has spent 17 weeks at #1 on the Top 40 Singles Chart, the most of any NZ artist after Scribe (22)
33. 2007 – Hollie Smith’s debut Long Player enters the Top 40 at #1 on release – all four of the artist’s solo albums have done so
34. 2008 – Tiki Taane hits #1 with ‘Always On My Mind’. The song remained in the Chart for 55 weeks, a record at the time by an NZ artist
35. 2009 – Smashproof and Gin Wigmore hit #1 with ‘Brother’. The song still holds the record for the most consecutive weeks at #1 by a local single, 11
36. 2009 – Stan Walker goes to #1 with his first single ‘Black Box’. The artist has since had a further 10 singles in the Top 40, and in 2024 dominated the Te Reo Māori Top 10 with his 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards-nominated single ‘Māori Ki Te Ao’. The artist is up for a total of five Tūī at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards
37. 2010 – Brooke Fraser goes to #1 with FLAGS, her third album to top the Top 40. Fraser has spent 171 weeks in the Chart across her career
38. 2011 – Hayley Westenra claims a fifth #1 album with Paradiso. Westenra still holds the record for the most #1 albums by an NZ solo artist
39. 2011 – Technically an Australian release, ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ – the duet by Gotye and Hamilton-born artist Kimbra – hits #1 in NZ as well as breaking internationally
40. 2013 – North Shore teenager Lorde hits #1 in NZ, and becomes a global sensation, with her first-ever single ‘Royals’. The artist is up for Spotify Single of the Year at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards, for her hugely popular Charli xcx collaboration ‘Girl, so confusing featuring lorde’
41. 2014 – Streaming is added to the Official Charts. Fittingly, the first act to secure a #1 in the streaming era is Six60 with ‘Special’
42. 2016 – Aaradhna goes to #1 with her acclaimed album Brown Girl. Still going strong, the artist is up for three awards at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards, for her most recent album Sweet Surrender
43. 2019 – The first Waiata / Anthems compilation becomes the first fully te reo Māori album to go to #1 on the Top 40, changing the game for waiata Māori
44. 2020 – South Auckland teenage beatmaker Jawsh 685 teams with Jason Derulo on ‘Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)’, hitting #1 in both Aotearoa and the US
45. 2020 – Troy Kingi’s The Ghost Of Freddie Cesar goes to #2 on the Top 40, the first of his 10|10|10 series to land in the Chart. 7 albums from the series have cracked the Top 40 so far. The musical chameleon is in the running for Album and Single of the Year, and Best Rock Artist at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards, for his most recent release Leatherman And The Mojave Green
46. 2021 – Six60 notch up their third #1 single with ‘All She Wrote’, joining Lorde and Deep Obsession as the NZ acts with the most #1s of all time. All up, Six60 have had the most singles in the Top 40 (28) and most combined weeks in the Top 40 (600) of any act from Aotearoa
47. 2021 – L.A.B pull off an unprecedented one-two-three finish, claiming the top three spots on the Singles Chart simultaneously with ‘Why Oh Why’ (#1), ‘In The Air’ (#2) and ‘Controller’ (#3). ‘In The Air’ went on to spend 168 weeks in the Top 40, the most of any NZ act. L.A.B are up for Album of the Year (L.A.B VI) and Best Group at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards
48. 2022 – Don McGlashan, Aldous Harding, Tami Neilson, The Beths, and Avantdale Bowling Club all claim their first #1 albums on the Top 40. Neilson is a finalist for Album of the Year and Best Country Artist at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards
49. 2024 – DARTZ join L.A.B as the only NZ act to top both the Top 40 and Top 20 Aotearoa Albums Chart on release in 2024, with their record Dangerous Day To Be A Cold One. The album sees the act up for Best Group and Best Rock Act at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards
50. 2025 – Marlon Williams debuts at #1 on both the Top 40 and the Aotearoa Top 20 with his first fully te reo Māori album, Te Whare Tīwekaweka. The artist’s third dual #1, it’s the first fully te reo record of original waiata to top the Top 40. The first Waiata / Anthems compilation, which features songs by some of the biggest artists in Aotearoa, translated into te reo Māori, was the first fully te reo album to go to #1, in 2019

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