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.
#2300
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2299
This was the lead single to Taxiride's second album Garage Mahal, an album that was only a moderate success for the band purely through how big this song was at the time of its release. It remains their biggest hit in their catalogue as their two songs from their first album weren't that big here all things considered despite this easily being able to fit in with their debut album from three years prior.
#2298
Most people believe that "All-star" was the theme song to Shrek, though it does appear in the film (the first scene as a matter of fact) the honour of the theme song actually goes to Smash Mouth's cover of the Monkees signature track which played in the final scene of the film before Eddie Murphy puts his spin on it (yeah, I'm a big Shrek fan, don't @ me.) It remains the final hit single from the band to date.
#2297
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2296
One of the catchiest pop rock tracks to make it big in Australia, there was no way this wasn't going to be a success here even if the rest of the world unfairly ignored Smash mouth due to finding them too silly to listen to. It could also be due to this song never being released as a single over in America, which means much like many entries on these last few lists, it had to contend with charting well on their airplay charts.
#2295
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2294
It may be hard to believe in this day and age, but Vanilla Ice was one of the most popular rappers of his day and it's all due to the success he achieved with this album and its lead single. Naturally this led to a ton of backlash from the hip hop community as while Google didn't exist back then, it was obvious that everything he said about himself was about as believable as Milli Vanilli's American accents.
#2293
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2292
It looked like the failure of her film Glitter would result in Mariah Carey's permanent downfall in the music industry, however by adopting an alter ego by the name of Mimi, she was able to crawl back from obscurity with this album which was a return to her 90's output which resulted in not one but two of the biggest hits of the decade in her native America as well as a massive success throughout the rest of the world.
#2291
You'd think this would be the moment when Split enz called it quits given what they named their greatest hits package, alas this was more a way of letting their fans know that Tim Finn would be going solo this year as he would release his solo album to massive success shortly after this came out. For what it's worth, it was the end of an era as the band would struggle for success after this came out.
#2290
While he continued to have success following the temporary parting ways he had with Bernie Taupin, it's obvious that the magic had been lost in Elton's music to the point where he occasionally needed to have songs originally written by Bernie be reworked into some of the tracks on his albums. Even so, he did manage to find success with this album due to it spawning a couple of hit singles for him.
#2289
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2288
Following the surprise success of their previous album worldwide, Green day followed that up with this album which was a huge success even if it didn't quite live up to the standards Dookie set up for them. Still, it at least had a ton of fanfare upon its initial release which is more than you can say for their next album which needed one of the songs to be affiliated with Seinfeld of all things for it to be a success.
#2287
While this was equally as successful on our main charts as it was on our digital charts, the fact that it was such a success on the latter suggests that Michael Bublé would've achieved far greatest success throughout the decade (despite being considered music for our mothers) had the digital storefront existed during the album cycle of his first two albums.
#2286
I honestly would've thought this was a success through digital downloads and not physical sales, alas it appears to be the other way around as Ne-Yo was far more popular with his physical entries here in Australia than he was on our digital storefront.
#2285
This will be the only appearance from one of Michael Bublé's singles on this site, although I do remember hearing this on the radio more so than any of his other songs, so I have no problem believing this was a hit when the likes of "Sway" or "Everything" weren't. Naturally his audience was more inclined to buy his albums which is perhaps why even in the age of digital downloads, he hasn't had any other hits.
#2284
This was the third and final hit to come from Big Brovaz worldwide, likely due to the video which was clearly meant to be an homage to the TV show Friends (solving that shows issue of having an all-white cast in the process.) It was a much more sentimental track from the group who introduced themselves to the world as a tough RNB group who was all about being hard edge.
#2283
This was the final hit that JoJo managed to achieve in her career, this was due to legal troubles with her label who refused to allow her to release new music due to her second album underperforming and also refusing to let her out of their contract for whatever reason (she was only thirteen when she signed to her label, which it turns out is illegal as she was a minor.) At least she's finally been able to release new music since.
#2282
This was the lead single to the girls second album Spiceworld, it was clearly meant to signify that the girls were bigger than ever complete with a video that in all honesty was better than anything found in their trainwreck of a film of the same name. Here they infused Latin influences onto the production in an attempt to appeal to the rising popularity of the Latin craze which no doubt added to the song's success.
#2281
While the album itself wasn't a big success for Marcia Hines, the fact that it spawned two of her biggest hits of the decade more than made up for its comparatively mediocre success from her previous two albums. That said it was still plenty successful hence why it's on this list, and hey it's still five times as more success than anything Diana Ross was putting out around this time.
#2280
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2279
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2278
INXS were another band who were able to find success transitioning from the 80's to the 90's here in Australia, although I guess they dialed back their bombast from their earlier material to make this transition which is why this was a success when others such as Icehouse and 1927 struggled around this time. They would continue to have moderate success as the decade went on, but nothing on this level.
#2277
We have another successful album from George Benson following his breakthrough success with Weekend in L.A from two years prior, this time he incorporates some disco into his sound which helped it stand out from the rest of his discography by producing a hit single for him in the form of the title track.
#2276
Following the success of the Grease soundtrack from earlier on this list, Olivia Newton John doubled down on her sex appeal she displayed in the film with this album which naturally went over well with her fanbase given how this was her first album to be a success outside of its singles here in Australia. It's a bit of a prototype to her next album which seemed to be tailor made for the launch of MTV.
#2275
As divisive as this phase of Bon Jovi's career has remained over the years, there's no denying that its success makes sense as "Always" remains their biggest hit in their catalogue. As such, they ditched their hair metal ballads in favour of more adult contemporary ballads which struck a chord with listeners of the day, although they would go on hiatus for the rest of the 90's despite how big this album was.
#2274
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2273
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2272
This was Christina Milian's only hit here in Australia, although it's worth noting that it wasn't even released as a single in her native America as her debut single "AM to PM" was a massive flop on Billboard for some reason. Both of these songs were much bigger in the UK which allowed this to be a massive success down under and the other track to be a sleeper hit thanks to her rich vocals on both tracks.
#2271
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2270
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2269
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2268
This was the third big hit in a row that P!nk was able to score here in Australia, this time it's with a song that's about how she's out with her friends and is getting hit on by a guy that she's clearly not interested in and how she handles the situation. If this sounds familiar to anyone, that's because this very premise was used by Meghan Trainor a decade later with her hit single "No" and was widely ridiculed for how poorly she copied this track.
#2267
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2266
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2265
Feargal Sharkey was previously the lead vocalist for a few UK bands that didn't find much success even in his homeland, so to see his solo debut become as big as it was must have been a surprise for him. I know in Australia it was due to the two lead singles being a stand in for a couple going through a messy breakup, although since there wasn't this level of drama on his next album it was sadly a huge flop for him.
#2264
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2263
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2262
Although this implies that it's a live album, this is in fact Sherbet's second album which did quite well locally despite it being a year prior to when Countdown would launch and make them a household name. Although their debut album did spawn a few minor hits, it was a massive failure for the band.
#2261
I'm a bit surprised that the Chemical Brothers weren't that popular here in Australia back in the day, particularly because they were an EDM duo who were adored by listeners of Triple J which seemed to be a winning combination for a dance group from the 90's. At least they saw massive success here with this entry even if it took almost a year to find an audience with us Aussies.
#2260
Well so much for hip hop having no success here in Australia, here we have the one and only album from this iconic trio largely due to many of the tracks on here relying on nostalgia for older songs in order to appeal the mainstream of the 90's. Of course, the three rappers more than delivered with their verses to make up for this nostalgia baiting, and indeed we even have the dulcet vocals of Lauryn to differentiate these songs from the originals.
#2259
So, John Farnham was still finding massive success with his albums this far into the 90's, it shouldn't really be a surprise considering that he was finding success as recently as the mid 00's but considering how many of his earlier contemporaries had struggled for mainstream appeal at this point, this albums success is impressive.
#2258
Out of the three entries on this list, this is the one whose success on the digital charts here is the closest to what it achieved on our physical charts, you'd think it would be bigger on our digital charts though considering it was the second single from his magnum opus Exclusive.
#2257
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2256
This second single from the Eminem show has always given me mixed signals as on the one hand he wants to make amends with his mother but on the other he does so in a way that suggests that he can never forgive her for the way she treated him while he was growing up. I guess these complicated feelings he had for her connected with audiences around the world as it was an easy hit for the rapper.
#2255
It appears that rave tracks were still a thing going into the new millennium, so much so that this was able to crossover to Australia during a time where EDM was quickly losing its popularity in our music scene. There's not much to say about the group in question, Public domain was a British EDM group who had their success before fading into obscurity in their native UK.
#2254
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2253
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2252
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2251
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2250
This was the first of two singles to be released from the deluxe edition of Chris Brown's second album Exclusive, an album that already did quite well here in Australia (a rarity for an RNB album here) but received a boost in popularity with this edition. It was also one of the last hits he had before he would have his public persona drastically altered due to an incident involving his then girlfriend Rihanna.
#2249
This was one of only two hits that Darren Hayes had as a solo artist here in Australia, the other was "Popular" two years later which wasn't nearly as successful as this was for him. While it was unclear at the time why he chose to embark on a solo career during the height of Savage garden's popularity, it was later revealed that it was because he realised he was gay and that he needed to establish his own identity.
#2248
This was the third year in a row where a Triple J compilation album was among the most successful albums in Australia, although I'm basing this list on the AMR charts as these albums naturally didn't chart on the ARIA charts due to ARIA considering them compilation albums and thus excluding them from their rankings.
#2247
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2246
Wow did this album take its sweet time in finding success here in Australia, granted this is likely due to it being an RNB album which the occasional rap thrown in which would've made it unlikely for it to be a success here were it not for the strength of its third single. The irony is that this album became a success here around the time the trio filed for bankruptcy due to poor management of their money.
#2245
He may not have been among the most successful artists of the decade; however, David Bowie at least has the distinction of having one of the more popular greatest hits albums in the form of this entry. The album would eventually see a sequel in 1990 when it was released as ChangesBowie.
#2244
This was the breakthrough album from INXS, sure they had some buzz prior to this album but none of their earlier material found much success in the mainstream for some unknown reason. This is where their chart dominance would begin as it would spawn some of their more easily recognisable hits as well as set the band up as a force to be reckoned with from their subsequent follow ups.
#2243
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2242
It took them well over a decade to find success even in their native America, however it finally came with this album due to the lead single becoming a huge success for them worldwide. It was a short-lived victory in most parts of the world as their next album was a huge flop for them, however they came back with the album after that as that spawned their second Billboard chart topper in the decade.
#2241
This was the penultimate album that Abba released in their catalogue, although it was their final successful album in Australia as their next album the Visitors would be a huge flop here for some reason. I guess if the band members weren't going through highly publicised divorces at the time, they could've found a lot of success throughout the 80's given how well they began the decade.
#2240
This was the last album that had Elton John working exclusively with Bernie Taupin until their reunion in 1983, it was a massive success for the pair, suggesting they wanted to end their relationship on a high note but changed their minds when they both saw diminishing returns throughout the rest of the decade.
#2239
While it wasn't as inescapable as their albums from the 90's, this album from the Offspring nevertheless continued their popularity into the new millennium thanks to its lead single becoming a massive hit here like their other songs from the 90's. It would be their final successful album as their subsequent follow ups failed to bring in the big numbers or produce a big hit like their earlier output did.
#2238
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2237
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2236
There was a popular miniseries that ran this year which was based on a book written in the 50's, that miniseries was Come in spinner, and it was such a huge success that its accompanying soundtrack proved to be a hit for its two performers Grace Knight and Vince Jones. Grace is known for being the lead singer of the Eurogliders who saw massive success throughout the 80's, and this was the first album she released after they broke up.
#2235
There's little surprise that this would be more of a hit on our digital charts than as a physical release given how it seems to tick all of the boxes that allows a song to become a hit in that format during the second half of the decade, so much so that it makes you wonder why none of their other singles were big on that format.
#2234
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2233
This was a passing of the torch moment as it not only was the first of many hits that David Guetta would have in his career, but also the final hit that Kelly Rowland would have as she wouldn't touch the charts in the 2010's both solo and as a featured artist. It seemed like the French DJ had a bit of a death touch on his first album when it came to the artists careers he featured, although thankfully it was only for this one album.
#2232
This was the second single to come from Bryan Adam's album 18 till I die, OK technically the third as "Have you ever really loved a woman" was included on the album despite being written for the Don Juan De Marco soundtrack. This was the last hit single that he had as a solo artist as the remaining hits he had this decade were with another person.
#2231
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2230
This was one of only two hits that 3 Doors down managed to achieve in Australia, the other was "Here without you" three years later which was a much more serious ballad compared to this pop rock classic which is all about the camp factor as evidence by the stupidly amazing video. It had a bit of a delay to its success here as it was already a moderate success in NZ the previous year for the band.
#2229
This was originally released the previous year to deafening silence for the Irish band, I'm not even sure why it failed because it's such a fun and upbeat number that it feels like it would've been a shoe in for instant success upon its initial release. It was given a remix this year which allowed the track to gain a second wind here and in their native UK, this allowing their album to be a huge success as well.
#2228
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2227
File this in an ever-growing list of songs that became a success for the band in question right before they decided to call it quits, these guys were an American group who scored their one and only hit months prior to throwing in the towel after thirteen years of failure making this a bittersweet success for the band in question. I know in Australia this became a success due to its presence in ads and movie trailers.
#2226
This was the first of many hits from the house sub-genre of EDM music, as I mentioned earlier, this is where the emphasis of the track is placed on the groove rather than the vocals or lyrics and that's a description that perfectly describes Technotronic despite them having a pretty good vocalist to sing over these beats. This was a surprise hit over in America which no doubt led to EDM exploding in popularity worldwide.
#2225
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2224
This is the only studio album that Chain saw success with here in Australia, although they still have a live album to come on this list, proving that the blues band did have appeal with their fellow Aussies back in the day. Even so, they definitely could've used some help with Bandstand which conveniently got cancelled when they got big.
#2223
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2222
This was the only notable success that the Choirboys had in Australia, although at least it spawned one of the biggest hits of the decade with its lead single as well as it being a staple in pub rock down under. These guys worked very hard in order to build their audience following the commercial failure of their debut album from five years prior, and sadly that audience would abandon them on their next album.
#2221
It looked like Cheap trick weren't going to find any crossover success here in Australia given how their live album At Budokan failed to become a success for them over here like it was throughout the rest of the world, however due to a rather memorable Countdown performance with the title track of this album, they were able to finally score mainstream success here which set them up for much success throughout the 80's.
#2220
Before Tracy Chapman and Melissa Etheridge, we had Suzanne Vega who began the trend of having female singer/songwriters make it big in the mainstream with their sharpy written ballads that connected with audiences. Of course, those women would overshadow Suzanne the following year, however this album has remained relevant over the years thanks to its lead single and its take on domestic violence.
#2219
This was the final album to have the original singer for the Doobie brothers Tom Johnson on the lead, the band would be replaced with Michael McDonald after this album who would take the band in a more adult contemporary direction throughout the second half of the decade. This would lead to their biggest album Minute by minute which helped break them into a more mainstream audience.
#2218
We already saw massive success with Enigma earlier in the decade, so why not have their French counterpart see massive success here as well? Deep forest was another new age band who connected with audiences looking to meditate with music like this, although unlike Enya and Enigma, they didn't have too much success outside of this album here.
#2217
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2216
There's a version of this album which doesn't include Art Garfunkel's theme to Watership down on the track listing, I'm guessing he wanted the album to stand on its own but changed his mind when he realised that his popularity only revived this year because of his affiliation with the animated film. The next time he would trouble the charts was with his reunion tour with his former partner in crime Paul Simon.
#2215
This album looked like it was going to be a complete failure in Australia due to our refusal to give Paula a hit single from the album, however we eventually relented with her duet with a cartoon cat which helped the album find success here almost two years after its initial release. I'm guessing we didn't let this be a success at first due to us already having to deal with all of the Kylie Minogue rip-offs from this period and not wanting to deal with Paula's rip-offs as well.
#2214
This will be the earliest entry from Rod Stewart I'll be featuring on this site, suffice to say the crooner heavily benefitted from the Countdown era despite already having plenty of success during the first half of the decade with his earlier work here.
#2213
Named after the second single from his 1971 album Teaser and the firecat, this greatest hits package was released a decade after that album where it became a huge success for Cat Stevens likely from fans who were already feeling nostalgic for his work. It's worth noting that while he saw massive success during the first half of the 70's, the second half saw his popularity dwindle quite a bit here in Australia.
#2212
This was a bit of a return to form for Jimmy Barnes following his Soul deep project which remains his most successful album in his and his bands career. Jimmy's popularity would begin to dwindle as the decade went on as did most of his contemporaries from the 80's, however he never went away as he continues to see moderate success with his new albums even to this day.
#2211
Following the success of his album But seriously, Phil Collins decided to embark on a world tour which was such a success that he compiled all of the greatest moments onto this album which he released to massive success. It's the only live album from his career both solo and with Genesis to see massive success over the years, it makes you wonder why none of his band's live albums was a hit though.
#2210
I'm sorry to say that Lily Allen didn't have much success with her first album here in Australia regardless of what format we're referring to, that's a shame considering how much more popular her second album was given that this remains equally as popular as both a physical release and a digital single.
#2209
While none of her songs were as popular on our digital charts as they were on our physical charts, that didn't mean they were unpopular on that format as Beyonce was still one of the most popular artists in Australia regardless of which format we're referring to.
#2208
This was the lead single to Icehouse's biggest album Man of colours; it was also the first song from the band to crack the Billboard charts as the band had been gaining buzz throughout the decade due to their earlier work. This was a return to their new wave roots after some experimentation with their previous two albums, suffice to say that we Aussies knew what we wanted from these guys, and this was it.
#2207
This was one of two tracks to be included on the deluxe edition of Sophie's debut album, it was a massive success around the world likely due to the bizarre music video where she pays homage to the film Mannequin by portraying herself as one. It could also be due to the message of perseverance in the lyrics as while she's not over the breakup she's going through, she assures the listener that she will be.
#2206
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2205
This was the other big hit that Rihanna had from the deluxe edition of Good girl gone bad, it has a horror element to it likely to compliment the music video which seems to have been inspired by the industrial rock of the 90's. This would be the last hit that she would have before she would have a major falling out with Chris Brown over something that I won't get into on this list.
#2204
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2203
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2202
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#2201
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
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