Billboard Number Ones: The Land Down Under Quiz

Answer: Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)

During the 1970s, Helen Reddy scored big with six songs reaching the US Billboard Top 10. "I Am Woman", "Delta Dawn" and "Angie Baby" would each peak at the number one spot for one week. "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)" would peak at number three on the charts in 1973. Two other hits, "You And Me Against The World" and "Ain't No Way To Treat A Lady" would peak at number nine and number eight in 1974 and 1975.

Helen Reddy also had fifteen songs reach the Top 10 on the US Adult Contemporary Charts. Strangely, she would have more success on the US Charts than in her native Australia having only four Top 10 hits on the Kent Music Report.

Answer: Night Fever

While many assume that "Stayin' Alive" was the most successful on the Bee Gee hits of the 1970s, this is not the case. "Stayin' Alive" and "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" both peaked at number one for four weeks each respectively. "Night Fever" from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack peaked at number one starting on the 18th of March, 1978.

It would be kicked out of the number one spot by another soundtrack song "You're The One That I Want" by Olivia Newton-John (also an Australian artist) in June of 1978.

Answer: Andy Gibb

In total, his three songs were in the number one spot for a combined thirteen weeks. In July 1977, "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" spent four weeks in the number one spot, "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" spent two weeks at number one in March 1978, and "Shadow Dancing" spent seven weeks at number one becoming his best charting song. Following years of substance abuse, Andy Gibb sadly died of heart related complications in 1988. Maurice and Robin Gibb had passed away in 2003 and 2012 respectively. Following Robin's death, only Barry Gibb remained as the sole survivor of the final and best-known line-up of the Bee Gees.

Answer: The One That You Love

"The One That You Love" was the only song to reach number one on the US Billboard charts for Air Supply during the 1980s. They would have three songs go to number one on the Adult Contemporary Charts in the 80's, those being "Lost In Love", "Here I Am", and "Even The Nights Are Better".

In Canada, "The One That You Love" would knock "Stars on 45 medley" from their spot on the charts and remained at number two for five weeks. In their native Australia, Air Supply had eleven songs reach the top 50 with "Love and Other Bruises" being their most successful hit reaching the number two spot on the Australian Kent Music Report in 1976.

Answer: Jessie's Girl

As the story goes, "Jessie's Girl" was inspired while Springfield was taking a stained glass class with his friend Gary and Gary's girlfriend. As Springfield did not want to use the real names of the parties involved and changed his friend's name to Jessie. Springfield says that he does not remember the name of Gary's girlfriend, but once had Oprah Winfrey's people try to locate her with limited success. "Jessie's Girl" would remain at number one for two weeks and was ranked as the 20th greatest song of the '80s by VH1 in 2006.

Answer: Physical

"Physical" was Olivia Newton-John's biggest American hit and was popularized due to its music video. Featuring Newton-John in tight leotards as a gym teacher trying to help several overweight men to try and lose weight. As she is unsuccessful in doing so, the men lose weight training on their own implying at one point that the men are gay. At the end of the video, one of the men appears to be straight and engages Newton-John in a game of tennis.

Other US Billboard number one hits for Olivia Newton-John include "I Honestly Love You" (1974), "Have You Never Been Mellow" (1975), "You're The One That I Want" (1978), and "Magic" (1980). Of these hits, "Magic" was the most successful appearing at number one for a total of four weeks.

Answer: Down Under

"Down Under" peaked at number one not only in the United States, but also in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The song features many relevant Australian slang terms including 'fried out', 'Kombi', 'a head full of zombies' and 'chunder'.

In 2010, Men at Work lost a lawsuit that claimed they did not have the rights to the "flute riff" at the beginning of the song. Larrikin Music won the rights to 5% of royalties from the 2002 year. A new version of the song was made for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

Answer: Savage Garden

In January 1998, Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply" peaked at the number one spot on the US Billboard charts for two consecutive weeks. This would be the first Australian Billboard number one since INXS topped the charts in 1988 with "Need You Tonight". Savage Garden would record another number one Billboard hit in 2000 with "I Knew I Loved You".

It would be another twelve years before another Australian singer or band would top the Billboard charts with Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" peaking at number one in April 2012.

Answer: Fancy

"Fancy" was the first Iggy Azalea song to appear in the US Billboard Top 10. It spent seven weeks in the number one spot starting the week of June 7, 2014 and received positive reviews from music critics. The music video for the song is a spoof of the 1995 film "Clueless".

It was nominated for four awards at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, but did not win any of the awards. Her hit song "Black Widow" also gained success on the US Billboard charts peaking at the number three spot also in 2014.

Answer: Cheap Thrills

After recording her seventh studio album "This Is Acting" in 2016, Sia released her first US Billboard number one hit with "Cheap Thrills". "Chandelier" previously broke into the top 10 peaking at number eight in 2014. Prior to 2016, only "Chandelier" had reached number one in any country, that being on the Syndicat National de L'édition Phonographique in 2014.