XPost: aus.music, aus.tv   
   From: tem@home.com   
      
   CHART: Australia - end of year - 2005   
      
   CONTENTS:   
             1.  At a Glance   
             2.  The Year That Was   
             3.  Australian Recordings   
             4.  The Number One Singles   
             5.  The Longest Running Singles   
             6.  Previous Year's Biggest Sellers   
             7.  The Top 100 Singles   
             8.  The Top 100 Albums   
             9.  All The Charting Top 50 Singles   
      
      
   NOTE: Singles and albums from Australian or New Zealand artists have an   
          asterisk (*) specified with their artist and title details when   
          presented in chart lists.   
      
      
   1.   A T    A    G L A N C E   
      
         Highest selling single of 2005:   
      
               + THE PRAYER - Anthony Callea *   
      
         Highest selling album of 2005:   
      
               + THE SOUND OF WHITE - Missy Higgins *   
      
         How many different singles charted in 2005:   
      
             355 (54 of those charted prior to 2005)   
      
         The number one singles:   
      
               + 21 chart-topping singles (plus one from 2004)   
               + 17 of them debuted at number one (plus one from 2004)   
      
         Longest running number one single -> 7 weeks:   
      
               + DON'T CHA - The Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes   
      
         Longest running single in the top 50 -> 29 weeks:   
      
               + SWITCH - Will Smith   
      
         Artist with the most entries in end of year top 100:   
      
             Singles chart:  Eminem (4 entries)   
             Albums chart:   (11 tied for this award, with 2 entries each)   
      
         Australian/New Zealand recordings:   
      
               + 99 singles that made the weekly top 50   
               + 24 % (24/100) of the top 100 singles of the year   
               + 33 % (33/100) of the top 100 albums of the year   
      
         The shock chart fact of 2005:   
      
               + If it wasn't for Australian Idol or Neighbours, no   
                 Australian artist would have scored a number one   
                 single in 2005.   
      
      
   2.   T H E    Y E A R    T H A T    W A S   
      
         A belated happy new year to everyone out there in 2006.   
         Perhaps the most eagerly awaited music chart of the year   
         is the end of year charts which document the biggest selling   
         singles and albums of the year just past.  And from those   
         we can gain an interesting insight into the year of music that   
         2005 was in Australia.   
      
         2004 was definitely the year of Australian Idol.  The 2003   
         series, which wrapped up late in 2003, ensured that the   
         charts in 2004 would be flooded with new music.  An incredible   
         8 Idol artists scored chart success, plus the winner and   
         runner-up from the 2004 series, bringing the total to 10.   
         Of those 10 artists, 7 scored number one singles.   
      
         2005 saw major cracks develop in the Idol phenomenon.   
         While 8 artists from 2003's series charted in 2004, only   
         3 artists from 2004's series charted in 2005, those   
         being the winner, Casey Donovan, the runner-up, Anthony   
         Callea, and Ricki-Lee who was eliminated when the final   
         6 were announced.  And while 2003's winner, Guy Sebastian,   
         enjoyed huge success with his first album and associated   
         singles, 2004's winner, Casey Donovan had a horror chart   
         run in comparison.  It is estimated that less than half of   
         the 140,000 copies shipped to record stores of her debut   
         single, "Listen With Your Heart", were ever actually sold,   
         and her follow-up single, "What's Going On", struggled to a   
         number 18 peak in March 2005.  Her third single, "Flow",   
         was a failure, managing only to reach number 51.  Casey's   
         album, "For You", debuted at number 2, but was nowhere to   
         be seen within the top 50 6 weeks later.  In contrast,   
         confirming the theory that the Idol runner-up does better   
         than the winner, 2004's runner-up, Anthony Callea,   
         enjoyed phenomenal success.  In 2005, Anthony's version   
         of the Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion classic, "The   
         Prayer", concluded a 5 week run at number one, going 4   
         times platinum, and easily ending up as the biggest selling   
         single for 2005.  This follows on nicely from 2004 when   
         2003's runner-up, Shannon Noll, scored the biggest hit   
         of the year with "What About Me".  But Anthony was no   
         one-hit wonder, scoring a second number one with "Rain /   
         Bridge Over Troubled Water", a top 10 hit with the   
         Latino-inspired "Hurts So Bad" and another top 5 smash late   
         in 2005 with "Per Sempre (For Always)".  Anthony's self-titled   
         album was the second highest selling album by an Australian   
         artist in 2005.   
      
         The 2005 Australian Idol series suffered further TV ratings   
         declines as compared to previous years.  The eventual winner,   
         Kate DeAraugo, spent two weeks at number one with "Maybe   
         Tonight" during December 2005, but eventual sales were even   
         poorer than the previous year's winner.  Kate's album,   
         "A Place I've Never Been" struggled to a peak of only number   
         10 on the albums chart when released, plummeting to number   
         22 the week after.  Runner-up, Emily Williams, managed to   
         score a recording deal, but nothing has been released yet.   
         However, the bright spark was the success of the number 3   
         contestant from the 2005 Idol series, Lee Harding.  The   
         22 year-old from Frankston was a crowd favourite with his   
         punk hairstyles and outfits, and his single, the double A-sided   
         "Wasabi / Eye Of The Tiger" debuted at number one before   
         Christmas.   
      
         While Australian Idol has confirmed it will run again in   
         2006, based on the poor success of 2005's winner as compared   
         to previous years, many tip the days of the winner churning   
         out a number one single will be gone.   
      
         2005 will probably go down in history as the year of the novelty   
         hit.  And there were plenty of them.  In January 2005, New York   
         comedian Greg Geraldo, going by the name of Lazyboy, released the   
         spoken dialogue single "Underwear Goes Inside The Pants", taking   
         a cynical look at today's way of life, touching on such issues as   
         obesity, terrorism and homelessness.  Then there was Schnappi, or   
         Joy Gruttmann from Germany, whose Aunt Iris recorded her singing   
         a song about a crocodile when she was just 4 years old.  Iris,   
         who co-wrote the song, ended up putting the recording on the   
         internet as a bit of a joke.  But interestingly enough a couple of   
         major radio stations discovered the song, and began playing it.   
         The song, "Schnappi Das Kleine Krokail (Crocodile Song)", was   
         a top 10 smash in Australia and did huge business across Europe.   
         But perhaps the most successful novelty hit came from Crazy   
         Frog.  Created by German telecommunications company, Jamster,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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