Album · Split Enz
Waiata by Split Enz
Waiata is an album by Split Enz, released in 1981. 2 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 16 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “One Step Ahead”, on 14 lists with a best position of #488.
Waiata, Split Enz's sixth studio album, came out in March 1981 on Mushroom, and the title is the Māori word for song and singing. In Australia it went out as Corroboree, an Aboriginal term; Noel Crombie has said the plan was to retitle it with a native word in every country that released it, but only the Australians went along and everyone else got Waiata.
By now the New Zealanders had traded the art-rock greasepaint and theatrics of their early days for sharp, springy new wave pop, with Tim Finn and Neil Finn at the heart of it. "History Never Repeats" and "One Step Ahead" got the promo-clip treatment and were among the first videos MTV aired when the channel switched on in America that year. Time and Tide followed in 1982.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Waiata on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | One Step Ahead | 14 | #488 | – | 1999–2023 | |
| 2 | Hard Act to Follow | 2 | #38 | – | 1981–1988 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.