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.
#3700
It appears that EDM was still here to stay as this track from the American duo IIO was a massive hit in most parts of the world except of course for their native America given how EDM rarely does well on Billboard at the best of times, it was a massive hit here in Australia likely due to how lovestruck the track is as well as it being catchy enough to be played on the dance floors.
#3699
This was the only notable success from Quindon Tarver, a teenage RNB singer who score a huge hit here in Australia with his version of the Prince classic and nowhere else in the world. This came from the second volume of the soundtrack which was a huge hit here which would explain this cover's success.
#3698
This is a song whose success came completely out of nowhere here in Australia, mainly because the last time anyone cared about the lead vocalist Mick Jones was during his time with the Clash before he was unceremoniously fired from the band almost a decade prior. He came back bigger than ever with this track which seemed to go off in different directions throughout its runtime, thus explaining its success.
#3697
This was the first big hit that ELO had here in Australia, although they did score a hit in NZ and America with "Evil woman" the previous year which makes me wonder why that didn't also crossover here. This was the lead single from their magnum opus A new world record, so of course this was going to be huge given how it's the type of lush and opulent rock opera music that audiences gravitated towards this year.
#3696
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3695
This is one of the more memorable songs as the decade was coming to an end, likely due to the dreamy atmosphere the song creates with the heavily reverbed vocals as well as trance production meant to simulate how sweet this person is that the duo finds. The uncredited vocalist on here is Sharon Woolf who does a fantastic job at bringing this gem to life which resulted in the British duo's success.
#3694
This was originally released two years prior to deafening silence, as was the rest of their catalogue from Pocket full of kryptonite as like many albums released this decade, the album was initially poorly marketed by their label and only became a success through sheer determination from the band. I don't know how audiences took so long to gravitate towards this due to how incessantly catchy and memorably it is.
#3693
This is where it all began for Kelly Clarkson outside her native America as this second single from her debut album managed to crossover here in Australia due to its lyrics of a woman (presumably Kelly herself) regretting shutting herself off from affection out of fear of being mistreated. It remains a poignant track to this day and was a hint of what was to come on her subsequent albums.
#3692
This was originally a hit for Merilee Rush in the late 60's, so Juice Newton had a lot to prove with her rendition which obviously she was able to when it became a massive worldwide hit for her. It turns out she performed this track on Countdown which is why it became much bigger here in Australia than most parts of the world, this no doubt led to her second hit which is still to come on this list.
#3691
This was the only hit that Australian prog rock band Spectrum managed to achieve in their career, mainly because it was highly unusual for prog bands to find success with their singles back in the day and that their albums even more curiously didn't do very well back in the day. I guess it was due to this limited success they had that led to them breaking up two years after their one and only hit.
#3690
This was the big showstopper on Whitney's debut album, so naturally it was the final single to be released from the album where it coincidentally became her biggest hit from the album worldwide. This is a cover of a George Benson track from the mid 70's, however I doubt many people realise that this wasn't originally meant for Whitney given how she owns this version with her killer vocals.
#3689
It's strange that Lily Allen wouldn't have any success in Australia prior to the two big hits she had this year, especially considering how "Smile" was a big hit for her in NZ and yet neither of these entries were as such over there. This had a bit of a long climb to its success as she didn't originally shoot a video for it until early this year despite it being released at the end of the previous year.
#3688
There's been much confusion as to what this song is actually about, it's not an endorsement of being an American but rather a laundry list of all the atrocities the American government has done to both its citizens and the people of the world. It remains one of the most politically charged songs to ever become a hit throughout the world, although I doubt many of the people who love it even realise its message.
#3687
This was the big hit that 3oh!3 had that I mentioned from earlier on this list, it was originally uploaded to YouTube the year prior before it was picked up and distributed as a single by a major label who naturally found the song to be hilarious. It appears the world also found this song funny as it became a massive worldwide hit for the duo, although perhaps not as big as their other entry on this list.
#3686
This served as the world's introduction to Brian McFadden and Delta Goodrem as a couple given how this duet appears on both of their albums from around this time, it was the first hit that the former had as a solo artist and would've been the latter's seventh consecutive chart topper had it been released before "Mistaken identity" which finally broke her impressive record on the Australian charts.
#3685
This was originally the lead single to Roxette's second album in their native Sweden; however, it was released as the second single from the album when it was finally given an international release where it was only a success here in Australia. I'm not sure why this album flopped everywhere else in the world, however I think its success here came from them performing it on Countdown revolution.
#3684
This was another song from Missy Higgins that was released as an E.P, as such it was able to become a massive hit for her despite coming from an already highly successful album that was still selling strong numbers when this first came out. It more or less made her the rival of Delta Goodrem who was another Australian pop diva who found previously unheard-of success from one album.
#3683
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3682
Well, this was a surprise, the Smash hits series was established in the mid to late 80's to look over the biggest hits of a given year in Australia. It made a remarkable comeback this year after struggling to find an audience in the 90's, proving that the yearly recap albums can be very lucrative in the right setting.
#3681
Well, you better believe that the 100% hits series would also have a highly successful annual album to compete with the Smash hit's entry from earlier, I guess the takeaway here is that 1993 was seen as an excellent year for music according to the Australian public of the time.
#3680
This was the big breakthrough that they Eurogliders had in their career after the mediocre reception of their debut album from two years prior, although their next album would be even bigger due to it spawning multiple hits for the Western Australian band. The album is best known for the vocal presence of lead singer Grace Knight who would have a solo album in 1990 that was a huge success.
#3679
You'd think that these guys would've been among the most successful bands of the decade given how synonymous they've become with the 80's, although they were huge with their albums and singles, they weren't as big as their reputation would suggest. Here they have their second album which fully embraced the MTV trends by having flashy music videos to go along with their bombastic new wave tracks.
#3678
Jon English had begun to see massive worldwide success this year due to the popularity of his miniseries Against the wind, as such he released this greatest hits package to help fans navigate through his back catalogue that proved to be a success for him just as the decade was coming to an end. He would struggle to retain his popularity in the 80's as did many of his contemporaries from the 70's.
#3677
There was a bit of a battle between the two former frontmen of the Eagles this year, although while Glenn Frey had the bigger hit with "The heat is on" from the Beverly Hills cop soundtrack, Don Henley had the bigger album thanks to it being one of the more prominent adult contemporary releases from around this time. This was the last album that he found any success with worldwide as his subsequent follow ups flopped.
#3676
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3675
Given the success of their previous two albums, it only makes sense that Spandau ballet would release a greatest hits package which overlooked their biggest success during the first half of the decade. While this was a hit for the band, it also put an end to their winning streak as their next album was a complete flop and they would eventually break up just as the 80's was coming to an end.
#3674
It appears that Kenny Roger's popularity was stronger than ever thanks to him having a highly successful album in the form of Eyes that see in the dark, as a result we have the third greatest hits package from him to be a huge success in Australia in under half a decade.
#3673
Although their previous album was a huge flop for them, that didn't mean that fans of the Offspring were no longer fans of them as the success of this greatest hits album proves. Like many artists who appeared on these lists with these albums, it just simply meant that fans no longer wanted any new material from them and wanted to enjoy the classics.
#3672
There was a ton of hype going into this debut album from Frente given how immensely popular the band was with the two lead singles from the album, indeed the expectations were effortlessly met when the album finally dropped due to the quirky way the band marketed it (you should say hi to it by the way, it has feelings you know.) It was given a slightly different track listing when it was released internationally two years later.
#3671
I guess these guys should've waited to release a greatest hits package after they released their final album, it's a trend I've noticed going through the charts that these types of albums usually spell the end for a band with this being no exception for Australian crawl. Indeed, they released their final album this year where it was a huge failure for them.
#3670
This was released eight years after the band called it quits, by this stage they had already released a greatest hits package to help fans cope with the fact they were no longer together which was a modest success back in the day. Here they released another best of album exclusively here in Australia where it became a huge success a decade after their biggest hits.
#3669
Much like the essentials collection from earlier on this list, this was also a mere modest success for MJ upon its initial release earlier in the decade that became a best seller this year due to his untimely death. The title is a bit of a lie since nowhere in the world did all of the tracks become a chart topper for him, but honestly who cares when they remain bangers to this day?
#3668
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3667
This was the victory album that Guy Sebastian released following his win on Australian idol, it also serves as his debut album which of course meant that it was less a journey to how he came to be and more him competing with the already established artists of the moment. He would rush a follow up less than a year later which wasn't nearly as successful.
#3666
Jordin Sparks was certainly on a roll during the second half of the decade when it came to both formats of our charts, so much so that it's bizarre that the hits would dry up for her going into the 2010's even though she began on a strong foot with her collaboration with Guy Sebastian (which is still to reappear on this list.)
#3665
There's little surprise that this was more of a hit on our digital charts than it was on our physical charts considering how these guys got their start as a YouTube act, although it's impressive they were able to appeal to those who preferred to consume their music through physical media back in the day.
#3664
Given that this had a much higher peak on our digital charts compared to our main charts, it only makes sense that this title track from Britney's album Circus managed to be more popular from our digital storefront than it was as a physical release.
#3663
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3662
Although it remains a popular film here in Australia, Young Einstein wasn't well received internationally largely due to the premise of there being an Australian Einstein who invented rock and roll not clicking well with foreign audiences. It doesn't help that the premise is built on a throwaway joke from Back to the future, although at least the music was well received such as this cover of the Chuck Berry classic from Mental as anything.
#3661
This was the only hit for both people involved on this track here in Australia, although both of them were much more popular in America given how Fabolous scored a bunch of hits on Billboard whilst Tamia was a popular choice for a guest vocalist on other people's tracks over there. As with most tracks with a male rapper and female singer, this was a "thugs need love too" anthem that was popular back in the day.
#3660
Although they had success with "Blue Monday" from earlier in the decade, this was the first mega hit that New order had in Australia despite this being a massive flop in their native UK and only barely being a minor hit in NZ. I'm not sure why this succeeded here but failed in those two countries, I guess it was due to it being more pop friendly compared to what had been released prior.
#3659
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3658
It's a bit of a shame that the members of New Edition never saw much success here in Australia, indeed after Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill was the member with the best charting song down under with a song that didn't even crack the Billboard charts. I'm not even sure how this managed to become a hit here when it was such a failure in his native America.
#3657
This is the only notable success that pop star Bobby Sherman had back in the day, it was a massive hit for him here in Australia as well as his native America likely due to it being an innocent bubble-gum pop track about finding out how much the love of his life Julie loves him.
#3656
This sounds like it came from 2 Unlimited which would make sense considering how successful the Dutch duo was this year, however it was actually a song from AB Logic who scored a hit with this here in Australia again likely due to us Aussies confusing this for a 2 unlimited track released under a pseudonym. Apparently, this did chart on Billboard the previous year, although it flopped due to being an EDM track.
#3655
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3654
This is a song I don't really remember from back in the day, likely because I remember "Over and over" being played on the radio while this song was charting which should give you an idea of where the radios priorities were back in the day. Still, this was a massive hit and one that finally convinced Christina Aguilera to realise her dream of making a double album of throwback hits from the forties.
#3653
This was the second and final hit that Missy Elliott had here in Australia as well as being the other track on this list where she had a hit with Ciara given how the RNB singer is on here to not only provide a chorus for the rapper but also provide her own rap verse to try her hand at a hip hop track. It was a massive hit for the pair and suggested the possibility of them making an album together that never came to be.
#3652
It was a collaboration that could've only been made by the rock gods themselves, we have David Bowie and Queen teaming up for a song about how times were tough in the 80's and that everyone seemed to be living under pressure. The song was an instant success for both parties involved and helped Queen overcome an otherwise rocky album that was panned by critics for its weird experimentation.
#3651
This is a companion band for the Timex social club, a group whose best known for their hit single "Rumours" which sadly didn't become a hit here in Australia. I bring this up because we went from that dance classic to this cover of the Bill Withers track which became a massive success thanks to its reggae beat. It appears that UB40 wasn't the only band to score a huge hit with a reggae cover of an RNB classic.
#3650
I don't know whose bright idea it was to have this be the second single released from the Pet shop boys and not their first here in Australia, this resulted in the song not being as successful as it was internationally as their second single "Love comes quickly" was their debut single here. I guess the fact this was still a hit despite how late it was should prove how memorable it was compared to everything else this year.
#3649
It looks like Black box weren't the only band who utilised Martha Walsh as a vocalist in their music, here she is credited as Freedom Williams scoring a massive hit with C+C Music factory with a song that's become synonymous with the early 90's house scene. She would have another hit this year (stay tuned for it) before becoming fed up with being pushed aside in the marketing for more conventionally attractive women of colour.
#3648
This came a full decade prior to Rick Springfield's 80's chart topper "Jessie's girl," even though it wasn't an inescapable success here like his 80's work was, it nonetheless was enough of an incentive to release it in America where it became a minor success on Billboard. Rick put his music career on hold to focus on his acting career throughout the remainder of the decade.
#3647
This is the lead single to Gwen Stefani's second album the Sweet escape, it was a massive hit upon its initial release despite it instantly garnering criticism for a wide range of reasons from the music video which depicted her as a sexually provocative nun to the sample of "The lonely goatherd" from the Sound of music. These criticisms led to the song not being as successful as the title track from the album.
#3646
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3645
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3644
This was the penultimate hit that Jordin Sparks had here in Australia, her final hit would be with Guy Sebastian on a collaboration where she attempted to bring him to an international audience (it's still to come on this list.) I think Jordin was becoming more popular here in Australia than she was in her native America as this was a much bigger hit here than it was on the Billboard charts.
#3643
This was the breakthrough single for Cheap trick here in Australia, largely thanks to a very memorable performance they gave on Countdown with this song which helped them find an audience here which had ignored them despite how big they were in their native America. They would have further success in the 80's here, although not without a huge dry spell throughout the middle of the decade.
#3642
You may think that Maxine Nightingale was an American artist considering she saw massive success on Billboard with her disco classics, however she's actually from the UK and likely only saw international success due to how women of colour seemed to have been synonymous with the genre regardless of where they were from originally. Here we have her biggest hit which set the stage for other women to fight over the crown for the queen of disco.
#3641
You'd be forgiven into thinking this was the lead single to ELO's disco album Discography, you'd be wrong as that honour goes to "Shine a little love" which was only a modest success here likely due to us Aussies needing some convincing to allow these guys to have success in the disco genre. That convincing was met when they released the second single from the album with this favourite on oldies stations.
#3640
Midnight Oil already saw massive success with their previous two albums and even had a hit single with "Power and the passion" earlier in the decade, however this was the first big hit they had down under which is fitting because it was the advanced single for their album which stands to fight for aboriginal rights in Australia. Even though we've made progress over the years, there's still people out there that feel that there's more to be done for the white settlers to atone for how they've treated these people.
#3639
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3638
Their debut album was already a moderate success for them here in Australia, however it was this lead single to their second album which made them a household name and even allowed Pop star to rebound on our charts upon the release of their second album. There was an obvious theme to both of the band's biggest hits, namely that Wendy James wanted to know that the target of these songs was the love of her life.
#3637
Britney was certainly on a roll when she released the title track to her album Circus, an album that remains the last one to have any success despite her scoring a couple of hits in the 2010's with the likes of "Hold it against me" and "Till the world ends." Much like "Piece of me," this is also a song addressing her media frenzy which she refers to as a circus, however it's handled much better on this track.
#3636
Following his dismissal as the manager of the Spice girls, Simon Fueller formed a new group in the form of this teen pop band that came complete with a TV series to help them stand out from the increasing number of teen pop groups making it big around this time. I will say that this is incessantly catchy even if it's clearly made for the youth of the day and nobody else (which I was admittedly a part of back then.)
#3635
This may seem a bit low to my readers, however rest assured that Alicia Keys wasn't as inescapable here in Australia as she was internationally given that her debut single was only a moderate success here compared to how well it did internationally. Admittedly it was still a huge hit here considering that it was an RNB piano ballad which still didn't have much appeal in our music scene even going into the new millennium.
#3634
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3633
Well, it appears that Keith Potger learned his lesson and finally put the New seekers out of their misery this year, he even reformed his original band albeit with the notable absence of Judith Durham who wouldn't rejoin the band until the early 90's. Instead, the band went with Louisa Wisseling as the lead vocalist who managed to help them score a massive hit with this ballad for the band.
#3632
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3631
Although he saw success with "Wising well" from the previous year here in Australia, it was this ballad that helped Terence Trent D'arby see massive success with his album likely due to him sounding similar to Prince in his performance on this track. This allowed the lead single "If you let me stay" to have a second chance in the spotlight as it was released here where it charted much higher this time around.
#3630
We have another two for one entry on this list, this time it's the big hit that Carole King had as well as what would've been her only hit were it not for her endorsement of the Hard rock cafe becoming a surprise hit for her later in the decade. Here we have a folk track that helped her claim her only number one hit on Billboard as well as its B-side which was a massive hit for Martika nearly two decades later.
#3629
This was a ballad that originally went by the name "Brandy" and was a hit for Scott English earlier in the decade, I'm guessing Barry Manilow changed the name of the song to avoid confusion with that ballad even though that's the only lyrical change he made to the song. It was the first of several hit singles he scored this decade that was a cover despite him being a well-known songwriter.
#3628
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3627
This wasn't the only version of the Everly Brothers track to make it big in Australia this year as Scottish band Nazareth also managed to score a hit with their version from two years prior (stay tuned for it.) I guess this was the only hit that Jim Capaldi managed to achieve even in his native UK.
#3626
Neil Diamond was on a roll when he released this single from his album Moods, it was his second Billboard chart topper proving how popular he was in his homeland as well as it being a huge hit internationally thanks to how in vogue his brand of soft rock was with the times.
#3625
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3624
This was released the previous year to deafening silence in Australia, as was the entirety of UB40's Labour of love II likely because we Aussies wanted to leave these guys in the 80's. That didn't end up happening as this became a huge success over in America which meant that this cover of the Al Green track managed to crossover here where it became a bigger his than otherwise anticipated.
#3623
This was the only noticeable hit that Rita Coolidge was able to achieve in her career, at least in Australia it was as she found further success in the UK and her native America with her subsequent follow ups. Many have complained that this is her watering down a Jackie Wilson track from the 60's for a more mainstream audience, I feel she does the original enough justice to warrant this covers existence.
#3622
This was the first of two highly successful covers of track from Diana Ross and the Supremes this decade, the other coming from Kim Wilde with her rendition of "You keep me hanging on" later in the decade. Much like her cover, Phil's rendition of this track proved to be more successful than the original outside of America, suggesting that the Brits were trying to atone for sleeping on her music back in the day.
#3621
This was the debut single from Tina Arena which was apparently released two years prior to deafening silence, well so much for this being a cheap knockoff of Paula Abdul if this came out before we Aussies knew anything about the American pop star. I'm not sure what took this so long to finally become a success here, however once it did it put Tina on the map despite her secretly hating the song at the time.
#3620
Foreigner already had moderate success here in Australia with their albums from the 70's, mainly because they were one of the earlier international artists to perform on Countdown which gave them an advantage over other non-Australian artists that decade. Here they score their second biggest hit worldwide with the second single from their fourth album with a ballad that was a typical of their rock hits.
#3619
This was the first single to feature Deni Hines as the lead vocalist for the Rockmelons, and they wanted you to know she was the vocalist during this phase of their career as all of the singles give her a featuring credit despite her officially being part of the band during this point in time. This is a cover of a Bill Withers track, and like the rest of his catalogue, it wasn't a hit for him originally.
#3618
This was another double release from Sherbet, this time we have two songs that they couldn't decide to promote from their album Life is for living and as such went for both. This proved to be a massive success for the band as it helped them retain their popularity over their main rivals Skyhooks, although it also proved that they had a specific target audience in mind for their music.
#3617
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3616
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3615
While this is more in line with new wave, the fact that punk band Squeeze (or UK Squeeze as they were known as here for some reason) were able to find success with this track proves that we Aussies were at least somewhat intrigued by the UK punk scene from around this time. I'm not sure why this scene wasn't widely accepted here as it caused us to miss out on a lot of important tracks of the day.
#3614
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3613
If this vocalist sounds familiar to you, that's because the KLF were able to get Tammy Wynnette on here which helped them score their third hit in a row worldwide as people no doubt had nostalgia for the country legend. They would release one more single after this which is a remake of their first song as the KLF "What time is love" before they faded into obscurity and eventually broke up.
#3612
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3611
This was the only hit single that Faith Hill managed to score in Australia, although it's worth noting that I do remember hearing her 00's songs on the radio quite a bit so it's possible she was the victim of digital piracy going forward into the new millennium. It could also be that this was the only song shoved in our faces from the radio that we were receptive to as it's a sweet upbeat ballad.
#3610
Harpo was a Swedish pop star who scored a massive hit with this track about how the love of his life happens to be a movie star, it was cheesy and allowed him to find an audience who would appreciate something that sounds like it could be from Abba's catalogue without actually being from the quartet. This was the only hit that he had which goes to show how much we loved Abba but not their contemporaries.
#3609
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3608
This was initially a flop for the RNB girl group, likely because we Aussies weren't interested in RNB even if it was a huge success throughout Europe like this was. We eventually changed our minds on this track when it became a surprise hit over on Billboard which made us realise how catchy and vocally impressive this track was from the trio, although this was their only hit they had here as a quartet.
#3607
It looks like Kiss were doubling down on their mainstream appeal as this lead single to Unmasked proved, after all they had yet to dedicate one of their ballads to a specifically named girl like they did here (as uncommon as the name Shandi is.) This was the band's final hit single in most parts of the world, which is probably for the best as their later material would see them shed their makeup.
#3606
This was the one and only hit for the protegee of Pras Michel, this was a surprisingly good year for artists discovered by former members of the Fugees between this guy and City High from earlier on this list. Pras himself provides a guest verse on this RNB track which apparently wasn't meant to be the case originally as this was meant to be a standalone singer for the rising RNB singer.
#3605
One of the most popular TV shows of the decade was Friends (stylised as F.R.I.E.N.D.S) a show about a group of twenty something year olds navigating their day-to-day life in New York while dealing with a variety of interesting storylines in their respective lives (so basically a 90's version of How I met your mother.) This show was well received back in the day and even spawned a hugely popular theme song that became a massive hit.
#3604
Well, what's this? We have an upbeat track from Rod Stewart, and it also serves as the lead single from one of his albums as well as its title track. OK so that's only true if you're from Australia as "Young Turks" was the lead single from the album in most parts of the world, however we Aussies went a different direction by making this track the lead single which resulted in both songs being a success here.
#3603
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#3602
This was written for the Richard Gere flick American gigolo, a film which basically exploits the (then) attractive actor for those who appreciates the male body back when that was a socially acceptable thing to do in pop culture. Of course, the song has become more well known over the years due to it being Blondie's biggest hit in their native America, and indeed it was also a huge hit for them internationally.
#3601
Bryan Ferry was on a roll with this lead single to his third album In your mind, it helped the album become a huge hit in Australia which confirmed him to be one of the hottest new artists of the decade despite the lack of success he had with Roxy music earlier in the decade. Indeed, this did him no favours when he reunited with the band later in the decade until they made a tribute to John Lennon.
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