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“Two Strong Hearts” is a song written by Andy Hill and Bruce Woolley. Australian singer John Farnham recorded the song and released it as the second single from his 13th studio album, Age of Reason (1988). The song peaked at number six on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart in October 1988.
At the APRA Music Awards of 1990, the song won the Most Performed Overseas Work award.[1]

“Two Strong Hearts” was also recorded as a duet with Johnny Mathis and Dionne Warwick on Mathis’s studio album Once in a While, released in May 1988.

Track listing

  1. “Two Strong Hearts” – 3:35
  2. “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)” – 4:11

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1988–1989) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[2] 6
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[3] 50
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[4] 28
Quebec (ADISQ)[5] 20
UK Singles (OCC)[6] 80
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[7] 38

Year-end charts

Chart (1988) Position
Australia (ARIA)[8] 54

Certifications

Certifications for “Two Strong Hearts”
Region Certification Certified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ)[9] Platinum 30,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Legacy

Queensland graffiti artist James Hillier who posts on Instagram under the name Nordacious, used a line from Two Strong Hearts which features the words “river to the sea”, and a slice of watermelon.[10] On March 28, Queensland Police stated that they asked him to remove the graffiti, as river to the sea had become hate speech in Queensland earlier that month.[11]

References

  1. ^ “1990 APRA MUSIC AWARD WINNERS”. APRA AMCOs. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  2. ^ “John Farnham – Two Strong Hearts“. ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  3. ^ “RPM 100 Singles”. RPM. Vol. 49, no. 23. 8 April 1989. p. 6.
  4. ^ “John Farnham – Two Strong Hearts“. Top 40 Singles.
  5. ^ “Palmarès de la chanson anglophone et allophone au Québec” (PDF) (in French). BAnQ. 4 March 1989. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 November 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
  6. ^ “Official Singles Chart on 4/3/1989 – Top 100“. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  7. ^ “John Farnham Chart History (Adult Contemporary)“. Billboard. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  8. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia’s Music Charts 1988–2010 (pdf ed.). Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  9. ^ “New Zealand single certifications – John Farnham – Two Strong Hearts”. Radioscope. Retrieved 20 October 2025. Type Two Strong Hearts in the “Search:” field and press Enter.
  10. ^ Dennien, Matt (28 March 2026). “‘From the river to the sea’, and into police sights, for Brisbane artists”. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 31 March 2026.
  11. ^ Hinchliffe, Joe; Messenger, Andrew (5 March 2026). “‘From the river to the sea’ is being outlawed in Queensland. How will the slogan’s ban work, and will it be challenged?”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 31 March 2026.