This is my biggest project yet! I've decided to rank all the biggest songs and albums to make it big here in Australia by how well they did on our charts from 1970 to 2009. The reason I'm not including the 2010's and beyond is because let's face it, I want this list to be a celebration of all the biggest and best songs to appeal to us Aussies and I feel that the vast majority of songs and albums that made it big after 2009 won't have the lasting cultural impact that even amid level hit from 1973 still has decades later. I'll be including stats from both the ARIA AND AMR charts meaning that all singles from mid-1988 onwards as well as albums that charted between mid-1988 and late 1998 will have two entries on this list to showcase how well they did on each chart (you'll know the difference when an entry has THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY rather than my commentary on it.) One final thing, this will be presented as a countdown, meaning that I'm breaking tradition by having each entry be more successful than the last as opposed to the opposite like every other list on this site.
#6300
Named after the famous American settler, Daniel Boone (real name Peter Green) scored a huge international success with this track that seems to replicate the relaxed vibes of "In the summertime" from earlier on this list. Although this was his only hit in most parts of the world (including his native UK) he was quite popular in NZ with several of his other tracks around this time.
#6299
It's a bit weird that "Me myself and I" flopped here in Australia and yet this sex jam from Beyonce's debut album was a hit, then again, I don't remember hearing the third single from the album much back in the day and yet remember this being inescapable. This samples "Love to love you" by Donna Summer and has an added flavour of middle eastern music to give it that erotic sound she was going for.
#6298
I guess Genesis also wanted to get in on the irony of the decade before we realised irony would be the word to describe the 90's, here they have a song about how they can't dance, despite them not being a dance act and thus no one really caring if they can or not. It was their final hit in the world as well as Phil Collin's final hit here in Australia as his subsequent follow ups flopped here in the decade.
#6297
There weren't any signs of these guys slowing down as they scored a huge hit with the first single from their third album Absolutely which remains their biggest album in their catalogue. This is a more lovestruck track from their catalogue compared to their previous hit, which is about whether heaven existed or not, sure this wasn't as big as "Heaven," but it still managed to resonate with audiences.
#6296
This was the only hit that Soup Dragons managed to have worldwide, I'm guessing because they were often mislabelled as a reggae band when they were really more in the Madchester scene that was becoming more popular in their native UK around this time. I guess this made it big here because we couldn't tell this apart from the likes of UB40 and Maxi Priest who were huge at the time.
#6295
This song was released here in Australia when Laura Branigan performed it and her earlier entry on Countdown this year, so it was a shoe in for being a huge hit for her down under. Australia was where she was the most successful because of her appeal this year, that appeal comes from her killer vocals as well as her songs mostly being covers of foreign language tracks made popular throughout Europe.
#6294
This was the third and final hit that La Bouche was able to score from their one and only album, thus completing the cycle for EDM acts scoring massive success with one album before forever fading into obscurity throughout the 90's. I guess you can technically say that Aqua continued this trend the following year, except they not only scored four hits from Aquarium but managed to release a second album.
#6293
This was the third hit that Cyndi Lauper had from her debut album, in fact she broke records on Billboard with this album by being the first artist to score four top five hits from a single album in America. This is one of her wackiest songs given that it's about female masturbation, although for the longest time I had no idea what this song is about due to how vague she comes across in the lyrics.
#6292
This was the lead single to Split Enz's album Time and tide, although it wasn't as memorable as their earlier entry on this list which is why it wasn't as big a hit here. It did do considerably better in NZ, proving that the band were catering more to their local scene rather than us Aussies with this entry, although it was a huge hit regardless and did lead to the album being a massive success.
#6291
This was the second hit that Silverchair achieved from their sophomore album this year, it was a moderate success for the band as it was a more mature version of their original sound from their debut album.
#6290
This was the first of only two hits that Madness had in Australia, although a little-known fact about it is that it's a cover of a Labi Siffre track from ten years prior which surprised me considering that these guys were known for writing their own songs. Their second hit came when they appeared on Countdown to perform all of the singles from their greatest hits album Complete madness.
#6289
Here's that song from the Human league that I and many others reckon Culture club built their lead single off Colour by numbers off from earlier on this list, I swear the melody to both of these tracks seem identical to me the more I listen to both songs. This was one of two hits the band had this year from their E.P Fascination, an E.P that flopped here despite it producing two of the band's bigger hits.
#6288
I bet you were beginning to wonder if these guys had any success on our charts back in the day given how long it's taken for me to feature one of their quintessential tracks. Suffice to say that this is the first of two entries on this list which became a success around the time of Jim Morrison's tragic death.
#6287
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6286
This was a surprisingly good decade for Eric Clapton considering he hadn't had any success with his singles in Australia prior to his appearance on MTV unplugged four years prior. Here he scores another hit due to it being the theme to the film Phenomenon where John Travolta plays a man who suddenly acquires telekinetic powers with chaos ensuing from there. It was a box office success despite mixed reviews due to the premise of the film.
#6285
While I'm sure fans of the Pretenders were a bit disappointed to see Chrissie go in a pop friendly direction on her fourth album Get close, it did result in her biggest success while still staying true to what made her a household name (minus the "I'm one of the boys" attitude of course.) Here she sings about her feelings of how her mother was no longer with us and how she was going to cope with her loss.
#6284
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6283
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6282
This is the closest that Stevie Nick's "Edge of seventeen" managed to become a hit here in Australia, Stevie of course gave her blessing to Destiny's child and even appears in the music video to prove that the trio didn't steal the track from her without her consent. Here we have them inventing a new term for sexy, which of course has since been legitimised as a word in the Oxford dictionary.
#6281
This ballad was nominated for an Oscar this year, I just thought I'd throw that out there as there are many people who don't like Peter Cetera's solo material due to him being schmaltzy in both his vocals and songwriting. This comes from the second Karate Kid flick which has been described as a sequel that repeated the big hits from the original film, although it's still considered better than the next two films.
#6280
This was the only hit from Warren Zevon throughout the world, although it remains one of the most popular songs on oldies stations to this day likely due to someone mashing this up with "Sweet home Alabama" in the late 00's and scoring a massive hit with this mashup (I forget who that might be.) Indeed, this songs melody has been used in several different ways over the years to varying degrees of success.
#6279
This was the solo debut single for Justin Timberlake following the demise of his band N sync earlier in the year, it was meant to showcase him as a more mature pop star than his time as a boy band member which is perhaps why it was an instant success for him worldwide upon its initial release. Nowadays it's been overshadowed by the other three singles from the album due to them being more interesting.
#6278
This was the only hit that Quiet riot was able to score even in their native America, although given it's a heavy metal cover of a Slade track from a decade prior, there was little chance this was going to flop even though it came many years after they first formed and released an album. Rather coincidentally, Slade themselves had a comeback hit this year and even finally broke through to America with the song.
#6277
It took him nine years, but Mike Oldfield was finally able to score a second hit in his career in Australia following the success of his Exorcist theme from 1973. Here he recruits Maggie Reilly to provide vocals for this song about a friend of his who died from a drug overdose; indeed, Maggie gives a compelling performance which no doubt tugged at the heartstrings of many listeners back in the day.
#6276
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6275
This song was reportedly inspired by the reality series of the same name, in fact Beyonce was supposedly watching the show when she decided to theme a breakup anthem around the show which resulted in the song's creation for the album of the same name. It was a massive hit for the trio upon its initial release, in fact I'm surprised it wasn't a bigger hit here in Australia given its status as a feminist anthem.
#6274
It appears we Aussies were a bit amused with this fourth and final single from JT's solo debut album, not amused enough to make it a massive hit like his earlier entry on this list but amused enough to make it a hit despite it flopping everywhere else in the world except for NZ. The reason why this wasn't that big is likely due to the outro where Justin does a call and response for guys and girls listening, specifically him impersonating his female audience in the outro.
#6273
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6272
This was the third time this ballad became a hit in Australia, the previous two were from the original singer Dusty Springfield and Bay City roller's version from 1976. This time we have Annie Lennox taking a stab at the track with her first band the Tourists, although technically this was the Eurythmics as David Stewart was part of the group as well. They would become the Eurythmics while the band were on tour here in Australia.
#6271
You know a film has connected with an audience when even its main character's theme song manages to become one of the biggest hits of the year worldwide, that's exactly what happened here as Axel Foley was so well liked by audiences that his theme was a huge success for composer Harold Faltermeyer. It's perhaps best known for the Crazy frog remix two decades later, a remix that's best left in the 00's.
#6270
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6269
This was the lead single MJ's masterpiece Thriller, I get why it was chosen as the lead single considering it was a collaboration with his then BFF Paul McCartney, however many will agree that any of the other songs on the album would've made for a better lead single and no doubt would've made it an instant success as opposed to it having to work its way to being the biggest album of all time.
#6268
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6267
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6266
We have another double entry to appear on this site, this time it's from Anthony Callea who offered audiences a two for one deal with an original track from him along with a cover of a Simon and Garfunkel classic. It was an easy hit for the singer, and one that compelled him to come out as gay shortly after its success.
#6265
This was a surprise comeback for Little river band as it was the first song, they released that had Glenn Shorrock back on lead vocals, I'm guessing this was a hit here due to how well his temporary replacement John Farnham was doing around this time and fans wanting to thank these guys for giving him the platform to reboot his career.
#6264
Even though the album Automatic for the people was already a huge success here in Australia by the time R.E.M released this ballad, this song regardless became a huge success here and boosted the sales of the album and made it even bigger than it already was. This remains their biggest hit in Australia likely due to the pain that Michael Stipe displays on the track which made audiences sympathise with him.
#6263
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6262
Winter was a hectic time for this franchise, this album was only slightly less successful than the previous entry but was a massive hit regardless.
#6261
The third entry from the Wild FM series was a bit of a bust, likely due to it being caught between two years and thus failed to appear on a yearend list. It picked up with the fourth entry where it finally broke the series into the top ten on the AMR charts.
#6260
It looks like Hit machine took a page out of the 100% series by combining the spring and summer seasons into one release, it somewhat paid off as this was a decent success but nothing that noteworthy compared to previous years.
#6259
I'm actually a bit surprised this wasn't even more popular given how hectic the midpoint of the year was here in Australia, although I guess some of the choices on here were a tad redundant all things considered.
#6258
100% hits return this year as does Hit machine with this being the biggest entry from both franchises, here it covers the biggest hits in Australia for our summer season of 1995/1996 which was pretty chaotic here.
#6257
Well, this is something else, apparently the Grammy award nominations were so stacked this year that their second album they released to promote the nominees was a huge success in Australia this year. This was the only album from the Grammys to ever be a success here (at least as far as I can tell) which makes this a strange phenomenon indeed.
#6256
It's worth noting that the 100% series did achieve success this year even if it took a back seat to the Hit machine series, as such we have all of their entries from this year becoming a success starting with this entry overlooking the summer period of this year.
#6255
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6254
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6253
There were no signs of these guys slowing down here in Australia, OK there were some signs given how this was nowhere near as successful as their previous two albums here, however it was obvious they still had a massive fanbase who likely comprised of a lot of the other entries on this list given how popular classical music had become at this point in time.
#6252
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6251
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6250
Given how Van Morrison began the decade with a greatest hits package that would prove to be among the most successful of the 90's, it only makes sense that he would finally see success with one of his albums here in Australia for the first time since his 1979 effort Wavelength.
#6249
While he was still looking for that big mega successful hit that wouldn't come until his magnum opus Born in the U.S.A, Bruce Springsteen was nonetheless able to find modest success with his follow up to Born to run as well as hand out success to others in the music industry thanks to his stellar songwriting skills. It could also be he was a bit ahead of his time as heartland rock wouldn't explode until the early 80's in his native America.
#6248
Given how well Jimmy Barne's collaboration album was from two years prior, it only makes sense that we Aussies would want to hear an album full of some of the biggest names in Australian music take on the classics from his band Cold chisel. In case this didn't go over very well with fans, it also serves as a greatest hits package containing the original recordings from the band.
#6247
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6246
Rod Stewart hadn't troubled the charts since his 1981 effort Tonight I'm yours, sure he had a minor hit here and there, but it seemed like his time in the spotlight was done going into the 90's. Naturally that would turn out to be false with his next album Vagabond heart, however he did release this best of album which was a huge success for him with fans of his overall work.
#6245
This is the final successful album that Sherbet achieved in their career, it appears that their popularity had quickly dwindled during the last stretch of the decade given how inescapable they were during the midpoint thanks to their exposure on Countdown.
#6244
This will be the final entry from Sky that I'll be featuring on this site, suffice to say that the band perhaps broke through a bit too late as they no doubt would've had much bigger success had they broken through during the mid 70's where prog music was at its peak.
#6243
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6242
This managed to be a moderate success here in Australia this year despite R.E.M's heyday being well and truly behind them by this point, this goes to show that even the off material of legends can be more successful in the 21st century than most up and coming artists combined.
#6241
Although her (then) most recent album was a bit of a dud for her, Kylie's career so far was nonetheless a massive success everywhere in the world except for America (due to being dropped from her label over there) which made this the perfect opportunity to release a greatest hits package looking over the highlights. After this, she would experiment with her sound before eventually returning to bubblegum pop in 2000.
#6240
This was the second volume for the Eagles greatest hits package following their first volume from 1976, admittedly this was released more in response to the band breaking up at the start of the decade rather than it being released six years after its first volume. It was a success given how they infamously declared that hell needed to freeze over for them to reform, that of course happened in 1994.
#6239
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6238
This was all set to be a flop outside of Richard Marx's native America, I'm guessing because the world already felt it had Bryan Adams to carry the torch of heartland rock for artists who didn't get their start in the 70's. I guess we Aussies changed our minds when the third single from the album became a Billboard chart topper for him, bearing in mind he already had two hits from the album by this stage.
#6237
The Takeaways were a fictional band who had their own show around this time, the show culminated with the band appearing on Countdown where they performed their music in order to help them crossover to the real world. As corny as that setup is, I'm surprised it wasn't more of a thing back in the day as even by this stage, people had come around for the Monkees and the Partridge family in the music industry.
#6236
This was released the previous year to deafening silence, I'm guessing because no one initially wanted to hear Hutch from Starsky and Hutch have a singing career as actors don't usually have good singing careers unless they were established as a musician prior to making it big in Hollywood. The world changed its mind when he scored a huge chart topper with a song that was later included on this album.
#6235
This was another successful album to come from AC/DC this decade, much like their previous entry on this site, it didn't spawn any hits for them which is why it wasn't as successful as their album from the start of the decade.
#6234
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6233
The first Step up film was such a critical and commercial dud that the soundtrack didn't even appear on the charts here in Australia, let alone become a hit like its sequel did. Then again, I feel the only reason why this album did so well was due to the runaway success of the film's theme song which became the biggest hit of the year for its performer Flo Rida.
#6232
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6231
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6230
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6229
This was the album which launched Donna Summer into the mainstream largely thanks to its title track which took up the entirety of side A on this album due to being stretched out for sixteen minutes. Thankfully side B has more to offer as this was made while Donna fancied herself as an RNB singer, this is perhaps why it's been overshadowed by her later material which sees her firmly in disco.
#6228
For thirteen years, this was the final album to come from Tool given how lead singer Maynard James Keenan was juggling his career between this band and A perfect circle who had briefly broken up two years prior presumably to allow him to work on this album but eventually reunited in 2010. For what it's worth, it would take twelve years for that band to release a new album, meaning he hadn't released new music in that time.
#6227
This is the final album that Alanis Morissette had any success with throughout her career, this is mainly due to Avril Lavigne's earlier entry on this list stealing the thunder that the older Canadian singer/songwriter had coming from the 90's which sadly left her in the dust after this year.
#6226
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6225
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6224
These were the big hits of Australia from the winter of this year, there was an excellent assortment of choices to be found here which is how this compilation album managed to be a huge success upon its initial release.
#6223
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6222
The summer of 1981/1982 was an impressive time for music in Australia if this album is anything to go by, as such it became a success during the autumn of this year due to how many great selections are available on its track listing.
#6221
Richard Clayderman was one of the most popular classical artists to make it big this decade, this was one of only two albums to find success here in Australia but believe me, the French pianist was inescapable worldwide back in the 80's. I'm guessing this live performance really impressed us Aussies if it was the most successful album of his catalogue down under.
#6220
This is the final successful album that John Farnham had any part of which happens to be a duet with Tom Jones from a successful concert they did together, which turned out to be such an explosive show that its best moments were captured on this release for fans to enjoy.
#6219
I guess this guy was able to have some success with his career following his controversial victory on the fourth season of Australian idol, here he has a covers album with some of the biggest songs from the twentieth century that managed to find enough of an audience to justify his win on the reality show two years prior.
#6218
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6217
Following the success of their surprise hit the previous year "Maggie," Foster and Allen were able to score a hit with this album which is something you'd expect from Michael Crawford or Michael Bublé from the 90's and 00's respectively. Naturally this was the duo's only success here as their brand of Celtic crooner music only had a limited shelf life in the mainstream here.
#6216
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6215
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6214
I think I can safely declare these guys to be the winners of the first round of the 90's boy band wars, just a heads up that there'll only be one entry from their rivals Take that on this site which was the album with their one American crossover "Back for good" from later in the decade. This did have a lengthy climb to its success here even with how big the singles were during their initial release, however it eventually peaked once the deluxe edition was released.
#6213
I guess we Aussies weren't that interested in Bryan Ferry's second go as a solo artist throughout the 80's, it's kind of an inverse effect he had worldwide where the world didn't care much for his solo output in the 70's and yet fell in love with his most recent album Boys and girls the previous year. In any case, we have this greatest hits package from both him and his former band Roxy music making it big.
#6212
Following the success of his greatest hits package from the previous year, Jimi Hendrix's label issued this previously unreleased album from the music legend which became a huge success here in Australia likely due to it sounding like something Lenny Kravitz would release from around this time.
#6211
Another movie that 80's afficionados will gladly root for is Pretty in pink, mainly for the story of a poor but attractive teenage girl winning over the popular guy at her high school and her self discovery along the way. The film remains a classic to this day thanks to its timeless themes, and the soundtrack was also a huge success thanks to it having some rather unconventional songs to soundtrack the visuals.
#6210
His last album saw him working with the African bambaata band, so why not shift his sound towards Brazilian music on this album? It wasn't as successful as Graceland likely due to it lacking that catchy bop like "You can call me al" on this track, however it was still a success for the aging singer/songwriter.
#6209
This was another successful compilation album that will become more prevalent as we go through these lists of mine, this one collect's all of the biggest hits of winter of this year in order to market them as spring jams which is why it was a success when it was.
#6208
Noiseworks had officially called it quits this year following the departure of Jon Stevens to allow him to embark on a theatrical career, as such they released this greatest hits album which was a success due to it collecting their biggest hits from their three albums during their time together.
#6207
One of the more popular films live action kids' films of the 90's was My girl, a story about a young girl who was going through the challenges of life in the early 70's due to how distant her father was due to him being a funeral director and thus fascinated with death over his daughter. I won't spoil the film, but it's a fantastic watch to this day due to the performances and the way the soundtrack is incorporated in the scenes.
#6206
For whatever reason, we Aussies became more receptive to victory singles as the decade was coming to an end when it came to digital sales, I guess this was a sign that even the more mundane audiences of the day finally gravitated towards digital downloads with ballads such as this.
#6205
This was the debut single for Bronski beat, another band who was out and proud about their LGBT status as the video to their debut single depicts a fictionalised story of lead singer Jimmy Somerville's experience coming out of the closet. The song itself remains a classic to this day, however it's the visuals of him falling in love with a man who is revealed to be homophobic that sticks with audiences to this day.
#6204
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6203
If I had to pick a favourite track from these guys, this would be it as it's by far the bounciest song in their catalogue as well as it being an ode to the ladies who were admittedly their biggest demographic back in the day. Their next song would be their sole Billboard chart topper, although it's also the point where they became more popular in America than they did in Australia (stay tuned for it.)
#6202
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#6201
This is the most recent entry from the king of rock and roll on this list, although he did continue to find success during the second half of the decade right up until his untimely death in 1977.
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