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.
#5400
This is another song that was way bigger here in Australia than its placement on this list otherwise suggests, this time it's the victory single from the second and final band to win Popstars Australia before the series switched to having solo contestants on the show rather than groups like its first two seasons.
#5399
Following the success of "Perfect" from the previous year, Vanessa Amorosi was finally able to score a chart topper here in Australia with the lead single to her fourth album Hazardous given how she was here to stay going into the 2010's. It turns out that wasn't the case as there was apparently a track so bad on the album that it single handedly killed her career, although I completely missed this phenomenon.
#5398
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5397
Autumn of this year was an interesting time for the Hit machine franchise, so much so that this entry managed to be a massive success despite its lower placement among these albums.
#5396
The 100% series returns on this list of mines, here we have their summer collection that they packaged as an autumn release which of course resulted in its success due to the good selection it has on here.
#5395
This album looks over the biggest hits of winter this year, naturally it had a strong selection of songs to chose from as this was a hectic time in music here in Australia.
#5394
One of the most critically acclaimed films of the decade was Walk the line, a biopic about Johnny Cash who had only died two years prior to the film's release which depicted the life of the country singer warts and all. It was a massive commercial success thanks to the performances of the two leads which of course meant the soundtrack would also be a success shortly after its release.
#5393
This was a compilation album that was released to look over the big hits of Australia during the summer of 85/86, it was a huge success due to the good selection of songs it managed to have throughout its runtime.
#5392
I guess it was only a matter of time before Guy Sebastian made a covers album consisting of Motown tunes, it may have failed to produce a hit single for him like his earlier work, but it at least was a huge success for him which was able to pick up the slack from his previous two albums.
#5391
Given how immensely popular he had become with his (then) most recent album, Bruce Springsteen decided to release a live album which collected all of the best renditions of his songs he performed live during the first ten years he was a superstar in the music scene.
#5390
There have been a lot of love themed greatest hits albums to become a success over the years in Australia, here we have Cliff Richard's album of that vein following the success of his most recent album from around this time. It feels weird that this was the peak of his popularity, however "Wired for sound" does remain his biggest hit in Australia for what it's worth.
#5389
The winter of this year was a busy time for the Australian music scene, as such this album released during our spring season became a huge success here due to the good selection of hits that can be found on here.
#5388
While their previous album wasn't a flop by any means, it was a critical disaster which led fans to wonder if there would ever be a return to form given how it was at least not the commercial rock they released throughout the 90's. They wondered no longer when the band released their follow up five years later which was a return to form both artistically and critically which led to its commercial success.
#5387
Their debut album was plenty successful when it was released the previous year here in Australia, however it was the second album from Transvision vamp that made them a household name thanks to the seductiveness of Wendy James reaching its peak on this album. Sadly, the band couldn't keep this winning streak going in the 90's as their third album would be a huge flop for them that decade.
#5386
The spring of 1988 was a hectic time in music if this album is anything go by, it had a good selection of music to choose from which ensured its success here.
#5385
This was the official sequel to the 12th man's debut album from seven years prior, indeed this became equally as successful as that album proving that his impersonations of sports commentators were still entertaining audiences well into the 90's.
#5384
This was equally as popular on our digital charts as it was on our main charts, although the fact that her earlier entry finally outranks this on a list on my site is an accurate representation of how successful her solo career was during the final stretch of the decade.
#5383
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5382
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5381
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5380
This was the second and final hit that Flash and the Pan were able to score in Australia, although they would score a surprise hit with "Waiting for the train" in the UK in 1983 which compelled this and their other hit "Hey St Peter" to be released throughout Europe in the 80's to capitalise off that song's success. I'm not sure why these guys didn't have success here in the 80's, their music seemed tailor made for the MTV era.
#5379
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5378
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5377
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5376
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5375
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5374
This was a surprisingly good year for music to appeal to lesbians, wasn't it? Although I should point out that this Russian duo isn't a gay couple or even gay themselves and were only showing their support for the queer community (a bold stance for them considering Russia's stance on said community) with this song and music video which has the clever spin of having the homophobes be prisoners instead of them.
#5373
He may not have come in first place on the show, however that didn't prevent Shannon Noll from finding massive success with his cover of the Moving pictures classic from 1982 which invertedly recontextualises the song to be about how he didn't win the series which I'm guessing tugged at the heartstrings of audiences this year to make it a huge success.
#5372
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5371
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5370
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5369
Batman forever is a film that divides audiences to this day, mainly because it has the same campy tone as the 60's TV series despite it being a sequel to the more serious Tim Burton flicks from earlier in the decade. The soundtrack was at least a huge success thanks to Seal's earlier entry on this list; however, the actual theme song was this contribution from U2 which was nominated for a Razzie for worst song.
#5368
The autumn of this year proved to be rather hectic as this 12th edition of the 100% hits series managed to be a massive success upon its release.
#5367
Here's the autumn collection that this lucrative series offered us, it was a good selection which is why it was a huge success.
#5366
This was volume four from the 100% series, it collected the biggest hits of autumn of this year just like the previous entry collected the biggest hits of summer for 91/92.
#5365
This was always destined to be a huge hit for Kylie Minogue given how it was the second single from her album Light years which saw her return to bubble-gum pop that made her a household name in the 80's, however it was also a success here due to it being performed at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympics which seemed appropriate given how it was a song about how special a night was for her.
#5364
Considering this was the biggest hit of the decade over in America, you may be shocked to see how low this second single from Mariah Carey's comeback album the Emancipation of Mimi is on this list. Alas this isn't the result of its success being taken away due to illegal downloads, it just wasn't as inescapable here in Australia or indeed anywhere else in the world as it was on the Billboard charts.
#5363
There seemed to be many contemporaries of Norah Jones that managed to score success throughout the decade, one of the more prominent examples coming from Katie Melua who is a Georgian musician who achieved massive success this year including in Australia even though it's yet another album that was pushed aside in our mainstream in favour of all the commotion from Australian idol.
#5362
Lenny had a bit of a comeback with his (then) most recent album, so it makes sense that he would capitalise off its success with a greatest hits package that would remind audiences of his back catalogue just in time for the new millennium to start. It would be the final taste of success that he would receive in most parts of the world.
#5361
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5360
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5359
It looks like Barbra Streisand was able to find some success during the midpoint of the decade as this album did reasonably well upon its initial release here in Australia, it would explain why her greatest hits package from earlier in the decade managed to rechart the following year given that there was still room for her in the mainstream.
#5358
This was the only successful album to come from Dr Hook in Australia, even then I get the feeling this was only big here due to the success of their greatest hits package from earlier on this list. This did spawn one of their biggest hits in the form of its lead single, and they did release a track exclusively here in Australia that became a hit, so its success does makes sense for them.
#5357
Paul Simon entered the 80's with this album which did decently well for him upon its initial release, obviously he would see much bigger success as the decade went on both solo and with his reunion with his former partner in crime Art Garfunkel.
#5356
Kenny Rogers saw massive success in Australia throughout the 80's, not to the extent that he saw success in his native America of course but for a country artist, he made quite the impact during the height of the disco and MTV era. This was his first album of the decade which set him off to a good start proving that there was still some niche room for country music around this time.
#5355
This was another successful album to come from George Benson back in the day, although it didn't have that big crossover hit that his next album had likely due to his work from the 70's being more in line with jazz rather than disco like that album was.
#5354
While this wasn't their first album, it was the album which made the Angels into a household name due to how long it charted (albeit in the lower half of the charts.) This allowed them to join the elite ranks of Skyhooks and Dragon as one of the more successful bands from the southern hemisphere without finding success in the northern hemisphere.
#5353
Although he had a massive hit with "Girls on the avenue" two years prior, this was the first album from Richard Clapton to achieve any sort of success likely due to his continual presence on Countdown even if it failed to spawn a genuine hit for him. He would have one more successful album in the 80's before his time in the spotlight was up, this is despite the fact he continued to be a regular on the show.
#5352
Regardless of how you feel about their music, I think we can all agree that Kiss were an amazing live band back in the day which is how they were able to achieve so much success with their live albums over their studio recordings. This was their first live album which boosted their (then) latest single "Rock and roll all nite" up the charts down under and throughout the rest of the world.
#5351
This was the debut album from a band who would go on to become one of the most successful Australian bands of all time, curiously the title track doesn't appear on this album as that would serve as the lead single to their second album they released later in the year.
#5350
I'm not even sure what to make of this album, I guess these guys were among the first Australian bands to benefit from appearing on Countdown as this was a success for them even with that hilariously awful name, but they haven't had much of a legacy in the music industry.
#5349
I'm not sure how America got their hands on this album from Golden earring given how the Dutch band had been active for at least a decade when they released this album in their homeland the previous year, however the success of its lead single worldwide ensured that the album would also be a success thanks to it coming from a hard rock band during the height of the genre's popularity.
#5348
This is the last album that gave success to Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs (who were simply known as the Aztecs by this point) it was a decent success for the band right before Countdown launched and curiously swept them aside like so many of their contemporaries.
#5347
This is the only other entry from Yes to appear on this list, although their album Close to the edge did come err.... close to appearing on here as it simply had the misfortune of peaking during a Christmas period and thus not racking up the points needed to do so.
#5346
Now this is an odd entry, mainly because I'm featuring an artist who's since changed their identity as this soundtrack from a Clockwork orange comes to us from someone named Walter Carlos. The thing is, she now goes by Wendy Carlos making her (to my knowledge) the first trans woman to find success in the music industry.
#5345
Here's the live album I mentioned earlier on this list from Chain, this was their introduction to their fellow Aussies given how they only released two studio albums with both of them coming out after this. I guess they were considered better live which makes sense given the genre they're in.
#5344
Given how inescapably popular Sherbet was throughout the decade, it only makes sense that this live album managed to be a success for them even though they weren't particularly known for being among the best live bands of their time, hence why it wasn't more of a success here.
#5343
Much like his previous album, this was an album that has some traces of his glam rock roots in an album that's otherwise very indicative of the times. This resulted in Alice being polarising to his fanbase and the mainstream which in turn resulted in this album being nowhere near as successful as his earlier work.
#5342
It may surprise you to learn that the Church wasn't among the most popular bands of the decade in Australia considering how well loved they remain in the alternative scene to this day, that said they did leave their mark on our scene due to their regular appearances on Countdown as well as their music being able to stand out from all the other MTV driven albums from this time.
#5341
This was originally released in 1987 to deafening silence here, in fact I'm not even sure why this greatest hits package managed to become a hit in Australia four years later as it's not like there was any special occasion for his legacy in this particular year.
#5340
This was the last successful album that Brian Cadd had here in Australia, mainly because the lead single was among his more popular songs in his solo catalogue given how we already looked at it earlier on this list. I guess what I said about him earlier still stands given how many of his former bandmates went on to have massive success as the decade went on with their new projects whilst he didn't.
#5339
While he never had much success here in Australia during his lifetime, this greatest hits package from 2pac nonetheless managed to become a huge success for him here proving that we Aussies wanted to atone for us ignoring his back catalogue this decade.
#5338
Although the band is best known for having a very young Peter Frampton as their guitarist, he had already left the band by the time Humble pie saw any success here in Australia. Even then, it was only with this album which was one of the firsts things they released following Frampton's departure.
#5337
Patti Smith didn't see much success in her career over the years, the one exception being her second album with her self-titled band which became a success due to the lead single being written by Bruce Springsteen of all people. It remains a popular album from the 70's pseudo punk scene (I guess you can say this is punk) as well as having her being a legend in the music industry.
#5336
I did point out on the main list that T.I saw considerably less success on our digital charts than he did with his physical sales, although at least all three of his big hits he had here did make somewhat of an impact on our digital storefront back in the day which is more than I can say for most rappers of the day.
#5335
This is the last entry on this list that was a hit on the digital charts throughout the decade, that's right, there were only seventeen songs that failed to make the official list with this bratty single from Avril's third album being one of them. It goes to show how exclusive the format was given how many other songs failed to make the cut from around this time.
#5334
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5333
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5332
Given how "Here I am" managed to get a second wind on the Australian charts the previous year due to how well it did in America, it only makes sense that this song would also be given a second chance as it was the band's biggest hit from Labour of love II in their native UK two years prior. The other two international hits on the album "Homely girl" and "The way you do the things you do" weren't given a second chance here.
#5331
This was a surprise hit here in Australia, at least it would've been were it not for the fact that the American duo performed this on Countdown as part of some competition that the show had this year. You'd be amazed how many of these songs that history has forgotten about became big due to the show over the years.
#5330
This was the first of two hits that Fischer Z achieved this decade, although their second hit wouldn't come until eight years after this was released as that was with "The perfect day" in 1988. This was due to the band briefly breaking up throughout the 80's despite them having massive worldwide success with this new wave ballad, although they obviously came back and have been going strong ever since.
#5329
This was the only hit that Player had worldwide, although it was one of two hits in Australia from an act named Player as "Space invaders" was from a local band called Player 1 in 1980. This has remained a favourite on oldies stations to this day due to this being an apology ballad about how awful the narrator is, it also shares its name with a reggae track from ten years prior by the British band Equals.
#5328
One of the more critically acclaimed Australian films of all time is Picnic at hanging rock, it's a film about the disappearance of a group of teenage girls set in the early 1900's that's based on a book written in the late 60's. The film is known for its score which was so popular that it became a huge hit for its composer Nolan Buddle.
#5327
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5326
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5325
This was the final hit that Enrique Iglesias was able to have in the English-speaking world for the remainder of the decade, this is despite the fact that his next album would also be in English and yet it failed to produce a hit single for him during the second half of the decade. This song features Kelis, although only on the single version as she was absent on the album version for some reason.
#5324
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5323
Well, this certainly took its sweet time in becoming a success here in Australia, Deborah Cox is a Canadian RNB singer who got her start with this ballad about how she's in disbelief that her partner could possibly love anyone but her. This proved to be a huge sleeper hit for her here months after it became one of the biggest hits of the year in NZ, likely due to how people could relate to the lyrics.
#5322
Well, this was the first big hit that Milli Vanilli managed to score in Australia admittedly this was only a sleeper hit here due to our scepticism towards whether they were the real deal or a what they really were which was hired models to lip synch to music that otherwise would've gone unnoticed in the mainstream.
#5321
Following the success of his earlier entry on this list, Eric Carmen was able to score a hit without the assistance of being attached to a film with this lead single to his (then) most recent album. This led people to wondering if he was back for good after a twelve-year absence on the charts, however he wasn't as this was the last time anyone had heard from the singer/songwriter.
#5320
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5319
This was another huge hit that T Rex had throughout the world, it's far more fondly remembered than their earlier entry on this list likely due to its protest lyrics about being a part of a revolution which likely helped it stand out from the many glam rock tracks of the day.
#5318
This was the first song that Cuff links released in the decade, suffice to say that their biggest hit "Tracy" was a huge hit here in Australia albeit in the 60's hence why it won't be appearing on this list. That said, this is more or less the same track as that only it appears to be dedicated to a Julie instead of a Tracy.
#5317
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5316
This feels like a passing the torch moment as it was not only the second big hit that Enrique Iglesias was able to achieve here in Australia, but also it was the final hit that Whitney Houston had in her lifetime as the 00's wouldn't be so kind to her given the personal drama in her life. It was a fitting end to her popularity given how much chemistry she has with the Latin crooner on this ballad.
#5315
Given how Limp Bizkit was beginning to take the world by storm this year with their brand of nu metal, it was inevitable that we Aussies would have our own equivalent of that band in the form of 28 days who scored their one and only hit with this track that I'm sure most of us confused for the likes of Fred Durst. They would get sidelined once their American counterparts released their album Chocolate starfish and the hot dog flavoured water.
#5314
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5313
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5312
There were no signs of Guns n Roses slowing down this year as they released the third single from the Use your illusions era which was this cover of the James Bond classic. I guess the original remains one of the best remembered Bond themes due to how bombastic it is (it's my personal favourite despite not being a Wings fan) so it makes sense that these guys would take a stab at it and find success.
#5311
This was the only success that Carl Carlton was able to have in his career, he's a musician of colour who was perhaps a little late to the party when it came to 70's soul as this only became a success here in Australia due to how inescapable the likes of MJ and Prince were throughout the year.
#5310
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5309
This was the final single to be released from Roxette's second album, although in the UK this was bundled with their previous song "Listen to your heart" to give the Brits a two for one deal given how "Dressed for success" flopped everywhere in the world except for here in Australia. No doubt these two were destined for greatness this decade which for the most part happened as their next album was a huge success.
#5308
We have another UK chart topper for Slade to come on this list, it's incidentally their third UK chart topper which goes to show how the process was for making their songs a success here in Australia. This will be the band's final appearance on my list despite having a few other minor hits back in the day.
#5307
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5306
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5305
This was the third and final hit that Counting crows had here in Australia, it was the theme song to Shrek 2 which was played during the opening scene of the movie where we find out that Shrek and Fiona are a happy couple before the plot kicks in. Much like the first film, I'm a massive fan of the sequel due to its quirky humour that lampoons the Disney formula without it ever coming off as too mean spirited.
#5304
While it wasn't the lead single to her indie album Impossible princess (that would be "Some kind of bliss") this was the big hit from the album which no doubt led to it being a huge success here. Despite winning over the alternative scene with this album, Kylie felt like she needed to return to form which resulted in her doing just that with her next album Light years.
#5303
Many people feel this is the last good song to come from Maroon 5 as it was the third single from their second album, it's a sentiment I share even if their overwhelming success throughout the 2010's suggests that they do indeed have an adorning fanbase to this day. Their desires to be more mainstreams started sooner than you think as their next single would be a collaboration with Rihanna.
#5302
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#5301
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
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