David Bowie's most succesful years commercially were the 1970s and early 1980s. Information about this era is unfortunately limited because of the lack of national music charts at that time.
Sources such as ARIA, OZnet and RIANZ, indicate that Bowie's success in Aus and NZ occupies something of a mid ground between Britain/Europe (where he is most popular) and the US.
Australia - ARIA Music Chart
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) keeps a limited archival chart history on their website.
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Using their “End of Year” charts (which date back to 1988), we can gather that Changesbowie was the 33rd most successful album of 1990. |
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The Best of Bowie achieved Gold status (35,000 units) in 2003 and then Platinum status (70,000 units) in 2004. This completes a picture of recent success for Bowie’s compilations in this country. |
Since 2001, ARIA have also kept records for DVD charts.
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According to the End of Year Chart, The Best of Bowie (DVD) was the 24th most successful DVD of 2003. The following year (2004), the DVD achieved an award of 2 x Platinum. |
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Bowie’s A Reality Tour (DVD) also achieved platinum status in 2004, completing a picture of recent success for Bowie DVDs in this country. |
Australia - australian-charts.com
The australian-charts.com website have information on the chart activity of more recent Bowie albums.
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Heathen debuted at number 9 on July 7, 2002 and stayed four weeks on chart. The Heathen page for is found here. |
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Reality debuted at number 13 on September 28, 2003 and stayed three weeks on chart. The Reality page is here. |
Australia - Oz Net Music Chart
According to Oz Net Music Chart, “Heroes” is the 35th most played song on Australian radio – just beating Space Oddity at 40. Starman is 217 and Ashes to Ashes is 670.
Oz Net also contains other useful information as follows:
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Sorrow was the 16th biggest single of 1974. It spent two consecutive weeks on top of the Australian chart from the 9th of February. |
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Ashes to Ashes was the 25th biggest single of 1980. |
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Let’s Dance was the 24th biggest single of 1983. |
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Dancing in the Street was the 11th biggest single of 1985. It spent two consecutive weeks on top of the Australian chart from October 12. |
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Bowie’s most recent successful single - Hallo Spaceboy - entered the chart at a peak position of number 36 on the 5th of May 1996. |
New Zealand - RIANZ Music Chart
RIANZ (Recording Industry Association of New Zealand) offers an archive of album charts dating back to 1998. From this, we can measure the following:
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Hours charted at a peak of number 21 on Nov 7, 1999, then slided back to number 45 then number 50. |
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Heathen charted at number 25 on July 7, 2002, moving up to a peak of 22 the following week. This was followed with positions of 28, 41 and 42 completing a chart stay of 5 weeks. |
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The Best of Bowie is the most successful abum in Bowie’s recent NZ history both according to chart peak and longevity. It charted at a peak of number 6 on Nov 24, 2002 and achieved gold status in its first week. The following weeks it charted at numbers 8, 16, 19, 22, 18, 30, 29, 37, 29, 25 and then out. Continuing the longevity, BOB entered the charts again the following week (March 9, 2003) at number 32 - this time having registered platinum status. It was then out of the top 50 for 2 weeks before beginning a final run of 33, 39, 36, 40 and out. Surrounding promotions for the A Reality Tour, The Best of Bowie re-entered the charts at number 50 on the 15th of February, 2004. |
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Reality entered the NZ chart at an initial peak of number 16 on Sept 28, 2003. The following week it slid back to 32 before spending two weeks at 48 and then leaving the Top 50. Surrounding promotions for the A Reality Tour, Reality re-entered the chart at number 44, on the 15th of February, 2004 - this time showing Gold status. The following week it moved to a peak position of 14 before sliding back to 45 and then out. |
Melbourne Music Chart
Thomas J Guest's book Thirty Years of Hits 1960-1990 offers a complete history of Melbourne chart hits with cross references by artist and title. From this we can gather:
Starman reached #34 in Melbourne 1972. With the exception of 1979, Bowie would have at least one hit single in the Melbourne Top 40 each year for the next 16 years. Space Oddity reached #7 in 1973. In 1974, not only did Sorrow (#2) go one notch higher than it’s UK peak, but it became the ninth biggest hit of the year on Melbourne chart. Based on hit position and longevity, it remains Bowie’s most successful chart single in Melbourne history. Young Americans peaked at #20 compared to UK #18 and US #28. Golden Years peaked at #17, a little less than its success in the UK (#8) and US (#10). In the latter half of the 70s, Bowie's chart activity declined as his music turned less mainstream. This was with the exception of one major hit. In 1977, “Heroes” climbed to #23 but it’s peak position was not reached until the following year where it hit #12 - proving a greater success on chart in Melbourne than in the UK (#24). Ashes to Ashes , the lead single of Scary Monsters peaked at #6 reflecting the awesome success of the UK (#1). In 1982, Cat People was a considerably larger success in Melbourne (#14) than in the UK (#26) or the US (#67). Let's Dance peaked at #3 in Melbourne – not quite as high as the US or UK where it topped the chart. Modern Love was the most successful single from Let’s Dance album. It peaked at #5 (as against US #14 and UK #2) and was the 27th biggest hit of the year (Let’s Dance was the 41st biggest). The longevity of this hit carried across into 1984. Blue Jean peaked at #9 – one notch below it’s UK and US positions. Dancing in the Street remains Bowie’s only #1 in Melbourne. This equalled the success of the UK (#1) and bettered the US (#7).This is Not America made #29 – compared to US (#32) and UK (#14). Absolute Beginners reached #9 making it the most successful of the 3 back to back soundtrack singles. This compared to US #52 and UK #2.Underground made #27 which was comparable to it’s UK position (#21). Day In Day Out made #29. Again, this was in the ballpark of its US (#21) and UK (#17) positions. |