All 4 1994: January 16th Wishing Green Limousine on Maximum Overdrive

 Week two of 1994 and we have a fairly interestong week in prospect on the ARIA singles chart with plenty of movement in the top ten and outside of it as well however let's begin with the top ten where the big story of the week is our new number one that being "Boom! Shake the Room" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. it got enough sales to just nab the numbher one spot this week thanfully ending the five week reign at number one by "Please Forgive Me" by Bryan Adams which fell back to number two and doesn't look to be a threat to number one anymore

I'd say...unfortunately...the threat to our new number one is coming from "All For Love" by Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting which got a two place boost to number three.

"Shoop" by Salt 'N' Pepa is the only song in the top ten that didn't move as it remains glued to the number four spot. "All That She Wants" by Ace of Base slid two places to number five as it looks to be on the downswing now. 

M People's "Moving On Up" lives up to it's name by moving up three places to number six...this has momentum behind it so I can see this climbing higher in the weeks ahead.

Speaking of momentum also up three spots to seven is "Hero" by Mariah Carey...a song that's fine enough but not Mariah's best song however it did move past "Creep" Radiohead at number eight and "Got to Get It" by Culture Beat at number nine.

Finally a new arrival to the top ten, moving up nine places is Cut 'N' Move's cover of KC and the Sunshine Band's "Give It Up"

Losers

Lets rip our way through the biggest losers of the week starting from "Sweat (A La La La La Long)" by Inner Circle finally making it's way out down nine places to 46. 

Efua's "Somewhere" slides from 35 to 41 this week as it hit the downswing. "Go West" by Pet Shop Boys took the wrong direction and went south seven places to 30.

Meatloaf's "Rock and Roll Dreams Comr Through" dipped from 18 to 23 while 'The Weight" by Jimmy Barnes and The Badloves fell out of the top ten down six to number 12.

Re-Entries

Just the one re-entry with "Dur dur d'etre bebe" by Jordy returning at 39

Gains

Not too many major gains outside the top ten this week but the one song that seems to have absolutely jumped up the charts is "Slave to the Music" by Twenty 4 Seven feat. Stay-C and Nance which climbed from 28 to 14 this week and looks headed for the top ten at this rate. 

Urban Cookie Collective had a four place gain to 20 with "Feels Like Heaven" while "Hey Mr DJ" by Zhane climbed six places to 21. 

"Where is the Love" by Rick Price and Margaret Urlich rebounded after last week's fall, they are seven to 33. 

New Entries

Four new entries this week, starting with...

49. "Into Your Arms" by The Lemonheads.

So we've got a bunch of bands or groups this week and we start off with an American alternative rock band and I actually like this a fair bit, it's got this solid hooky groove courtesy of those guitars and the drums absolutely kill. I guess the only issue is the vocals, they don't have as much punch or power as I would like but hey, this is still a pretty solid song, hope it sticks around.

47. "Green Limousine" by The Badloves

Fresh off nabbing a top ten hit with Jimmy Barnes in 1993, we've got a new Badloves song and it's pretty mich a blues rock song and look, it's solid but it's not giving me much to say except in terms of the fact it's supposed to be about celebrities who jump aboard any cause's bandwagon if it proves to be fashipnable which is something worth calling out but I reckon the issue deserves a punchier song than this. 

44. "Wishing On the Same Star" by Girlfriend

So Girlfriend's newest effort is a cover of a 1991 song by an American singer songwriter named Keedy with the song written by Diane Warren and honestly I think I like the Gitlfriend version a lot better mostly because they amp up the girls harmonies and Melanie Alexander, who takes the lead vocal on this song can sell this with the sincerity and spirit a song about somebody reminding a loved one that no matter what they are wishing on the star and looking at the same moon and the song has a more lush and warm sound. Definitely dig this, check it out. 

40. "Maximum Overdrive" by 2 Unlimited.

Oh 2 Unlimited again...sigh...I don't have fondness for this group's thumping dance music that's got as much going for it as an empty bucket and yeah...this is just annoying especially with that "woo!" noise punctuating the melody. This is just soulless bleh. Move on.

To no one's surprise, it's the worst of the week. Best of the week is close between The Lemonheads and Girlfriend...I'm going to give it to Girlfriend for "Wishing on the Same Star" but again "Into My Arms" by The Lemonheads is pretty damn good too.

All 4 1994: January 9th: All For A New Year

 Yes, after two years, the retro charts are back for 2025, this time we're checking out the ARIA singles charts of 1994 and after the mediocrity of 1993, I am looking forward to seeing what 1994 has to offer and for the first chart of the year we have a rather quiet one on hand.

Unfortunately we are not off to a good start in our top ten because "Please Forgive Me" by Bryan Adams maintains number one for another week, it had reasonable sales week to see off the challenge of "Boom! Shake the Room" by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince which is a shame because "Please Forgive Me" is putrid shlock (see my worst hit songs of 1993).

The top three wound up fairly stable with former chart topper Ace of Base remaining at number three with "All That She Wants".

Salt 'N' Pepa moved up one place to number four with "Shoop" (a song that is fine but not my thing). At number five is a new entry with Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting collaborating on "All For Love", we'll get to the quality of the song later but it's here thanks to decent sales and this being a reasonably big event collab.

Jimmy Barnes collab with The Badloves "The Weight" remains a signpost of stability at number six while Radiohead's "Creep creeps up one spot to number seven.

"Got to Get It" by Culture Beat slipped back to number eight and looks set to fall further as M People climbed three places to hit the top ten at number nine. Finally Mariah Carey's ballad "Hero stayed steady at number ten.

Losses

 Alright, lets start as usual with our losers and we had two songs that took big tumbles out of the top ten with Urban Cookie Collective's "The Key. The Secret" plunging from number four to number eleven but they have a new single on the rise which we will get to in a moment while "Dreams" by Gabrielle dipped from nine to fifteen.

"Lemon" by U2 slid seven places to twenty and Kim Wilde's cover of "If I Can't have You" dropped nine to thirty

Culture Beat were one of the biggest losers of the week as "Mr. Vain" stumbled from eighteen to thirty one while "Somewhere" by Efua slipped from twenty seven to thirty five.

Rick Price and Margaret Urlich's collab "Where is the Love" seems appropriate hecause it fell nine places to number forty while "If I Had No Loot" by Tony! Toni! Tone! akidded down eight places to number forty three.

Finally the biggest song of 1993 "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" by Meatloaf fell twenty slots to forty four and "Angels" by John Farnham fell from thirty six to forty nine.

Re Entries

Just the one return this week with 4 Non Blondes back at number 46 with "What's Up?". 

Gains

So the underwhelming collab between Elton John and Kiki Dee "True Love" got a solid boost up nine spots to thirty four. Even worse Michael Bolton's "Said I Loved You...But I Lied" got an eight place gain to thirty two

Twenty 4 Seven's "Slave to the Music" feat Stay-C and Nance got one of the biggest gains this week though as it rocketed from forty six to twenty eight while Urban Cookie Collective thundered up twenty places to twenty four with "Feels Like Heaven" and Cut 'N' Move's cover of "Give It Up" sure did a LOT of moving up as it rocketed from forty one to nineteen this week. 

New Entries

Just the two new entries this week, starting with...

41. "Been Loving You Too Long" by Diesel

Ahh because 1994 needs to start with a cover of an Otis Redding song somehow, yet, I think Diesel does a good job here? Not saying this is better than the original...nothing tops Otis Redding but I would take this cover over Michael Bolton caterwauling through "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" mostly because gives this song a somewhat understated vibe and I really do like that, it doesn't top the original but I mean we're talking Otis Redding for crying out loud! Diesel still does a good job, this is worth checking out unlike

5. "All For Love" by Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting

Well okay. this is a collab that should be really good even with the questionable quality of Bryan Adams current number one hit but it does have Rod Stewart and Sting on it, it being for the "Three Musketeers" movie and all so law of averages says this should be at least good, right? 

Well no, this song is everything I dislike about adult contemporary music where it's just flaccid cliches that are eye roll worthy, you could swear that the earnest version of Bon Jovi wrote this song and what is worse is that nobody on the song sounds remotely good here. At least the instrunental has some redeeming value even if the lyrics are banally vomit inducing.

Yeah it's worst of the week by default as we only have two songs here. Diesel gets best of the week for "Been Loving You Too Long"