The end and the last top ten

Nothing lasts forever. After 13 years of monopolising Sunday evenings, Countdown ended. The reasons were numerous. Gavin Wood says: ‘All of a sudden there were pop shows coming on the commercial channels ’cause it was cheaper. And when Queen did ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ that was the first real film clip. Then the Duran Durans and all of that started to try and outdo each other and have a more expensive clip.’ It ultimately worked out cheaper for Countdown to run clips and limit the number of live bands they had on the show. Video ended up killing the live performances on set.

Soon the video clips were driving the record industry and Countdown started losing the edge it once had. It was also an evolutionary kind of thing, Countdown had had its fun in the sun and music programs such as Rage which called out to a younger group of fans, started to bite in to the Countdown phenomenon. On 19 July 1987 the final credits rolled and the lights went out. And then there was a gaping hole at 6 p.m. on Sundays. Australia had entered a new era and life would never be the same again.

The final Countdown was hosted by Molly with special guests Carol Hitchcock and Jim Keays. The production team put together a montage of Molly footage backed by Frank Sinatra singing ‘My Way’.

The Last Countdown Top 10

1. ‘Lean On Me’ – Club Nouveau
2. ‘Sweet Sixteen’ – Billy Idol
3. ‘Crazy’ – Icehouse
4. ‘Slice Of Heaven’ – Dave Dobbyn
5. ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now’ – Starship
6. ‘I Want Your Sex’ – George Michael
7. ‘Right On Track’ – Breakfast Club
8. ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ – Whitney Houston
9. ‘He’s Gonna Step On You Again’ – Party Boys
10. ‘Respectable’ – Mel and Kim
     

Read more about the Countdown story:
About Countdown
Countdown beginnings
The Countdown Influence
The Countdown Team
National top ten charts