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.
#2600
You'd think that this Italian group would've had more success here in Australia considering they saw massive success in the UK with their songs from earlier in their discography. This decade has been filled with surprises given how they weren't the only acts to make it big in the UK with songs that flopped here in Australia only to find success here with songs that weren't that big in the UK.
#2599
This was a song that came out of nowhere this year, we have Tracy Bonham who scored a massive hit in Australia with this post grunge track that seemed to connect with us a mere two years after the death of Kurt Cobain. I feel that this is a companion piece to Meredith Brook's "Bitch" as both women seem to be unapologetic with airing out their grievances on both tracks which is why people love these women.
#2598
Following the success of their earlier entry on this list, we have this track which was originally released as a standalone single before being included on their live album a few years later due to how explosive of a performance they gave during live shows. This no doubt led to them having massive success in their native UK for the next fifteen years and even success here in Australia for the rest of the decade.
#2597
This is the only other entry that Kanye West will be making as a lead artist on the Australian side of my site, although he'll certainly have more of a presence on the NZ side and he did admittedly rack up a bunch of hits here as a featured artist on other people's songs. Here he scores his biggest hit down under likely due to the song sampling Daft punk's "Harder better faster stronger" for his empowerment anthem.
#2596
This is the other big hit that Perry Como had here in Australia throughout the decade, I guess this was proof of concept that 50's crooners were able to find success two decades later given how the rest of the decade would see the likes of his contemporaries such as Al Martino and Johnny Mathis charting throughout the world.
#2595
This was the lead single to Paul and Linda's collaboration album Ram, a song that for whatever reason, never saw the light of day in the former's native UK despite it being a massive success throughout the rest of the world. It's also often mistaken for a Wings track, likely because it appears on many greatest hits packages for the band as well as fans considering it as such for Linda's involvement.
#2594
This was technically the first song that the Spice girls released following the departure of Ginger Spice earlier in the year, admittedly the plan was to always have this as the fourth and final single from Spiceworld, however I get the feeling this wouldn't have been as big as it was if it wasn't for the drama going down with the girls prior to its release.
#2593
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2592
Before he became one of the biggest RNB stars of the 80's, Billy Ocean was a decently successful disco star of the 70's with this being his first major hit throughout the world. Even though he saw massive success in his native UK throughout the rest of the decade, this was his only hit here in Australia until he reinvented himself as an RNB singer for his 1984 album Suddenly.
#2591
This gospel track from the sister duo Mary Mary was a massive flop in their native America, I'm not sure why as it was a massive hit for them everywhere else in the world including here in Australia where gospel music usually doesn't do so well as evidence by the absence of Mary J Blige on this site. For what it's worth, we Aussies were much more receptive to musicians of colour going forward in the 00's.
#2590
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2589
Sweet's popularity seemed to be bigger than ever when they released this track from their album Strung up, so to see them see diminishing returns as the decade went on was a bit of a surprise given how inescapable they were this year. I'm guessing this was due to glam rock being at the peak of its popularity and that they were among the most popular bands to come from the genre.
#2588
This was the first of two big hits that Jamaican singer Diana King managed to achieve worldwide that came from a Hollywood blockbuster, although this was an original track that was released to promote the Bad boys soundtrack as opposed to her other big hit which was a cover of a 60's classic. This proved to be a massive success for Diana across the world likely due to it being a catchy pop reggae track.
#2587
It's a shame that Alannah Myles remains a one album wonder outside of her native Canada considering how rich and dynamic her vocals are throughout her debut, indeed we Aussies were quick to recognise how special she was given that this was released shortly before it saw the light of day in America. This songs success encouraged us to give her debut single "Love is" a second chance which allowed both songs to chart in the top twenty for a while simultaneously.
#2586
This was the song where people began to question Sting's capabilities as a songwriter, after all he references Nabokov and feels the need to mispronounce his name in order to fit the rhyme scheme he had. Fortunately, most people don't pay much attention to the lyrics when listening to the trio's music as the core appeal of the band is Sting's vocals as well as the strong instrumentation from the other two.
#2585
There weren't a lot of RNB groups to make it big in Australia back in the day, one of the lucky few who did was the Stylistics who scored a massive hit with this RNB ballad due to how inescapable it was throughout the rest of the world. Like many RNB groups of the day, they had more success over in NZ even during the second half of the decade, giving you an idea of how much they loved RNB.
#2584
Peter Blakeley must have been kicking himself when he initially broke away from the Rockmelons in order to pursue a solo career right before they made it big with their debut album. Fortunately for him, his own album was a massive success two years later thanks to this lead single which has no relation to the Elvis Presley track of the same name. His success was short lived; however, it was a huge success for him regardless.
#2583
Another hit single that Bryan Adams managed to achieve this decade that was the theme to a popular Hollywood film, this time we have his contributions to the Mirror has two faces which happens to be a duet with the film's director and star Barbra Streisand to boot. The success of this duet led to her collaborating with Celine Dion on "Tell him" that served as the lead singer to Celine's next album.
#2582
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2581
This was originally an album track for Rod Stewart that was written by Burt Bacharach, he didn't release it as a single for whatever reason which is why most people are unfamiliar with his version of this ballad. Somehow Dionne Warwick got a hold of this song and decided to get together Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Gladys Knight for this cover where the proceeds when to research for AIDS and HIV.
#2580
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2579
Well, I think I found the reason as to why Julio Iglesias was able to score massive success the following year with his first English album, we have Renee and Renato who were a UK based duo singing a song that you'd expect in an old Dezi Arnaz film that became a surprise hit in Australia and throughout Europe.
#2578
This is a song that's more well known nowadays for the behind the scenes drama it caused as two of the original members of Destiny's child only found out they were fired and replaced from the band when the music video was unveiled this year, I guess that explains why it took them so long to release a second single from their sophomore album given that "Bills bills bills" was a Billboard chart topper for the quartet.
#2577
This was the breakout single for Lindsey Buckingham which I can't help but notice was released mere months after his partner from Fleetwood mac Stevie Nicks released her own album, though she had the more successful album of the two, Lindsey at least scored the bigger hit in both of their solo careers. I always found him to be checked out on this track due to how airy he and the production feels.
#2576
This was the third entry from Delta's debut album, this time it's the title track from said album which is a reflection of how far she came from when she began her long journey as a musician which obviously connected with audiences who likely initially felt she was the Australian equivalent of the likes of Mariah Carey or P!nk. It was her third chart topper in a row, although like the rest of her catalogue, audiences have since come around for this track.
#2575
This will be the only entry that will have new commentary from me given how both versions of this song are appearing together, I don't know which version is ultimately more popular than the other but I'm assuming that the original version was what entered the charts here and the remix is what boosted its popularity in early 2002.
#2574
The legends are true people, there was a remix of the Beverly Hills cop theme that was a massive hit during the midpoint of the 00's from a CGI frog (although it looks more like an alien to me) complete with a video that even acknowledges how annoying this song is by having it be chased down by robots looking to destroy him. I guess if you're into memes from early YouTube videos then this is the song and video for you.
#2573
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2572
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2571
With this entry from the Moody blues, we've now officially featured every album from them post 1960's on this site given how they always seemed to have some form of success with us Aussies. That said, this was a bit of a stumble for the band given how well their two albums from the previous list did.
#2570
There was so much hype going into this album given how the second advanced single wound up being the most successful song of the decade in Australia, heck even their previous album managed to find success during the height of that song's popularity here. Fortunately for these guys, the hype was met as they were able to achieve massive success from this album both from the mainstream and the alternative scene.
#2569
Bob Seger was certainly off to a good start this decade when this became a huge success for him, although unfortunately for him it appears that he wasn't able to adapt to MTV's rise in popularity as his next album wouldn't see anywhere near the level of success he had from around this time.
#2568
These guys hadn't had a successful album to their name for almost a decade when they released their greatest hits package, it's yet another example of a fanbase preferring their classics over their newer material as the band were still releasing new albums this decade to very little success.
#2567
It had been seventeen years since these guys had last troubled the charts anywhere in the world, mainly because they only released two albums due to the death of one of their key members Roy Orbison during their short time together. As compensation for them never getting back together (given that George Harrison was also dead by this point) the surviving members released their two albums together with this entry.
#2566
While the band had begun to lose their popularity in the mainstream, it was clear that fans hadn't forgotten about their back catalogue and merely wanted them to return to their grunge roots as evidence by the success of this greatest hits package of theirs. They of course wouldn't return to their roots as they have yet to release another grunge album as of this writing.
#2565
Following the success of his live album, Peter Frampton had little issues with finding an audience with his next studio album which is why it was a huge success for him. Unfortunately, this success was short lived as none of his subsequent material managed to find much of an audience for him after these two albums.
#2564
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2563
It looked like this was going to flop here in Australia just like their previous album did in their native UK given how the lead single didn't even chart here, fortunately the second single was a runaway success which allowed the album to become a huge success following the hype that song gave their music. This hype continued with their next album they released later in the year, which apparently led to them breaking up the following year.
#2562
This was the second greatest hits album that Sherbet released in as many years, I know they released two albums since their previous effort, but this was still getting out of hand as fans likely would've bought these two albums given that they were huge successes for them back in the day.
#2561
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2560
Even though he had a massive hit with his E.P It's just not cricket earlier in the decade, it took three years for Billy Birmingham AKA the 12th man to finally release an album which is essentially a longer version of his skit from 1984. This proved to be a massive success for him and set him up as the definitive Australian comedian of the 90's according to the music scene.
#2559
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2558
This is a song from Miley Cyrus that greatly benefitted from digital sales on our charts considering how much more successful it was on our storefront than it was as a physical release, not bad for a song that was initially released as a bonus track from her second Hannah Montana album.
#2557
Sara Barelles as another artist who I'm surprised didn't find more success on the digital charts during its run, although at least her debut single was more popular on the format than as a physical release likely due to it having sharper lyrics about label disputes that can easily be interpreted as her not justifying a bad relationship as a good one.
#2556
Much like in their native America, this was the bigger hit for Color me Badd in Australia likely due to it being catchier than their debut single from the New jack city soundtrack. It's impressive to think that these guys were as successful as they were considering how few people fondly remember their music, sure it was upbeat, but it didn't win a ton of critical praise for the quartet.
#2555
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2554
Well, this was the decade of obvious sampling, so it makes sense that this short-lived Hispanic hip hop group would score a massive worldwide success with this track given how it samples the Champs classic from 1958. I will say that hip hop was able to find success down under back in the day provided it had a gimmick to go along with the rhymes, this happened to use nostalgia baiting.
#2553
This was the second big hit that Christie Allen achieved in Australia, and much like her earlier hit "Goosebumps," this was a disco track that became a success during what was meant to be the dark age for disco which is further proof to me that the disco backlash was only a phenomenon in America and nowhere else in the world. Sadly, this would be the last we hear from Christie as her subsequent follow ups flopped.
#2552
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2551
You better believe this song managed to become a huge hit in Australia and NZ with this cover to promote the song, that should tell you how well loved this breakthrough single is for Canadian band Loverboy and how it's endured over the years as an oldie classic. Their big breakthrough in America was their next big hit "Working for the weekend" which sadly didn't do as well in the southern hemisphere.
#2550
This was the final hit that S club 7 managed to score outside their native UK, it was hailed as their "coolest yet" thanks to it having a rap verse during a time where a rap verse from a non-rapper was still considered a selling point. The song is also known as the band's one and only foray into disco as they were clearly cashing in on 70's nostalgia on this track the same way their other hits were cashing in on 50's nostalgia.
#2549
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2548
While "Cup of life" was the first song that Ricky Martin released in English from the previous year, it was this song that finally got him a crossover hit in America as this become a Billboard chart topper for him. The lyrics describe a crazy night out with a woman and how it ruined his life, I'm guessing it was a man in real life but he gender swapped him to allow it to find a more mainstream audience.
#2547
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2546
This was a massive success for Concrete blonde who began the decade with lead singer Jonnette Napolitano reassuring her ex-Joey that she was no longer angry with him for all the horrible things he did to her during the relationship. For whatever reason, I always felt that these guys had a male lead singer, maybe that's just my queer brain trying to see a queer narrative in something that doesn't have one.
#2545
These two songs were bundled together likely due to Sherbet's label wanting to give the former a second chance in the spotlight following its commercial failure from earlier in the decade. Indeed, the former became a massive success largely thanks to it being attached to the much more popular track which incidentally remains one of the more fondly remembered tracks from Sherbet's discography.
#2544
This is a song that reminds me of "Antmusic" from over two decades prior, mainly because it was a song boasting about how awesome the act in question was and how they were going to shape the culture of the music industry only to turn out to be a flash in the pan in the long run. In this case it's the British RNB group Big brovaz who did indeed make a huge splash with this track and two other songs much like Adam and the Ants did in the 80's.
#2543
This was the fifth hit in a row that Fergie achieved from the Dutchess, I think this is about how she feels like she's clumsy given how I've heard this song hundreds of times back in the day and could never made out what she was saying. I think the song was a hit for the music video which seems to depict her as part of a popup book which audiences found amusing back in the day.
#2542
I've never particularly cared for this track from Blondie, mainly because I feel that Debbie is high while on this track which I'm guessing was the point given the nature of the lyrics. Naturally I'm in the minority as this was not only a massive success for the band back in the day but it's also persisted on oldies stations to this day thanks to the reggae beat and for Debbie's vocals.
#2541
This is one of the stranger collaborations to come out of the decade, mainly because I don't think anyone was expecting Neneh Cherry to do a duet with a west African musician considering she was best known for being a rapper whilst Youssou N'Dor is more in line with new age and traditional Arabic music. The collaboration was a huge success for the pair likely due to it fitting in with the new age trend of the decade.
#2540
We've now entered a new decade where we have these guys making it big worldwide thanks to their kid friendly dance pop as well as their TV show which was taking the world by storm. With all of this success, you'd think that they would have massive crossover appeal in America, aside from a ballad that didn't even chart here, you'd be wrong with that assessment.
#2539
This was the first hit that Wings scored throughout the world, although it's confusingly credited as a collaboration track between the band and their frontman Paul McCartney likely due to him being unsure of joining his wife's band permanently when it was released as a single. It's one of only two entries from the band to appear on this list, likely due to us Aussies passing up their singles in favour of their albums.
#2538
You know I was once a naive young child who thought this song was literally about making milkshakes, yeah it turns out this song is much raunchier than that the video would have you believe. All I'll say is that the clue comes from where milk tends to come from and the line "I can teach you, but I'd have to charge" and let my readers figure out the rest from there. It was a massive hit here in Australia likely due to us Aussies instantly figuring out the true meaning of the song and feeling titillated by it.
#2537
This was the theme to the popular British animated film Watership down, a film that's become infamous over the years for its depiction of gore in what's otherwise meant to be a children's film about rabbits escaping from captivity. The ballad touched the hearts of audiences worldwide, so much so that Art Garfunkel decided to include it on his album Fate for breakfast which proved to be a massive success for him.
#2536
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2535
It may be a new decade, however that didn't mean that Jimmy Barnes needed to change his sound in order to score a massive hit with his third album. Here he is bringing us more of the same kick ass pub rock that made him and his band a household name throughout the 80's and it was one of the more successful songs of this year, although he did change his sound on his next album to avoid being seen as a one trick pony.
#2534
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2533
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2532
This was the debut single for the supergroup the Traveling wilburys, a group that consisted of George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan who likely formed in order to make music that harkens back to the days when they were each in their prime. They succeeded cultivating an audience who would be interested in their older work; however, it was bittersweet as Roy would tragically pass away not long after this became a hit for them.
#2531
We'll be looking at a bunch of other entries from the Partridge family later down this list but suffice to say that this track becoming a huge success here off their greatest hits package goes to show just how popular the fictional family band was with us Aussies during their heyday even compared to their fellow Americans given how this wasn't a bit hit on Billboard.
#2530
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2529
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2528
Following the success of their Clunk E.P, Frente released their debut single which was another cutesy track that they had become known for during the first phase of their career. I bring this up because they did change with the times on their next album which resulted in them being more hardcore, an image that many people (me included) felt didn't suit them very well.
#2527
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2526
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2525
This was originally released three years prior to deafening silence for Roger Whittaker, likely due to audiences not being interested in having yet another singer/songwriter to join the ranks of Don McLean and Cat Stevens in our mainstream. The song was given a second chance during the midpoint of the decade due to it becoming a surprise hit for him in his native UK for reasons I can't seem to ascertain.
#2524
The first of two entries from Cat Stevens, this was the lead single from his album Teaser and the fire cat, or rather it was a two for one deal given how both songs were released as singles internationally but were bundled together here in Australia. The first track remains as one of Cat's signature tunes due to the multiple covers it received over the years whilst the latter likely would've bombed here had it not been released with the former.
#2523
This is a song that by all accounts should be seen as one of the laziest ever recorded and yet works so well despite its brutal minimalism, it's sort of like a trance track from the 90's with how well it works with how little it has and it appears the general public of this year agrees with that assessment as this became a huge success for Donna Summer worldwide.
#2522
Although she's appeared in many Disney products over the years, it turns out Mandy Moore was never a product of Disney herself and was instead a child star who scored massive success starting out with her debut single that she's long since distanced herself from due to it sounding like something that would come out of the Disney machine at the time. Indeed, it turns out that much like Hanson, her later music would become more respectable as she got older.
#2521
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2520
This was another RNB track that was released fairly late here in Australia compared to the rest of the world, again it was for the best as it proved to be a bigger hit here for Debelah Morgan than even her native America likely due to it having Latin elements to the track that appeased those who wanted more of the Latin craze down under. She's a one hit wonder with this track which is a shame because she was a good singer.
#2519
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2518
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2517
This was a bit of a sleeper hit in the band's native UK, probably because the Brits already had too many teen pop groups and felt that Steps didn't bring much new to the table. If you want to know how this became so huge in Australia, well we have the video to thank as the strange dance moves from the group inspired P.E teachers back in the day to include it in their dance routines which made this a surprise hit here.
#2516
This is one of those hopeless romantic ballads that along with Nilsson's earlier entry on this list, tends to drive more cynical listeners (such as myself) insane with how pessimistic the lyrics are. This clearly wasn't the case for audiences back in the day as it became the breakthrough single for Irish crooner Gilbert O'Sullivan, although strangely it wasn't his biggest hit in his homeland like it was internationally.
#2515
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2514
If this sounds like a KC and the Sunshine band song to you, you're not far off as it was written by Harry Casey who was the lead singer of the disco band. This was George McCrae's only hit worldwide likely due to it arriving a little too early to the disco bandwagon to be seen as anything more than a novelty at the time, if it had of come out even a year later then he probably would've had a ton more success.
#2513
This may seem like a surprise entry if you're from the northern hemisphere as this was merely an album track outside of Australia and NZ for the Hollies, I'm not sure why us Aussies and kiwis were given the privilege of having this be a single over the rest of the world, but the result was that it became the band's biggest hit here and second biggest hit behind "The air that I breathe" in NZ.
#2512
It looked like the Counting crows would only be known for their debut album from 1993, however their fortunes changed when this cover of the Joni Mitchell classic was chosen to be the theme to the rom com Two weeks' notice which stars Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. The film isn't very good as it hinges on the premise that they'll end up together despite him being a thorn in her side.
#2511
Although "Who will save your soul" was the song that finally got Jewel some much needed attention after over a year living poverty (I'm not even exaggerating when I say that) it was this second single that brought her mainstream success here in Australia likely due to it being her least pretentious song from the album. Unlike the other tracks which are meant to be critiques of the world around her, here she's trying to get with someone who feels is her soulmate which I guess is cute.
#2510
This was the lead single to the Saturday night fever soundtrack, an album/soundtrack that showcases the Bee gees at their finest through their vocal harmonies as well as how catchy their disco production is. I never quite understood why there have been so many covers of this track in particular over the years, I would've thought that "Staying alive" or "Night fever" would be the song to be revisited over and over again from this album.
#2509
I know these were two of the biggest names in music this decade, however I don't think many people were expecting them to make a duet together and not only that, have it become a huge worldwide success like this wound up being for them. This somewhat killed Chris Norman's career as Smokie never had another hit after this, Suzi fared a bit better as she did score one more hit with "Rock hard" in 1980.
#2508
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2507
This was the second single from John Farnham's magnum opus Whispering jack, I guess this helped reassure everyone that "You're the voice" wasn't a fluke and that he was here to stay in the adult contemporary part of the music scene. The third single from the album "A touch of paradise" was a minor hit after this, which further cemented that he was back in the mainstream and not a flash in the pan.
#2506
Hey, remember when censorship was considered a bad thing in the Mainstream media? Here we have the Clash scoring their biggest hit with a song that was critical of censorship in the middle east, complete with a video that.... OK I guess they went a little too far with pushing the boundaries of good taste with that. In any case, this proved to be a huge success for the band including in America.
#2505
Stars on 54 were a supergroup comprised of Ultra Nate, Amber and Jocelyn Enriquez, only one of which managed to find success in Australia prior to this collaboration and yet it was a huge success here. I'm guessing it was due to it being attached to the film 54 which I haven't seen but I've heard isn't very good, that or it could also be due to it being a cover of a Gordon Lightfoot track.
#2504
Suzi was on a roll when she released her second single from her debut album, so much so that it became her second consecutive chart topper here in Australia in addition to the album itself being a massive success for her. She was also massively successful in the UK given how the Brits also didn't have an issue with her being one of the faces of glam rock despite being an American woman.
#2503
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2502
Last year there was Shaun Cassidy making it big in the mainstream, this year he seemed to be replaced with Leif Garrett in the realms of good-looking teenage boys looking to cash in on the female demographic of the day despite having vocals that aren't on par with some of their less conventionally attractive counterparts. Here we have him covering a Beach boys track which was already mired in controversy for stealing its melody from a Chuck Berry track.
#2501
So, there was this trucker's craze during the 70's which apparently was so popular that this novelty track from country singer C.W McCall became a huge worldwide hit to cash in on it. Oh, I'm sorry did I call this guy a country singer? Technically he is but it's more accurate to say he's a marketing director who became C.W McCall after a bread commercial he originally created the character for failed to sell its product.
