'It's become a bit of a legacy': Mark Williams reflects on having Aotearoa's first No. 1 single
It's 50 years since 'Yesterday Was Just The Beginning Of My Life’ topped New Zealand's official music charts.
Musician Mark Williams was just four years out of high school when his song 'Yesterday Was Just The Beginning Of My Life' reached no. 1 on the New Zealand Top 40 Singles Chart.
The year was 1975 and the Official Music Charts had just launched, offering Kiwi listeners a glimpse into the most popular singles and albums each week.
Fifty years on, they're still a vital record of the country's musical journey.
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Williams, who has enjoyed more than two decades as the frontman of Dragon and recently relaunched his solo career, remembers the moment Yesterday Was Just The Beginning Of My Life went number one.
"I was down in Wellington, I was doing a gig at a pub and I was so excited about this song I had recorded, and it had such little recognition.
"Everybody just wanted to hear covers and that, and I remember being like, 'this is a really good song'. We'd changed it from a garage rock song to a Philadelphia kind of soul song as well, and I was just really stoked on that.
"About a month later, it had reached number one on the charts and it was a surprise. That's the most vivid thing I remember, I don't think anyone can really fathom what it actually feels like. It's beyond reality, it was just thrust upon me.
"I'm still getting feedback now that people tried to dress like me, to look like me... it was a whole era. The whole package appealed to a generation and I'm still getting people recalling all that. It's become a bit of a legacy."
The charts, produced by Recorded Music NZ, have captured a multitude of New Zealand music milestones in the past five decades, from Pātea Māori Club’s Poi E, the first chart-topping single performed entirely in te reo Māori, to Lorde’s international breakthrough with Royals.
Recorded Music NZ's director of data and analysis Paul Kennedy says he has been 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."
In celebration of the milestone, Recorded Music NZ has identified 50 iconic Aotearoa music moments from the past five decades.
1975 - 1985
In 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.
Base FM (Oren Oaariki)
- 1975 – Mark Williams’ ‘Yesterday Was Just The Beginning Of My Life’ becomes the first-ever #1 NZ single
- 1976 – Bill & Boyd’s self-titled record becomes the first #1 album by an NZ act
- 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)
- 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
- 1981 – Deane Waretini becomes the first artist to use te reo Māori in a #1 single as ‘The Bridge’ tops the Singles Chart
- 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
- 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
- 1982 – Sir Howard Morrison claims his first #1 with ‘Whakaaria Mai’ (How Great Thou Art). The track holds at #1 for 5 weeks
- 1982 – D.D. Smash becomes the first NZ act to debut at #1 on the Top 40 Albums Chart, with Cool Bananas
- 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
1985 - 2000
In 1987, Dave Dobbyn became 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)
Spid Pye
- 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)
- 1988 – When The Cat's Away hit #1 on the Singles Chart with ‘Melting Pot’, the first all-female NZ chart-topper
- 1989 – Margaret Urlich becomes the first solo NZ female to claim a #1 single, with ‘Escaping’
- 1990 – Moonlight Sax by Brian Smith becomes the first #1 jazz album by a New Zealander
- 1991 – The Mikey Havoc-fronted Push Push go to #1 with their breakout hit ‘Trippin’
- 1992 – Crowded House’s third album Woodface is the legendary act’s first to go to #1
- 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
- 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
- 1997 – Bic Runga releases Drive, the first #1 album by an NZ solo female artist
- 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
2000 - 2005
In 2001, Anika Moa arrived on the scene with Thinking Room – the album peaked at #1 on the Top 40, and spent 45 weeks on that Chart.
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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)
- 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
- 2004 – Ben Lummis wins the inaugural NZ Idol and debuts at #1 with ‘They Can't Take That Away’
- 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
- 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’
2005 - 2015
In 2013, North Shore teenager Lorde hit #1 in NZ, and became a global sensation, with her first-ever single ‘Royals’
RNZ
- 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
- 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)
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 Aotearaoa Music Awards, for her hugely popular Charli xcx collaboration ‘Girl, so confusing featuring lorde’
2015 - 2025
In 2025, Marlon Williams debuted at #1 on both the Top 40 and the Aotearoa Top 20 with his first fully te reo Māori album, Te Whare Tīwekaweka.
Steven Marr
- 2014 – Streaming is added to the Official Charts. Fittingly, the first act to secure a #1 in the streaming era is Six60 with ‘Special’
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
