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.
#200
Although they had a very good run throughout the decade (certainly more so than many of their early peers) Crowded house decided to call it quits by releasing this greatest hits package as well as performing a farewell concert at the Sydney opera house to promote Neil's ill-fated solo career he would launch soon after. The band did eventually get back together a decade later and have retained a strong cult audience.
#199
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#198
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#197
It's a bit of a shock to see how long it took for Prince to recapture the success he had with the soundtrack to his first theatrical film Purple rain in Australia, in fact this comeback of his remains his most successful album down under which should tell you how done dirty he was in our mainstream back in the day. This is the last album he released until he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol as well as the first with his new band the New power generation.
#196
It's often regarded as one of the best albums of all time (no arguments here) however its status as the biggest album of its day didn't come until much later when it was rereleased in the 90's to cash in off the success of Meat loaf's reunion with Jim Steinman for the long-awaited sequel to this album. People were a bit more divided on that album due to when it came out, however there's very few that will say this is anything short of a masterpiece.
#195
This is technically a remix album for Jimmy's first solo album Bodyswerve from the year prior, although it did contain an E.P's worth of additional tracks which I guess makes it eligible to be a separate album from this previous work. This album did receive an international release as a self-titled album where the new tracks are better incorporated to the original Bodyswerve album.
#194
The second soundtrack to a John Travolta film to appear on this list, this time it's for his film Saturday night fever which also serves as the Bee gees full transition into disco as in addition to the new tracks they recorded for this album, this also includes several songs from their previous album Children of the world for John to shake his groove thing to throughout the film. The film itself is decent, nothing revolutionary but certainly one that's earned its place in pop culture.
#193
It's shocking to think how much success this guy had in his heyday given what would transpire of him over the years, however there's no denying that he was among the forebears of glam rock thanks to eye catching stage antics and anthemic tracks found on his albums.
#192
Ahh Limp bizkit, there's so many things you can say about these guys and very few have been positive over the years. This wasn't their first album, but it was the album that made them a household name due to the lead single being surprisingly popular on Triple J around this time, I think it was due to how popular Korn was on the station given how both bands were from the nu metal genre.
#191
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#190
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#189
I bet you were beginning to wonder if heavy metal was ever popular here in Australia given the genre's noticeable absence on this site, suffice to say that it was during the first half of the decade with this entry from Deep purple being by far the most success down under.
#188
This was the only album in Robert Palmer's career to achieve massive in Australia, although it's worth noting that Riptide did achieve minor success due to "Addicted to love" being a chart topper earlier in the decade. The success of this album can be attributed to how inescapable its lead single was on our charts as well as the rest of the tracks striking a chord with listeners of the late 80's.
#187
This solo outing from Fergie took its sweet time in becoming a success here in Australia, likely due to fans initially being put off by the first few singles as they seemed to suggest this was little more than a novelty album from the sole female member of BEP. They eventually came around on it once the fourth single became a massive worldwide hit for her, although there's still a polarising reception to it to this day.
#186
Well, if his (then) girlfriend could find international success with her album this year, why not Chris Brown with his second album? Just like Good girl gone bad, this album's appearance on this list is also thanks to its deluxe edition released this year given how the album on its own likely wouldn't have been successful were it not for the buzz it received with the deluxe edition once that dropped.
#185
This was the magnum opus for U2, not only does it remain their most successful album in their catalogue, but it also took home the prize for album of the year at the Grammys despite facing some stiff competition with the other nominees. It's by far their most iconic work as many of their greatest songs appear on this album, although admittedly their other albums do stand the test of time as well.
#184
You'd think that a band who gave themselves such a patriotic name would be more politically charged with their music, granted they do have the occasional politically charged song in them, but they won't last long in a debate with Rage against the machine overall if their music is anything to go by. Instead, they're a bit on the goofier side with their music which is perhaps why they achieved more success than their politically charged peers.
#183
Given how nu metal had taken over the mainstream by this point in time, it only makes sense that Linkin Park would see massive success with their debut album worldwide even if it was only here in Australia where the album spawned more than one hit. I'm not sure why the lead single was only a hit down under, however the fourth single managed to become a worldwide smash almost a year after the album's release.
#182
While this is far from Pink Floyd's most successful album, it is by far their most iconic as evidence by its own theatrical adaptation a few years after its initial release starring Bob Geldof in the role of the albums narrator. This album also has the distinction of spawning a rare hit single for the band as "Another brick in the wall" became a huge chart topper for them upon its initial release worldwide.
#181
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#180
There were no signs of Michael Bublé slowing down in the music industry given how his earlier entry had made him a household name worldwide, indeed this follow up was an immediate success for the Canadian crooner and even allowed said entry to extend its time on the charts given how newer fans were encouraged to check it out when this was released.
#179
I should give out a fair warning to fans of these guys that while their albums were indeed among the more successful of the decade in Australia, that clearly came at the expense of their songs not being hits like they were internationally. Admittedly their brand of soft rock has always endured on our oldie's stations so it's not like their music has been forgotten by any means but that still doesn't make the lack of their singles success any easier to swallow.
#178
This was the debut album for Macy Grey, a vocalist who had been trying to make it in the industry for a decade before she finally did so with the lead single of this album. Regardless of what you think of her vocals (they annoy me personally) there's no denying that they are unique and helped her stand out from the countless other RNB singers of the moment, although this only worked out for this one album.
#177
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#176
It took three albums for these guys to find a worldwide audience, however they did just that due to arena rock becoming the new genre of music everyone was getting into once this album of theirs dropped. As it turns out, it was due to this albums surprise success in the UK that it took off in the southern hemisphere as the lead single was only a sleeper hit in Australia despite it topping the Billboard charts.
#175
If you're wondering why ELO decided to name this album what they did, that's because it's a pun because the band found themselves "discovering" disco with this release which means that this album was cashing in on the disco craze of the decade. Like many artists dipping their toes into the genre, they did so respectfully which is why the tracks on this album remain staples on oldies stations to this day.
#174
This was the album that took this Irish band from an indie darling to an overnight sensation in the mainstream, mainly due to the politically charged lead single which not only won over many fans who were disenfranchised from the times but sadly was also the victim of widespread ridicule from those who found it to be overdramatic. At least the band soldiered on as if this had no impact on them.
#173
This is one of the earliest albums to come out of the 60's to appear on this list, suffice to say that it was released from CCR in the dying days of that decade and managed to achieve most of its success in the 70's thanks to the strong lead single and its B-side.
#172
This is another highly successful album from the decade that was declared as one of the most inessential albums to come out of the 90's by the A.V club, I'm guessing because they weren't fans of Ally McBeal back in the day and really didn't like the scenes where Vonda Shepard would perform these songs in the night club. Audiences obviously disagreed as this was by far the most successful album in that article.
#171
Although he already achieved massive success earlier in the decade with his second album Just a boy, this fourth album from Leo Sayer made him the superstar we all know him for thanks to containing some of his more iconic work in his catalogue. He would become more known as a singles artist after this album as his subsequent follow-ups spawned huge hits for him without being too successful themselves.
#170
There was a lot of hype going into this album from Matchbox 20 given how much of a surprise success that their debut album was throughout the 90's, that hype was effortlessly met here in Australia as this also went on to be a massive success for the band thanks to the singles permeating on our radio back in the day. It wasn't as successful in most other parts of the world, likely due to international audiences feeling this was more of the same from them.
#169
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#168
It was the final album to come from the fab four, at least they were able to end things on a high note given how both the album and the singles were phenomenally successful, although it was for the best, they broke up given the behind-the-scenes drama the members were enduring.
#167
This was the album that made INXS a household name in Australia, although admittedly they wouldn't start seeing major international success until their next album but in the meantime, there was definitely a lot of international interest in the band as the band expanded their appeal outside of their fellow Aussies. It definitely helped them become the biggest Australian band of the decade worldwide.
#166
Fatboy slim was originally a member of Beats international who scored a massive hit at the start of the decade with "Dub be good to me," fast forward eight years and he has one of the biggest albums of the decade with this EDM classic. I was surprised that the songs weren't bigger here back in the day, although I guess the album itself more than makes up for their lack of chart presence here.
#165
This is one of many albums this decade to become massively successful despite it receiving negative reviews from critics, it seems fitting given how Limp bizkit weren't exactly the type of band to appeal to those who would sing their praises for the likes of Steely Dan and U2. Still, this is an album that was popular at the time, but most people look back on with dread and confusion, much like Vanilla Ice a from a decade prior.
#164
There was a lot of hype going into Living end's debut album given how their double A-side that served as the advanced single was one of the biggest hits of the decade. The hype was effortlessly met when they released their album despite punk rock in general not being among the more popular genres in Australia over the years, it looked like these guys would be household names going into the new millennium and they likely would've been were it not for digital piracy ruining the music industry.
#163
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#162
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#161
This came out around the same time as Joe's live album from before, it was also a massive success likely due to the success of his Mad dogs and Englishmen tour which showcased what a brilliant showman he was during the height of his career.
#160
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#159
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#158
That's right, this title track from Eskimo Joe's third album would've been the biggest hit of the entire decade if we were going by digital sales alone given how inescapably popular it was on the format during its early stages. As you can guess, I've decided to construct this list to better reflect the rock and alternative scene of the second half of the decade for those rock purists out there.
(this is the final single on this list)
#157
I'm not sure how well the first self-titled album from Led Zeppelin did here in Australia due to limited album sales data from the 60's, however I do know that the second album was a massive success mainly due to the success of its lead single which eventually ran into copyright issues.
#156
Although Jack Johnson had moderate success here in Australia with his debut album Brushfire fairytales, it was his second album that made him a massive success here thanks to how laid back the album is compared to many of the other entries on this list. It led to his eventual backlash where his haters dubbed him the pioneer of the term "white guy with an acoustic guitar."
#155
This took its sweet time in finding success here in Australia for Creed, granted they went largely ignored here back in the day as opposed to in NZ and their native America where they found instant success with their debut album, however this second album still had to wait nearly two years after its initial release to finally become a best seller down under due to how long it's big hit took to crossover here.
#154
Sorry Whitney fans, but the Bodyguard is not a good film. Granted it's hardly her fault as while she doesn't give the best performance in the film, the writing doesn't give her much to work with and it's not like Kevin Costner does much better with his performance either. At least the soundtrack was a huge success, in fact it single handedly saved her music career following the huge disappointment of her last album.
#153
It's rare to see a debut album receive this much critical acclaim for the artist in question, however that's exactly what happened to Tracy Chapman who won the hearts of many listeners worldwide who seemed to be sick of all the bombastic music permeating throughout the decade. This album opened up many doors for fellow female singer/songwriters who had personal stories to share to a massive audience.
#152
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#151
There were no signs of RHCP slowing down in the mainstream this decade, not even the fact that they also seemed to be victims of digital piracy during the first half of the decade was able to deter fans away from legally purchasing their albums given how this was a massive success for them upon its initial release. Of course, their next album would see them spawn a massive hit which is how I know fans didn't buy their singles legally (for the most part.)
#150
There was a lot of hype going into this debut album from Vanessa Amorosi given how popular its two advanced singles were from the previous decade, those expectations were effortlessly met when it was released given how inescapably popular the album was from the teenage singer/songwriter. It even became a minor success throughout Europe, likely due to her performing at the Olympic games.
#149
This had a very slow rise to its success here in Australia, perhaps due to audiences feeling that this was too similar to Neil Finn's previous band Split enz upon its initial release. Fortunately, this was given new life a year after its initial release when "Don't dream it's over" became a surprise success over in America which in turn fueled the success of this album internationally as well as here and in NZ.
#148
It goes to show that rock music was still inescapable in the mainstream even when the decade was coming to an end, it's a pity its popularity would all but disappear going into the 2010's given how the club boom took over all aspects of the mainstream that decade. Here we have one of the last rock albums to be inescapable which came from Kings of Leon thanks to their anthemic tracks on the album.
#147
After two albums where the band experimented with their sound to mixed results, they returned to form with this album which proved to be their biggest in their career. I guess this was one of the last new wave albums to be a massive success worldwide given how it finally broke the band into the American market, however it did them no favours with their subsequent releases which sadly flopped for them.
#146
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#145
So how long does an album have to sit on the shelves ignored before it finally makes an artist a household name? If you ask Jewel, that answer would be two years as that's how long it took for her debut album to find an audience worldwide as her label failed to promote it right until "Who will save your soul" became a huge hit on Billboard. It was so dire that she even found herself living in her car during that time.
#144
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#143
This was a band that was pipped for great things going into the 2010's given how inescapably popular their debut album was, alas they were a rock group (well more an EDM group with rock elements to them) so this album was their only success here given how rock music was unfairly shunned once the new decade rolled around. Still at least Triple J loves them to this day given how well promoted they are on there.
#142
It looked like Jamiroquai would be a one album wonder when Synkronized failed to become a massive hit for them by the end of the 90's, however the band had other ideas when they released their first album from the 21st century which became a massive hit for them here in Australia and their native UK. Again, this is an album whose success clearly came at the expense of its singles which I remember being everywhere at the time.
#141
This was the magnum opus for Phil Collins both solo and with Genesis in his career, perhaps because this had the perfect blend of his more experimental music from his band as well as the more mainstream ballads that audiences were accustomed to by this point of the decade. It's a perfect middle ground for his career, one that did receive backlash for many years that has since lost its meaning.
#140
This was the debut album from a band who by all accounts deserved far more than what they ended up achieving this decade given how the music scene shifted away from Australian artists this decade. Led by the powerful presence of frontwoman Suze Demarch, this album was initially a moderate success due to her strong vocals and the bands catchy instrumentation only for it to explode in popularity once "One word" was released as a single.
#139
This is the debut album from Mike Oldfield, suffice to say, it's the theme to the Exorcist film stretched out to album length with additional parts that obviously didn't make it into the film. In fact, this was released prior to the film's release and was only included in the film due to the director's love of the album which Mike agreed to.
#138
Well, this is the album many of Kiss's former fans cried sellout to given how they like so many other bands and artists of the day, decided to cash in on the disco trends for commercial success. It does remain their most popular album in their career even though many will tell you that their earlier material is much better, however it's clear that this was the peak of their popularity regardless.
#137
This was the first album from Fleetwood mac to include American musicians Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in their lineup, coincidentally this was the album which took them from their early psychedelia roots that got them a hit with "Albatross" in 1969 to a more mainstream audience for the 70's which led to their magnum opus the year later with Rumours.
#136
It makes sense that Slade's most successful album here in Australia would be their live album, although it's worth noting that only one of their studio albums managed to appear on this list likely due to them being considered more of a singles band back in the day.
#135
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#134
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#133
This was released in 2009 to deafening silence worldwide, likely because it lacked that mainstream crossover single that many other indie bands and artists usually have that allow them to have a massive hit from the indie sphere. It eventually spawned a hit for them worldwide which allowed this to be one of the first albums to be a massive success this decade that wasn't already in the 00's.
#132
I guess if you wanted to know why Bruce Springsteen didn't find that much success with his album Tunnel of love despite it being the follow-up to his magnum opus Born in the U.S.A, that might be because John Cougar took the mantle of the king of heartland rock from the boss as he saw massive success with this album and his previous effort The scarecrow between those two albums.
#131
These guys were on a roll entering the 70's as this managed to spawn several of their most iconic tracks as both singles and their B-sides, in fact it's incredible that said singles were among the most successful of the day given how they achieved said success through sales and not airplay.
#130
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#129
There were no signs of Wings slowing down this decade, heck even Countdown couldn't do much to sweep away their popularity in Australia to promote the newer bands as they were able to comfortably chart with the likes of Sherbet and Skyhooks as the decade went on. It's easy to see why as while I'm not a fan of him by any means, Paul's music regardless of who he's playing with has remained timeless over the years.
#128
For someone who's constantly evolving her sound, you'd be surprised at how little success Linda Ronstadt has had with her music over the years. She struck gold with her attempts at country music on this album as it did spawn her biggest hit (outside of America that is) with a cover of an old Roy Orbison track. This led to her next album also being a huge success for her in Australia.
#127
This was originally meant to be an E.P that Lady Gaga released to cash in off the success of her earlier entry on this list, however she decided to bundle that album with said E.P which resulted in it becoming a massive success for her just as the decade was coming to an end. Naturally it was more of a hit throughout the 2010's due to how late it was released this year.
#126
Well regardless of how you feel about this theatrical adaptation of the Broadway show set in the 50's (I personally love it) there's no denying that the soundtrack left a mark on audiences back in the day as it was by far the most successful to emerge from the 70's and arguably of all time. This is due to how much chemistry the two leads have both in the film and with the songs, regardless of John's deficiencies as a vocalist.
#125
You know that these guys were overexposed when a throwaway greatest hits package became one of the biggest albums of the decade in Australia, although I'm guessing this albums success came from its bonus track becoming the biggest hit of the decade here.
#124
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#123
It had been twenty years since Santana last troubled the charts with any of their material, here they are back in the mainstream with the help of some of the biggest names in music at the time which helped them achieve one of the biggest albums not just in their catalogue but of all time with their collaborations. This comeback helped them become one of the bigger bands of the 00's as it wasn't a one-off fluke for them.
#122
This was a massive success upon its initial release here in Australia, however its true popularity came with the deluxe edition which came out a year after its release and included some of the most iconic songs in her catalogue which added to already iconic classics the main album had. It remains her biggest album in her career, although some of her 2010's output do put up a decent challenge to that claim.
#121
This is Powderfinger's most successful album in their catalogue, mostly through the strength of the lead single which was a massive success on the radio (although not so much with sales) which translated to the album being immensely popular back in the day. It allowed the band to finally crossover to NZ where "My happiness" became a genuine hit over there in favour of the album underperforming.
#120
Here we are with what many consider to be one of the worst albums of the decade by what the internet considers to be the worst band of the decade, I personally think both get too much hate as there's far worse entries in both categories to choose from even if this is far from the best that rock has to offer (in my opinion.) It's a perfectly harmless post grunge album that even to this day still has its fans.
#119
This is the only album from Enrique Iglesias that was a best seller in Australia, mainly because the Latin crooner was more of a singles artist here and that his second English album was the only one to achieve massive success here thanks to its singles. Indeed, it only became a best seller down under once it spawned its second and third hits given how the lead single was a hit through its affiliation with 9/11.
#118
To think this album almost never came to be, this is of course due to the band suffering a major setback during its production when their original frontman Bon Scott died of a drug overdose. Fortunately, the band soldiered on with Brian Johnston as their new front man and released this album where it became their most successful in their career. It's an album that four decades later, the band is still yet to top.
#117
Although their album A song is a city was a huge success for Eskimo Joe, it was their third album which finally made them a household name thanks to its title track becoming one of the biggest hits of the decade thanks to its dominance on the digital charts upon its initial release. It helped the alternative band go from a mere fan favourite from listeners of Triple J to one of Australia's biggest names in music.
#116
Although she found success with her albums prior to this release, it wasn't until this album from her alter ego Sasha fierce that Beyonce's albums became a household name for her worldwide (I don't want to look over the popular albums of the 2010's, trust me, you don't want me to.) The album has been widely criticised for being misandrist, obviously it was her way of responding to albums from the likes of Eminem and 50 cent with reverse sexism.
#115
This was the most successful solo album that Yes front man Rick Wakeman was able to achieve in his career, it's a concept album about Jules Verne's Journey to the centre of the earth making this one of the first albums to be based around a work of literature in the music industry. Interestingly he had more success here in Australia with his solo albums from around this time than he ever did with his band.
#114
This was the first of only two albums to have Natalie Bassingthwaighte on lead vocals from the Rogue traders, the band had previously released an album prior to this which only had the three male members of the group and was only a minor success at best. Indeed, the success of this album was likely due to Natalie's time on Neighbours which was how many Australian pop divas made it big in our music scene.
#113
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#112
Although this was a moderate success for Mumford and Sons this year, its true success came the following year when the lead single was crowned the best of the year according to listeners of Triple J which allowed it and the album to rebound on our charts. This ushered in a new wave of alternative music that did quite well on our charts throughout the 2010's at the expense of traditional rock and roll.
#111
There was a bit of a rivalry going on between these guys and Sherbet throughout the decade, and although Sherbet won when it came to commercial success, these guys won where it truly mattered which was critical acclaim. This is mostly due to them being far more mature than Sherbet who were more interested in being the Australian 70's equivalent of the Beatles which resulted in higher album sales for these guys.
#110
This was the sophomore album from Leo Sayer following the sound success he achieved with his hit single "The show must go on," although it's worth noting that the sound couldn't be further away from what would make him become a 70's icon later in the decade. Still, it's worth noting that we Aussies were here for the English vocalist early on in his career.
#109
There didn't seem to be any signs of Michael Bublé slowing down in the mainstream as this was his fourth album in a row to achieve massive worldwide success for him, in fact this was so popular that it even spawned a genuine hit for the Canadian crooner in the form of its lead single which is something none of his other albums have done in his catalogue.
#108
Nowadays Moby is best known for that infamous diss that Eminem made towards him on "Without me," however back in the day, he was by far the most successful DJ to make it big worldwide with his breakthrough album from the end of the 90's. It took a while for this to take off for him, however he eventually found his audience by having most of the singles find their way into commercials.
#107
You'd think with how iconic their music has become over the years that these guys would've had more success with their earlier material in Australia, in fact their previous album Speaking in tongues was one of the biggest albums of the decade in NZ and yet it was a massive flop here for some reason. Fortunately, this album was a huge success for the new wave band largely thanks to the still iconic singles found on here.
#106
Although these guys achieved some buzz earlier in the decade, this was the album which broke them into a wider audience which is funny because the name of the album is an obvious reference to Countdown which due to technical errors during a scheduled performance they had on the show, resulted in the band's infamous hatred of the program. It could also be they felt their appearance on the show would compromise their politically charged lyrics they often used in their music.
#105
This is another band that I would've sworn had massive success with their singles throughout the 00's, although the led single to their third album was a sleeper hit, so perhaps they were just another victim of the music industry shoving them aside in favour of reality TV singles. In any case, their third album proved to be a massive success for them here in Australia as well as over in NZ despite it failing to spawn a hit over there.
#104
This solo album from Gwen Stefani remains divisive among fans to this day, basically you either love it for her willingness to branch out into pop music (like I do) or hate it because you feel it betrays her time with No doubt by sacrificing her ska punk roots in favour of making a pop album. Either way, it was a massive success for the pop diva despite criticisms of her fetishising her Asian fans on the album cover and the lyrics.
#103
One of the most well-respected albums of the decade, partially due to how many iconic tracks are on this double album but also due to how well loved the Smashing pumpkins remain to this day (side note, this is a silly name for a band to call themselves.) Sadly, this album took its toll on the band as one of their touring members died of a drug overdose during its production which messed them up.
#102
It took a while for this debut album from Pete Murray to become a success here, mainly because the lead single didn't have much success on the singles chart despite Triple J heavily promoting it and the album upon its initial release. The album finally took off when the third single became a surprise hit for him on the radio and eventually through sales, thus getting the album to become one of the biggest of the decade.
#101
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
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