It's 40 years since the first official New Zealand Top 40 music chart, and the music industry is celebrating the milestone with a special set of anniversary awards.
The industry will mark which singles and albums were the best across the decades.
Tiki Taane spent 55 weeks in the charts with 'Always On My Mind', released in 2008. It broke the New Zealand record and tonight he's being recognised for it.
"I'm trying to downplay it but I'm pretty excited, amazed [and] astonished, but at the same time really, really stoked," says Taane.
Taane wrote the song on an out-of-tune guitar after a few whiskies, but a friend begged him not to change a thing.
"It was this close to not releasing because it was so raw, it was so open," says Taane. "It was probably the most under-produced song I've ever done. So it was kind of like a leap of faith just putting it out there."
Recorded Music New Zealand is honouring Taane with a limited edition vinyl single this evening, a double A-side with Scribe's 'Stand Up' which spent a record 12 weeks at the top.
"I don't really look at the charts, to be honest, for inspiration but the fact that I'm in it is pretty cool," says Taane.
By contrast, Jordan Luck of The Exponents has always been a fan of charts. He used to cut them out of newspapers.
Helen Reddy's song 'Free and Easy' was the first New Zealand number one and there've been 635 since - 64 of which were homegrown.
The way the charts have been compiled over the years reflects how music consumption has changed - from vinyl, singles and albums, through to cassettes and CDs and now incorporating downloads and streaming.
But each chart is a time capsule for geeks and historians alike.
3 News
source: newshub archive
