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.
#4600
This was all set to be a failure here in Australia likely due to us Aussies not being interested in the kiddie pop these Irish lassies had to offer, however a performance on Countdown with the lead single had us quickly changing our minds as this wound up being a success for them. The kiwis were more in love with this band than us Aussies as this was an instant success over there upon its initial release.
#4599
One of the most critically acclaimed bands of the decade was Queen's of the stone age, a band that's best described as stoner rock as much like Bob Marley, their music is best appreciated by those who like to chill out with the same type of substance as the reggae legend liked to enjoy during his lifetime. The band received a boost in popularity with this album due to the presence of Dave Grohl during its production.
#4598
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4597
This was the only hit that German DJ Da Hool managed to score in his career, again we have an EDM song making it big in Australia which is nothing new at this point of the 90's. One thing I can say about this song is that according to ARIA it wasn't a hit at all, meaning that this song's appearance is based on how well it did on the AMR charts (which is how I base these rankings on this site.)
#4596
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4595
This was a great year for artists to discover older tracks and remix them for their own songs, here we have the German group Boogie pimps taking the Jefferson airplane song of the same name and remixing its chorus for an easy worldwide hit for them. This won't be the only song on this list to find success with this formula as we'll see other entries as we go further down.
#4594
Boyzone were indeed one of the biggest boy bands of the decade, so why not have these guys take over from them once they called it quits this year? This was their debut single and the first of many UK chart toppers for them which of course led to them gaining a bad reputation in the UK due to how inescapable they were. Their popularity wasn't as big here in Australia, although they did better than Take that for what it's worth.
#4593
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4592
Over a decade prior to his presence on the song which single handedly introduced the world to 2010's reggaeton "Despacito," Daddy Yankee was a one hit wonder with his own reggaeton track which became a surprise worldwide success for the Latin artist likely due to how catchy it was compared to everything else on this list. You'd think that he would've thrived during the Zumba craze of the 2010's given how his music would fit into those playlists.
#4591
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4590
This was the lead single to an E.P that Bryan Ferry released from around this time, although the E.P itself flopped in favour of the song likely due to it appearing on his second album which was a massive success due to his earlier entry on this list. This really does beg the question of how we Aussies loved this guy so much but only as a solo artist given how little love his band Roxy music received here back in the day.
#4589
This was the lead single from a covers album that Tom Jones released just as the decade was coming to an end, it's notable for A: helping the Cardigans escape from the one hit wonder bin and B: helping the Talking heads original finally find an audience here in Australia after almost two decades of complete obscurity. This was the only hit from the album Reload, although I would've thought "Sex bomb" would be a big hit as well.
#4588
It's strange to think that the Drifters were able to score two hits in the 70's in Australia and the UK given how their fellow Americans had long abandoned their catalogue by this point in time. This was the first of those two hits which helped the RNB quartet retain an audience for the third consecutive decade in both countries.
#4587
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4586
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4585
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4584
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4583
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4582
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4581
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4580
This was the theme to a German kids cartoon of the same name, originally, I heard it in a German class I was taking at school and dismissed it as something my teacher wanted to share with the class, she was heavily pregnant at the time after all. As it turns out, she was actually trying to be hip and with it as this was a surprise hit this year throughout the world much like the Bob the builder theme from earlier in the decade.
#4579
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4578
There are two versions of this track that exist, there's the version with the disco trio Love unlimited which features vocalist from the three women of colour on the track. The other version is the instrumental version which is the version that became a massive worldwide hit given how it was commissioned from a group of session musicians by Barry White for one of his concerts with the girls.
#4577
This was the only notable hit that Blind Melon had in their career, mainly because of the video which depicted a cute little girl in a bee costume that fans and haters alike have dubbed as "bee girl." People who dislike this song (me included) complain that Shannon Hoon's vocals are very irritating on this track, although that is a vocal minority as this remains well loved to this day for the band.
#4576
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4575
Well, here's the other hit that Jam and Spoon, oh sorry, Tokyo ghetto pussy managed to score here in Australia with their anime inspired EDM. I guess they gave up on the anime aesthetics moving forward due to these two songs underperforming throughout Europe, as such they reverted back to being Jam and Spoon.
#4574
Yeah, I'm still not convinced that the disco backlash was a thing outside of America given how this managed to be a huge success for the Jackson 5, heck this was even a hit in their native America which really makes me wonder how much impact that fiasco had back in the day. This would be the family's penultimate hit in Australia as they would score one more hit later in the decade with Mick Jagger.
#4573
There was a time where people took this song seriously, I guess because this was during the height of emo and that the video depicted a violent car crash caused by drink driving and convinced themselves this was a PSA about how that can ruin one's life. Still, there's a reason this has become a meme over the years, it's so overdramatic that it's easy (and let's be honest fun) to mock whenever mentioning it.
#4572
We have another successful entry from the Great American songbook franchise, this is the third volume which just like the second volume, was an instant success upon its release and even lasted quite a while on our charts albeit on the lower half of them hence why it appears so low on this list below albums that it was far more successful than back in the day.
#4571
This is the third throwback album that David Campbell released in the third consecutive year, it was technically a bigger hit than his previous two efforts, although it didn't chart as long on the upper echelons of our charts which is why it has a lower ranking on these lists than those two entries.
#4570
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4569
There was a lot of hype going into this album due to the lead single coming out over a year prior to its release, the hype was eventually met when it came out due to the song released at its launch becoming a huge success for the models' turned singers. They were a one album wonder as they weren't able to find success with their subsequent follow ups in the 90's, it's odd because they should've thrived by then.
#4568
Given how immensely popular their earlier entry on this list was, it only makes sense that Green day would release a live album to capitalise off of the world tour they embarked on which was also a success for the band. They would take a well-earned break after their collaboration with U2, only coming back as the decade was coming to an end with their next album.
#4567
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4566
This was one of two successful live albums that the Brothers Gibb had in their career over the years, although this was recorded in their prime, so it makes more sense that it was a success back in the day. This led to them contributing to the Grammy award winning Saturday night fever soundtrack which made them the kings of disco for the rest of the decade.
#4565
Rickie Lee Jones had massive success with her debut album from the end of the 70's, so naturally she would find modest success with her second album even if it got lost with all of the other trends emerging from the early 80's. At least she had one other album to her name that people will likely recognise.
#4564
Following the success of their single that Timbaland "presented" to the world on his album (which curiously also appears on this album) OneRepublic released their debut album which was an instant success worldwide which put them on the map during a time where rock and roll was still one of the biggest genres in music. They would initially struggle to retain their popularity in the 2010's however they would eventually survive the rock purge of that decade.
#4563
There were a lot of love themed greatest hits albums released over the years, this wasn't even the first one to come from Elton John as he had previously released an album with this name back in 1982 to very minimal success. He had better luck this time around as he had mostly stuck to love ballads in the 90's which helped him remain in the mainstream.
#4562
The spring of 1982 was a hectic time for Australia, as such this compilation album billed as a summer release became hit during the early months of this year due to choosing some noteworthy songs to appear on the album.
#4561
I know that following up one of the biggest albums of the decade would've been a tall order for these guys, however surely, they could've done better than what they've achieved on here. That said I guess this was a case of the novelty wearing off for the group but not fast enough for this to be a total failure for them, this was a very common trend throughout the 90's for alternative bands.
#4560
This barely made the cut for this list, once again due to how much of a sleeper hit it was on our digital charts like it was on our main charts for Ladyhawke. At least its success on our storefront was more mainstream than it was in the real world given that it beat out several other songs that would've comfortably made my hypothetical physical list.
#4559
It's little surprise this debut single from the Ting Tings achieved more success through digital downloads than as a physical single considering A: it was from a rock band and B: it seemed to be tailor made for commercial fodder which explains the success of the few rock tracks from the 2010's worldwide.
#4558
This was far less popular on our digital charts than it was as a physical release, I'm guessing because Nick Lachey's only claim to fame here in Australia was that he was the ex-husband of Jessica Simpson, meaning that the bulk of his audience here were likely those who bought physical singles as they were fans of several songs that didn't make the cut for this list.
#4557
This is another song from the acid house genre, meaning that it was inescapable from the band's native UK as well as it being a huge international hit for them. If the vocalist sounds familiar to anyone, that's because it's Sonique who's best known for her hit single "It feels so good" which she released ten years after this became a hit for her.
#4556
This was released the day of the moon landing, meaning that it took four years for it to finally become a success here as well as several parts of the world for David Bowie. This was due to it being rereleased as a live track where it became a success in America which translated its success throughout the rest of the world for Ziggy Stardust.
#4555
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4554
If these guys sound familiar to you, that's because they would go on to become the Wiggles which is one of the most popular children's bands of all time despite them never having success on the music charts. If you can believe it, this pop rock track about the girl of their respective dreams was their only hit here in Australia, although I'm reliably informed that preschool music doesn't often chart in the mainstream.
#4553
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4552
This was the second hit that Lenny was able to achieve from his third album internationally, he does so with a self-empowerment anthem about how the listener should believe in themselves which no doubt was why this was able to connect with audiences back in the day. This would be his last hit until much later in the decade when he scored a surprise hit with "Fly away" from his fifth album.
#4551
Given how his former band Westlife managed to score a massive hit two years prior with "You raise me up," it only seems fitting that Brian McFadden finally scored a hit of his own with this lead single to his second album here in Australia and virtually nowhere else in the world. By this point, he had migrated here due to his ongoing relationship with Delta Goodrem, however he moved back to Ireland once their engagement was called off.
#4550
Well, this was certainly a surprise, we have this adult contemporary ballad from the Brothers Gibb which came out eight years after their last hit single "Tragedy" had topped the charts in America. Indeed, this was a chart topper in the UK for them which likely allowed it to become a success back home in Australia, although we wouldn't hear from the trio again for another ten years after this.
#4549
I get the feeling this song was originally meant for Elvis Presley due to the vocals heavily reminding me of the king of rock and roll on this track, it's instead the one and only hit from country legend Faron Young outside of his native America as this was a surprise hit both here and in the UK for him. Interestingly, this bombed on the Billboard charts, meaning I have no idea how we Aussies and Brits came across it.
#4548
I've heard people describe P!nk as little more as little more than an industry plant for the pop rock sphere to seem as real as possible despite being completely fake, to those people, I point them to this fourth and final single from her sophomore album which is about her coping with the divorce of her parents which greatly connected with people back in the day to allow it to be a huge hit for her.
#4547
One of the stranger songs to become a hit throughout the 70's, we have this signature track from Three dog night which was by far their biggest hit both here in Australia and in their native America where it topped the Billboard charts due to how energetic it is. For whatever reason, Mariah Carey interpolated parts of this track for her cover of the Christmas hymn of the same name for her 1994 Christmas album.
#4546
This was the only other hit that Marty Rhone had in his career in Australia, although it was a big enough success for him that it sparked international interest in him which sadly never came to be as with most Australian artists during the height of the Countdown era. He did try to retain his popularity after this, obviously to no avail.
#4545
This was the first hit that Eternal had since the departure of their one white member Louise, I'm not sure why she decided to leave these three behind for a solo career nor do I plan to speculate the reason. It appears that we Aussies preferred the group as a trio as they managed to see huge success down under during the second half of the decade with their powerful voices.
#4544
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4543
This was the debut single for Tony Orlando and Dawn, a song that wants you to believe came from a real band judging by its cover art (much like "Knock three times" and its cover art from earlier) but instead was from the crooner and his two backup singers of colour like all the other tracks in their catalogue.
#4542
While she wasn't as inescapable as her main Disney rival Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera did have the advantage of having the better voice of the two which is perhaps why she was able to score three Billboard chart toppers from her debut album. This was the second of the three which no doubt inspired a movie named What women want which came out less than a year after its initial release.
#4541
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4540
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4539
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4538
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4537
Even though it was a moderate success, the second album from the Rogue traders didn't pull in the numbers of their first album with Natalie Bassingthwaighte from earlier in the decade. As such, she decided to leave to the group to embark on a solo career which began with this lead single to her solo album which proved to be a massive success for her.
#4536
This guy was a frequent collaborator of Jigsaw back in the day, so it's interesting to note that his biggest hit was a solo entry that wasn't a cover of a more popular track (at least that I'm aware of.) He's also another pop crooner who dabbled as a TV presenter back in the day, a fairly standard practice for Australian male musicians it seems.
#4535
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4534
This was meant to be rereleased simply as the tenth anniversary of its existence, it became a success all over again due to the tragic passing of Freddie Mercury which even allowed their signature track to chart again this year.
#4533
Even though he was more of a single's artist here in Australia, JPY was able to achieve moderate amount of success with his first two albums here likely due to how big the singles from both of them were during the midpoint of the decade. He was struggling for success during the first half of the decade, so much so that he didn't even release an album until he began racking up the hits thanks to his appearances on Countdown.
#4532
This was so much less successful than Tracy's previous album here in Australia, although it was nonetheless a success for her likely due to it connecting with an audience even if said audience wasn't as vast as her debut album on this release. Still, it would be wrong to say that she only had two successful albums throughout her career given how this did leave a mark back in the day.
#4531
Live had certainly done very well for themselves even this far into the new millennium, as such it makes sense they would release a greatest hits package around this time which became a huge success here in Australia thanks to our love for the band's back catalogue which coincidentally began a decade prior to this album's release.
#4530
This was released the previous year to mostly deafening silence here in Australia, likely because we Aussies weren't quite ready to allow Usher to make it big here given that Craig David was already the prince of RNB as far as we were concerned. Of course, Usher eventually made his case that he should be the prince of RNB with the singles from this album which of course allowed it to become a success this year.
#4529
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4528
There was this popular Australian country artist who tragically passed away the previous year before he found any success in his career both solo and with his band the Stars, to commemorate his legacy, a concert was held in his honour which was apparently so well received that its live album was a huge success for him posthumously.
#4527
This was the second album to come from James Reyne, I guess so much for him being the weak link in Australian crawl if he was able to achieve this much success on his own long after the band had broken up. Indeed, his popularity would continue well into the 90's where he even joined a supergroup by the name of Company of strangers, that group would achieve moderate success as recently as 1993.
#4526
This was a bit of a surprise hit for Roxy music given how this was a hit before their compelling tribute to John Lennon which became their first hit here in Australia, I'm guessing we suddenly remembered that Bryan Ferry was the lead singer of the band and that we wanted to hear more from him when this came out. In any case, their popularity exploded on their next album, which also happened to be their final album.
#4525
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4524
This was the sequel to David Bowie's previous greatest hits album Changesonebowie, naturally he had a ton of success since that albums release in 1976 so of course this would be a success upon its release this year.
#4523
This was the debut single from B*witched, an Irish family group who briefly took the world by storm by combining teen pop with traditional Celtic music that won over a bunch of audiences back in the day. This formula only worked out for their debut album as their second album was such a failure that it flopped hard for them.
#4522
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4521
This was initially a flop for Eric Hutchinson likely due to it receiving no promotion in his native America when it was first released the previous year, it eventually became a hit here in Australia and NZ due to its inclusion on the Packed to the rafter's soundtrack which had exploded in popularity this year due to how popular the show itself was. Unfortunately, this was the singer/songwriters only hit even in the southern hemisphere.
#4520
This was the debut single for one of the big four in the grunge scene, in fact this year in general was a good year for bands that would go on to dominate the mainstream given how Nirvana and Red hot chili peppers got their big break with their earlier entries on this list. This would be the band's only hit in Australia for most of the decade until they finally scored a second hit with "Last kiss" just as the 90's was coming to an end.
#4519
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4518
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4517
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4516
I think this is the first hit to become as such thanks to the power of text to speech, and who says that AI generated content is a recent phenomenon when it was able to give Italian DJ Benny Benassi a hit in the early to mid 00's? Of course, the real success of this song comes from its two music videos, both of which are completely bizarre which of course makes it a shoe in for my inevitable weirdest videos list.
#4515
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4514
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4513
This was the second big hit to come from Chemistry, the album that Mondo rock released this year which restored Ross Wilson's popularity in the music industry after almost a decade of silence from him. Here we have a song about how he's going to try and thaw the love of a woman he's interested in but is giving him the cold shoulder, it seems desperate until you realise that she's clearly playing hard to get.
#4512
This was the second of two hits that this British disco group managed to achieve worldwide, although I wouldn't blame you for thinking that this was Boney M considering how similar this is to the German bands catalogue. This is a cover of a Neil Sedaka track form the late 50's, which would explain how simplistic the lyrics are even compared to some of the other disco tracks on this list.
#4511
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4510
Tone Loc is nowadays known for his many voiceover roles in kids cartoons due to his deep voice lending credence to characters with mystic or coolness, however he began his career as a rapper who scored two massive hits worldwide beginning with this being the second big hit he was able to score and by far the bigger of the two in Australia. I'm guessing it was due to a lack of nostalgia baiting on this track.
#4509
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4508
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4507
Following her recovery from her potentially life-threatening injury, Gloria Estefan wanted to make it clear that she didn't want to dwell over that part of her life by releasing this album whose title seems to drive that message home. She was coming out of a very dark place in her life and as such wanted to live the rest of her life without thinking about it.
#4506
The spring of 1982 was a hectic time in music here in Australia, although this album did struggle in the rankings due to the stiff competition that it had with other albums around the time of its release that also looked over the big hits of spring that year.
#4505
Well, it looks like we're looking at Faith Hill's breakthrough album sooner than I thought, here she is with the album that contains her biggest hit on Billboard given how it was the first song to be crowned the most popular of its year despite failing to reach number one on the American charts. It appears she took a page out of Shania Twain's book by combining her sexual appeal with traditional country music on this album.
#4504
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#4503
It had been six years since Dragon had released an album in their catalogue, this was because the band had briefly broken up so that lead singer Marc Hunter could pursue a solo career that was a complete failure for him. He reformed the band who released this album, which was a huge success for them, proving that the band were only special as a unit and also that they could age well into the 80's.
#4502
Well, I did mention that David Bowie would find moderate success here with the album that gave him his first Billboard chart topper, here it is proving that we would occasionally reward the genius of this man back in the day in Australia.
#4501
This was the first album Eric Clapton released as a solo artist, although this was right before he formed Derek and the Dominoes who are of course best known for their hit single "Layla" which curiously flopped here for some reason. He would disband them and return with his entry from my previous list.
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