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.
#500
This was the sophomore album from Amy Winehouse, it also unfortunately remains her final album as she would tragically pass away in 2011 due to her long battle with substance abuse due to her not handling fame very well. At least this album was appreciated during her lifetime even if it only saw its true popularity here when it won a bunch of Grammys during the early months of 2008.
#499
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#498
Well there was bound to be an at the time oldies release at some point on this list, although given how 50's crooner Perry Como (who was 61 when he released this) was seeing a massive surge in popularity with the lead single, it only makes sense this was also a massive success for him.
#497
This was the first of two live albums to come from the Aztecs which came out around the time they scored a massive comeback hit with "Most people I know think that I'm crazy," it was a sure sign of good things to come that sadly never materialised for the band.
#496
Jenny already had success earlier in the decade with her first solo album as well as the lead vocalist to the short-lived group QED, however it was her second album which finally made her a household name both here and in her native NZ largely thanks to the success of its second single. She released a new album in the 90's which while successful, wasn't well received critically which resulted in her becoming yesterday's news after its release.
#495
These guys had been releasing albums for half a decade to deafening silence before they scored a massive hit with this album, even then this was due to the surprise success of one of its singles as this was all set to flop just like their previous entries. Their next album would prove that this album's success wasn't a fluke as that would also be a huge success for the band, although their popularity wouldn't extend after that.
#494
File this in the category of an album appearing on here more due to its refusal to drop out of the charts, although it does seem fitting the brothers Gibb would begin the 70's with a highlight reel of their best moments from the 60's captured on this album.
#493
Although it wasn't technically an album from Australian idol given how Shannon Noll lost the first season of the series, this will forever be affiliated with the program given how it led off with the song that caused him to lose the series which ironically has retained its popularity over the years over Guy Sebastian's victory single. His next album is what fans consider to be his true debut album.
#492
I guess we found the real reason why this was the big hit in Kings of Leon's native America and not their actual big hit from Only by the night (which we'll revisit in a bit) given how it was the big hit off the album if we were only going by digital sales.
#491
It seems odd that Jack Johnson never had a hit outside his native America (although he was plenty successful with his albums) considering this guy managed to score a massive hit worldwide with this track that feels ripped straight from the folk singer's discography. Evidently this guy had incorporated hip hop in his earlier work which perhaps explains why his only international hit was as stripped back as this.
#490
Given how Madonna was able to dominate our digital charts months prior to the release of this debut single from Lady Gaga (we'll revisit at that song in a bit) it only makes sense that digital media was hungry for more music akin to the queen of pop and that the masses felt Stefani was the way of the future in that regard.
#489
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#488
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#487
This is the only other song from Fergie's solo album that did quite a bit better on our digital charts than it did on our physical charts, although there's still two more entries from the album to come on this list even if they appear much lower on here than they would if I were ranking this based on physical sales.
#486
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#485
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#484
So, this is a film that seems to divide modern audiences, mainly due to people feeling that it glorifies ableism due to the way the titular character is portrayed by Tom Hanks (it doesn't, although admittedly he could've been handled better in the writing department.) Those who don't hold that against the film agree that it's a sentimental classic about how anyone can make it big regardless of who they are in life.
#483
Given that they were cancelled earlier in the decade for essentially saying what the rest of the world was thinking of George Bush Jr (I agree that said cancellation was completely unfair) the Dixie Chicks were able to complete their redemption ark by releasing this album which essentially has them stand their ground with what they had to say with its lead single. Naturally it was a massive hit for them now that people could criticise the American president without any fear.
#482
You better believe P!nk's popularity skyrocketed here in Australia thanks to her fanbase being in tune with digital downloads, as such, this second single from her fourth album is by far her most successful of the decade down under if we were measuring it based on digital sales alone.
#481
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#480
Given how he was arguably the most in demand producer of the decade, it only makes sense that the producer would release an album of his own where he fronts the mic while his clientele provide him with catchy choruses to connect his verses together. Despite how inescapable he was, it took a while for this album to take off, only doing so once his collaboration with Keri Hilson became a worldwide smash.
#479
I'm willing to bet that Lady Gaga's dominance on the digital charts worldwide is what finally compelled her fellow Americans to check out her music, after all, it was considered the cool new way of consuming music and anything big on this format was bound to at least spark interest on the Billboard charts.
#478
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#477
This is further proof that throwback music is another genre that thrived on our digital charts during its infancy, as such, this throwback to the music of the 40's from Christina Aguilera was quite popular on that format in addition to it being a massive success with physical sales.
#476
This was Madonna's foray into country music, OK sort of as there were plenty of electronic elements to the song that technically makes it an EDM album even though there are plenty of straight forward country tracks on the album. It was a massive hit for the queen of pop and proof that she could do no wrong even going into the new millennium, although her next album was where things would come crashing down.
#475
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#474
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#473
Although they achieved sound success with their debut album Outlandos d'amour, this was the album which made Sting and company a household name due to how inescapable the two singles from the album were in their native UK. They would go on to achieve massive success with their blend of new wave and reggae, something I just realised not many other bands and artists achieved back in the day.
#472
BEP were completely unstoppable by the end of the decade regardless of which format they charted on, as such there's little surprise that the lead single to their third album with Fergie would be a massive success for them on the digital charts like it was on our main and physical charts.
#471
While this was a massive hit through physical sales (as evidence by its high placement on both of my 2007 lists) the bulk of this fourth single from Fergie's success comes from those who overlooked her album on the digital storefront in favour of this ballad where she gets to showcase her vocal talents without any gimmicks or notoriety.
#470
This was the only album to be released by Johnny Diesel and the Injectors, although don't think that it's because no one was interested in this album because it was a huge success for them and even led to international interest in the band. I'm guessing this was meant to be an advertisement for Diesel's solo career which would pan out the following decade with his solo album Hepfidelity.
#469
Another artist to achieve massive success both in the 70's as a teen idol and around this time as a more mature pop star, we have the second album in a row from Daryl Braithwaite to find massive success thanks to him being appreciated presumably by the same audience who fell in love with his more simplistic music over a decade prior. Sadly, for him, this was the final success he had in the mainstream.
#468
Long before she became an Oscar nominated actress in Hollywood, Bette Midler was a throwback performer who found instant success with her debut album due to her campy antics which of course attracted a queer following which led to her acceptance of that community later in her career.
#467
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#466
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#465
Another album released at the start of the 90's from one of the biggest names of the 80's to find massive success, and who says that the 80's ended once 1990 rolled around? In any case we have this third album from John Farnham's revival period which continued the success of his previous two efforts and suffice to say that his dominance in the Australian adult contemporary scene persisted throughout the decade.
#464
For the first ten years of its existence, Moulin Rouge was a critically acclaimed jukebox musical that heralded the return of musicals in the mainstream outside of animated features, although thanks to the internet of the 2010's (specifically a certain review site that infamously trashed the film) it now has a more polarising reception as people feel the story to be too melodramatic to be taken seriously.
#463
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#462
This was Julio's first album he recorded mostly in English, so of course it was going to find an audience with fans of his Latin lover shtick which would be otherwise turned off from his music due to their inability to understand Spanish. To further incentivise people into checking out this album, he included two very well-known American musicians on here and released both tracks as singles.
#461
Sandwiched between two of their biggest albums is this double album from ELO which seems to be an expansion of their previous album A new world record when it comes to making a rock opera to cash in on both that craze as well as the science fiction craze taking over the world. It's not as commercially appealing as their other work; however, it makes up for that by being them at their best artistically.
#460
For a little while, this second single from the Black-Eyed Peas was the biggest hit of all time not just in Australia but throughout the entire world, this is mainly due to its refusal to die on the charts which is an early sign of two things. First was of course the club boom which would explode going into the new decade, and the second was how the internet refused to allow songs to completely fall off the charts.
#459
Well would you look at this, we have a rock opera set to the plot of the H.G Wells book War of the worlds by composer Jeff Wayne that managed to become a huge success this decade. Admittedly this wasn't the first concept album to achieve massive success that was based on a book as a few years prior, Yes frontman Rick Wakeman did just that with the Jules Verne novel Journey to the center of the earth.
#458
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#457
This was the first volume of U2's most comprehensive greatest hits package, it was so comprehensive that they didn't release the second volume for another four years as they wanted to include their next album in the retrospective. In the meantime, we have their album looking over the success they had in the 80's complete with a song that only briefly charted in 1989 becoming a hit upon its release.
#456
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#455
Although this serves as the soundtrack to the documentary made for Woodstock, you can consider this a live album from the iconic event given how the documentary comprises of clips taken from the festival rather than it being a recreation of it in any way.
#454
This was where the Eurythmics decided to appeal to a more mainstream market which proved to be a wise move for them commercially as while their previous two albums were a success for them, they weren't exactly among the most successful of the decade like this and their next album Revenge were. That said, I'm sure there's fans out there that prefer their more synth heavy new wave tracks.
#453
He may have still been the lead singer of the Faces (a band who's still to come on this list) however that didn't prevent Rod Stewart from finding massive success with his second solo album due to how inescapably popular the lead single was.
#452
This was one of two big hits that TV rock had in their short time together, both of these songs share a similar formula of spoken word vocals which I'm guessing is meant to be sexy in a similar way to how "I'm too sexy" was in the 90's. I guess it paid off as this was one of the biggest hits of the decade in Australia, and even managed to crossover to NZ shortly after its release.
#451
Following the success of their debut album from four years prior, Fine young cannibals returned with this album which proved to be an even bigger success for the British trio, likely due to it becoming a surprise hit over in America by spawning two Billboard chart toppers for them. Despite how huge this album was for them, they decided to call it quits going into the new decade for reasons I never quite understood.
#450
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#449
This is one of those albums that was way more successful than its placement on this list would otherwise suggest, mainly because these guys were among the first to truly benefit from the digital charts here in Australia which sadly hadn't accommodated albums which meant this album only reached the upper echelons of our charts whenever one of their singles crossed over to the mainstream.
#448
It may have divided the fans upon its initial release, however it's clear that this follow up to Blood sugar sex magik wasn't a failure by any means for the band no matter how much the A.V club wanted us to believe otherwise when they (in my opinion) foolishly declared it as one of the least essential albums of the decade. Sure, the departure of John Frusciante did mean that the band had changed their sound, however it still managed to connect with audiences and still does to this day.
#447
This was a bit more of a sleeper hit here in Australia which is why it's slightly lower on here than it should be, however make no mistake, this album from Robbie Williams was inescapable thanks to it rebounding on the charts whenever one of the singles was released even if said singles were more successful on the radio than with sales. It continued his popularity well into the decade for good reason.
#446
This was another successful album to come from Live in Australia, this time we have their second biggest album after Throwing copper which was able to pick up the lack of their previous album Secret samadhi just as the 90's were coming to an end. That said their popularity would slowly begin to dwindle as the 00's went on, not by a considerable margin but enough that it was noticeable.
#445
I guess Bruce Springsteen did have one of the biggest albums of the decade with Born in the U.S.A, so it only makes sense that John Mellencamp's popularity would skyrocket given that heartland rock was one of the biggest genres of music because of that album. In a way, John stole Bruce's momentum with this album as not only was it a massive success, but the singles have lingered on oldies stations arguably more so than the one's on Bruce's album.
#444
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#443
This was the second album from Simply red, and one that didn't spawn any major hits like the rest of their catalogue did which is perhaps why it remains their most successful album here in Australia. I always did find it interesting that as far as their singles were concerned, these guys were more successful in America than they were in their native UK.
#442
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#441
This was the only successful album to come from Huey Lewis and the News in Australia, although they were a much bigger deal in their native America throughout the decade which perhaps suggests their lack of international success was more due to bad marketing than anything else. Indeed, they only scored one hit from this album despite having two Billboard chart toppers from it.
#440
Well, this was the album which had Madonna officially denounce her faith not just in the catholic church but religion in general, prior to this album she had proudly proclaimed herself as a catholic girl but then a bunch of things happened which made her realise that she could no longer consider herself as such. This caused quite a controversy following its release as this was back in the day where religion held importance in the mainstream.
#439
Even though her previous album remains her most successful to date, many critics felt that it was a crass display of Christina's public image which led to her rethinking how she was going to continue to mature away from her time with Disney. This led to her making a throwback double album which incorporates many styles from the first half of the twentieth century that led to her scoring a massive success with it.
#438
While there wasn't any chance that this album would be as successful as Mariah's previous album Music box, it does have the consolation of spawning two of her biggest hits in her career worldwide, one of which even broke records on Billboard by staying at number one for sixteen weeks. I should also point out that the album is indeed structured to be like a daydream, much like her last album was meant to be seen as a music box.
#437
There were no signs of Jack Johnson slowing down in the music scene given how his third album managed to be a massive hit for him worldwide, I guess people just wanted to listen to an album that put them in a relaxing mood given how many entries on this list would have you feeling pumped up whenever they were playing.
#436
These guys were on a roll when they released their fourth album, given how they no longer had to deal with digital piracy with their singles, it allowed said singles to become massive hits for them which no doubt contributed to the album's popularity here. This popularity would extend to their next album despite it being released in 2010, making it one of the last rock albums to find success here.
#435
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#434
Although they had two albums prior which achieved no success even in their native America, this third album from Green day proved to be a massive success due to the surprise success of one of its singles on the Billboard airplay charts. This allowed the album to find an international audience months after its initial release and set the trio up as one of the leading forces of the punk revival of the 90's.
#433
This wound up being far more popular here in Australia than it was over in NZ, the only album from Ben Harper to be as such given how overall, the kiwis preferred him over us Aussies during his career. I guess you can say that he was the natural successor to Lenny Kravitz given how he followed a similar formula to him only for a 00's audience which is conveniently when Lenny lost his popularity.
#432
This is one of quite a few double entries we'll be looking at on this list, although in this case both singles bundled together could easily be separated into two entries given how they both appeared to be as equally as popular as each other here in Australia. This is particularly curious as punk rock was never that big here, let alone from local artists and yet these guys broke down those barriers.
#431
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#430
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#429
Enya had already achieved massive success with her previous four albums; however, this was her crowning achievement given how it remains her most successful album in her career despite coming out a bit late in the new age craze she kick started with her second album Watermark. Indeed, this was her last notable success in most parts of the world as the new age craze began to lose its momentum.
#428
The Use your illusion era of Guns n roses career was already a huge success by the time they unveiled the video to this song, which fun fact was released months prior to deafening silence likely due to it being one of the more long-winded songs on both albums. The video was such as success that it quickly became not just their biggest hit but also one of the biggest hits of the twentieth century.
#427
Well, they billed this as a once in a lifetime event, so of course the Brothers Gibb would see massive success with this live album given how they gave such a great show that audiences wanted whatever they could help them remember the great time they had. Sadly, this was their final successful album during their time together as Maurice would tragically pass away in 2003.
#426
These guys were rising stars in the Australian and NZ music scene throughout the 70's, so for them to enter the 80's with and album that would become one of the most successful in both countries must have been a bit of a joy for the band in question. The true success of this album came when its lead single was among the first to be played on MTV when it launched nearly two years after its initial release.
#425
It seemed like Keri Hilson would be the future of pop diva's if we were to look at how big her collaboration with Timbaland was on the digital storefront upon its initial release, alas this massive improvement this song has on this ranking compared to its physical sales is the best she was able to achieve on the format down under.
#424
This was where it all began for one of the most critically acclaimed bands of all time, and it's with an album that sounds completely stripped back from what was coming out at the time to boot. Of course, Dire straits would go on to have infinitely more success the following decade, however they did win over a bunch of fans with this album who wanted an alternative with all the bombast.
#423
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#422
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#421
Aaah Black Sabbath, you knew I'd get to these guys eventually given how I brought up how popular heavy metal was, although it is rather surprising in retrospect how popular they were back in the day given how their brand of metal was widely protested against by angry wine moms.
#420
Well this is an album that promised so much for the artist in question in terms of success, especially considering how Rick Astley was by far the most successful client of Stock Aiken and Waterman likely due to how impressive his vocals were throughout this album. Alas he remains a one album wonder as his second album failed to live up to the standards set up by this breakthrough of his.
#419
It's no surprise this was a success given that it contains the legendary "Stairway to heaven" amongst its track listing, however that song was infamously not released as a single here as the band went with a different track for its lead single which was a hit here in Australia.
#418
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#417
Oh, rick rolling, why did you have to ruin this otherwise cute and innocent song from one of the more impressive vocalists to emerge from the 80's? Nowadays people think this is one of the worst songs of all time due to that immature meme from the late 00's, however back in the day it was the biggest song of the decade in Australia thanks to how many demographics it managed to appeal to back then.
#416
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#415
It took him several albums; however, Nilsson was finally able to achieve massive success with this entry likely due to it spawning by far his biggest hit in his entire catalogue in the form of its lead single, pretty impressive considering how loathed it remains with most music aficionados.
#414
If there was any doubt that his previous album the Stranger was a fluke for Billy Joel in the mainstream, then this album put those doubts to rest as it cemented him as the piano man of choice given how both of these albums were released during Elton John's first dark period. Even though he had millions of fans around the world with these albums, he saw backlash from rock snobs who felt he was catering to soccer mums.
#413
Following the success of her previous two albums, Celine decided to continue exploring different ways to bring to life genres that piqued her interest with this album which resulted in it being yet another success for her. While reviews have always been positive towards her music, this was when her haters really got out of control given how this album contains her Oscar winning ballad from Titanic which helped the film become the highest grossing of the twentieth century.
#412
This remains the most successful album in the Rolling stones career in Australia, unless of course I can find stats about their earlier work with how well it did back in the 60's down under. Even so, this was a huge success for the band as they moved away from the disco trend in favour of their earlier work which audiences definitely appreciated both then and now.
#411
Compared to the rest of their discography, this feels like an outlier in Fleetwood Mac's catalogue, mainly due to it being their one double album as well as it being more in line with a prog album compared to the rest of their work. As a result, it wasn't quite as successful as their other albums, however it was still a massive success for them regardless.
#410
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#409
Also known as the First album, this was indeed where it all began for Madonna given how she was at the time an indie artist who had a great voice and some meaningful things to say in her songwriting. This was a huge sleeper hit for her this year albeit only in Australia as the rest of the world ignored her in favour of Cyndi Lauper, although she would eventually win the battle of top female pop star with her next album.
#408
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#407
Although he did find moderate success later in the decade here in Australia, this is the biggest success that James Taylor had given it was released during the height of the folk-rock scene that was kick started by Cat Stevens with his two entries from the top of this list.
#406
Although the singles from this album from Mika were a massive hit here upon their respective initial releases, the album itself only became a sleeper hit thanks to each of them causing it to rebound on the charts whenever one of them was released as a single, hence its low placement on this list. Still at least this album was a success for the British crooner, certainly more so than the rest of his catalogue.
#405
Named after the controversial left-wing politician from the 70's Gough Whitlam, these guys made a huge splash with their third album due to it being heavily promoted on Triple J which was likely due to how unique they sounded compared to their contemporaries from the time. The album received a massive boost in popularity when the former prime minister himself announced them as having the best single of 1997 with "No aphrodisiac."
#404
Britpop was at the height of its popularity by the late 90's, so much so that there was little chance that this third album from the Verve was going to fail here even though the mediocre reception to Oasis's third album was beginning to poison the wells of the genre. Even though this was a massive success for the band, it would prove to be their last album for a decade due to legal disputes involving the lead single and its sample of a Rolling stones track.
#403
The 80's were over? Tell that to Midnight oil who began the 90's with this album which replaces aboriginal rights with the mining sector in Australia as a topic worthy of their discussion on this album. This of course was a massive success for the band here and even a moderate success worldwide following the success of Diesel and dust a few years prior, and indeed their popularity continued well into the decade.
#402
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#401
Shrek is a film that changed the landscape of animation and comedy throughout the decade given how it deconstructed fairytale troupes that Disney had been relying on since its inception (to the point where the company now feels the need to copy this formula to predictably irritating results.) It was a massive success partially due to its soundtrack which of course was a massive hit here in Australia.
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