After the death of President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito, he composed the music for the song "Druže Tito mi ti se kunemo" ("Comrade Tito, We Swear to You"), which was then performed by Zdravko Čolić which was then sold in 350,000 copies. Novković composed music for Sanja Trumbić's famous thank-you schlager "Danke Deutschland" produced in January 1992 by Hrvatska radiotelevizija as a show of gratitude to Germany for their role in international recognition of Croatia's independence. In 1993, he wrote the song "Don't Ever Cry" for Put, the first Croatian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest.