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.
#1800
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1799
One of the few Australian disco artists to find success back in the day, we have British born Christie Allen scoring the first of two big hits from her debut album due to her unique vocals as well as how irresistibly catchy the disco beat was on her songs. This was a hit during the final months of the 70's, proving that the disco backlash had little to no impact on the Australian music scene.
#1798
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1797
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1796
This was initially only a minor success in Australia when it was released, likely because we Aussies were beginning to fall out of love with their marriage of hip hop and rock in their sound. We quickly fell in love with it again when they released their cover of a Lionel Richie classic, a cover that has almost nothing in common with the rest of the album it appears on which nonetheless boosted its sales.
#1795
Whereas at least his earliest album managed to spawn a minor hit for Elton John (we'll look at it in a bit) this album failed to spawn any hits for the English piano man in exchange for it being considerably more successful than that outing.
#1794
Santana were indeed one of the bigger bands of the decade in Australia when it came to their albums, true they weren't able to have much success with their singles like the Eagles or Led Zeppelin, but it was clear that audiences had fallen in love with their music regardless. This was the penultimate album in their catalogue to be a huge success before they became yesterday's news for over two decades.
#1793
Before it ever premiered on London's west end, Evita was a concept album based on the real-life political figure from the first half of the twentieth century. Naturally the success of this album led to the show being written for the stage which eventually saw a theatrical released twenty years after this album came out starring Madonna in the title role, it's easily considered her best performance.
#1792
This is the debut album from Taxiride, a boy band who played their own instruments much like that of Hanson before them and 5 Seconds of summer after them given how the majority of their fanbase was teenage girls who were also fans of boy bands who didn't play their own instruments. It was a massive success for the band due to a combination of their musical chops and their good looks.
#1791
While we all know Disney for their animated films (as well as those awful live action remakes that few if anyone seems to like) the company is also known for its teen dramas mostly from the 00's with the High school musical trilogy probably being their most lucrative project behind only the Hannah Montana craze. This was the soundtrack to the first film which proved to be a massive success with the teen demographic of the day.
#1790
While the first film only had a successful theme song in the music scene, the second Mission impossible flick had a soundtrack so captivating to audiences of this year that it became a massive hit worldwide for the franchise. I've never been a fan of the franchise (or Tom Cruise for that matter) so I'm not among those that keep demanding a new film every few years.
#1789
He had tragically passed away three years prior from a toe cancer, but that didn't mean the world was ready to say farewell to Bob Marley as he's arguably had more success from beyond the grave than he did during his lifetime. Here we have his greatest hits package that has become one of the most successful albums of all time due to its refusal to die on the album charts, although it was a huge success upon its initial release so it's not like this only saw success years after it came out.
#1788
These guys had a massive run throughout the 80's here in Australia and over in NZ, so much so that it makes sense they would close out the decade with a greatest hits package in both countries which would unfortunately explain the lack of success they would achieve in both countries going into the 90's.
#1787
This was released on the second-year anniversary of John Lennon's death; I suppose this was delayed avoiding coming off as a cheap cash grab off his legacy like so many Beatles compilations that came out at the time. It's up to you whether or not this should've been released given the obvious circumstances of its success.
#1786
This is the oldest song on this list that also appears on my 2010 rankings, it was equally as popular as a physical release and a digital release likely due to the combined might of Katy Perry and 3oh!3 during the height of both of their popularity.
#1785
This is another song that has more than one version of it to become popular back in the day, that explains why it didn't do as well on our digital charts given how the second version of it (I'm guessing an even more tasteless version than the one we all know) managed to become a minor hit around the time this was popular.
#1784
It's interesting to see how most of P!nk's songs performed better on our digital charts than in any other format since their inception in 2006, one of the more popular songs in this format was this third single from her fourth album which likely explains why it and her top entry from this list managed to become moderate hits on Billboard several months after they were both a massive success down under.
#1783
Remember how I said songs with multiple versions of them are likely to appear much lower on this list than you would otherwise expect? It turns out there's more than one version of this track from Sandi Thom to become popular back in the day as there was a second version that only barely missed the cut on this list which naturally was combined with the main version on our main charts.
#1782
Well, if you wanted to hear Diana Ross cover this Burt Bacharach classic, then this is your best option as Marcia Hines has been regularly described as the Australian equivalent of Diana Ross (despite Marcia herself being from America originally.) This proved to be a massive success for her, and no doubt led to the success of her second album which this served as the lead single for.
#1781
So Carly Simon was still able to find success going into the 80's, admittedly there was every indication that she would be one of the most popular artists of the decade had MTV not launched this year and ruined her chances at replicating the success she had throughout the 70's. I also have to admit that outside of her magnum opus "You're so vain," I've never been that much of a fan of her music.
#1780
Oh, do I not like Simple Plan, this is coming from someone who feels that the likes of Good Charlotte and Nickelback receive too much flak from the internet which means I don't dislike them simply because the internet tells me to. Here we have their biggest hit, which was the lead single to their second album, an album that many have mocked over the years for how highly immature it is even for emo rock.
#1779
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1778
I feel like Newton Faulkner was the world's warm up to Ed Sheeran given how this was similar to what his ginger haired counterpart would release from his debut album going into the new decade, it explains why the likes of "The a team" and "Lego house" was a success worldwide given how this would fit right in with those songs were they all to appear on an album together.
#1777
I told you we'd get to this version of the Mixture's earlier entry on this list eventually, here we have the debut single for Mungo Jerry who is a band named after a character from a book of cat poetry that would be the basis of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats. Honestly, I could go on all day about this track, however I'll leave it at this being the quintessential track about doing nothing ala "The lazy song" or "Hakuna Matata."
#1776
Well, I guess we Aussies aren't opposed to allowing cheesy RNB to become a hit here after all given how this highly ridiculed ballad from Boris Gardiner managed to become a huge success here. It's hard to talk about this song without coming off as mean, as such I won't say anything else here.
#1775
This was the debut single from Jason Derulo, a man who would go on to have massive success in Australia and throughout the rest of the world due to him breaking through when Chris Brown was temporarily blacklisted from the music industry. Here he (or rather JR Rottem) samples "Hide and seek" from Imogen Heep and recontextualises the song to be about Jason apologising to her for being unfaithful.
#1774
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1773
Does this song remind anyone else of John Lennon's "Woman?" Something about the chord structure and vocal melodies on this one and only hit from husband-and-wife duo R&J Stone heavily reminds me of that track for some reason. If you want to know what happened to these two lovebirds, Joanne Stone tragically died of a brain tumour later in the decade which Robert never got over.
#1772
This was the second collaboration that MJ made with Paul McCartney, and one that's been better received over the years as evidence by how much bigger the song was compared to their first collaboration from the previous year. This would be the last collaboration the two men would make as MJ would infamously buy up the back catalogue for Paul's music which put an end to their friendship.
#1771
It seems strange that the first international hit that Fall out boy has would be a song about them being unhappy with being seen as an emo band, although many people (me included) dislike this song more for it being the type of emo rock that would appeal to the Emos of the day which makes this song all the more ironic given how that was likely the crowd that made this a massive success for the band.
#1770
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1769
This was the theme song to the second Terminator film as well as the lead single to the Use your illusions era which produced two very long albums from Axel Rose and company that would dominate the music landscape for about eighteen months with its singles. It was certainly an ambitious project for them to take on and one that arguably does live up to their early promise they had on their debut album.
#1768
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1767
This is the song that the Fugees would sample over twenty years later for their magnum opus "Killing me softly," naturally this was originally a huge hit for Roberta Flack given how she by this point was a household name due to her earlier entry on this list. She would have one more hit on her own here in Australia with "Feel like making love" as well as one with Peabo Bryson with "Tonight I celebrate my love."
#1766
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1765
In most parts of the world, this was the final hit that Ray Stevens had as "Misty" from the following year didn't do very well due to it being one of his rare country ballads that was devoid of any humour or irony that connected with audiences in the places where it did become a success. Here we have him writing a comedy track about a streaker harassing a married couple that I'm sure audiences found hilarious at the time.
#1764
This was one of two hits that Vicki Lawrence had here in Australia, although it's worth noting that neither of these hits she had was her biggest in her native America given how "The night the lights went out in Georgia" was a huge flop here despite being a Billboard chart topper in her homeland. Nowadays she's best known for her role in the Mary Tyler Moore show and her stage work.
#1763
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1762
This album was named after his duet with Barbra Streisand which happened to be one of the biggest hits from both artists careers, so of course this was going to be a huge success for Neil Diamond just like most of his albums this decade. His popularity would continue to flourish in the 80's thanks to his performance in the Jazz singer, although it would quickly dwindle once the MTV era launched.
#1761
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1760
Given how this albums cycle began with a music video depicting a live action/cartoon hybrid, it only makes sense that the album it came from would be a huge success for the band even though it has received tons of critical backlash over the years. It may not have killed their career as they band kept soldiering on after this perceived misstep, however it did kill their relevancy as they never saw this level of success again.
#1759
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1758
From what I can gather, the Main event was a charity concert which had John Farnham, Olivia Newton John and opera singer Anthony Warlow putting on a show that was a massive success during the final months of 1998. As such the showrunners issued this live album which captures the best moments of the concert which became a huge success for the program.
#1757
This was the debut album for one of the most prominent bands to emerge from the UK soul scene, although it's worth noting that this didn't produce a big hit for them here in Australia like it did in their native UK and on Billboard. Even though these guys were far from the most successful singles artists down under, they more than made up for that by having their albums be highly successful here.
#1756
This was the debut album for one Billy Ray Cyrus, a man who would go on to be known as the father for one Destiny Hope Cyrus AKA Miley. Before his daughter became a major Disney star, he was a decently successful country singer who initially struggled to find a record deal due to being seen as little more than a pretty face. Indeed, the success of this album was largely due to a lot of people finding him attractive as well as it popularising the line dance craze.
#1755
Regardless of how you feel about these guys (they're not for me) there's no denying that they were among the most popular bands in the world during the early 80's and as such, this greatest hits package would inevitably be a success for them. This did spell the end of their relevancy as they struggled to find any success after this album, however it did spawn one more hit for them in America so there's that at least.
#1754
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1753
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1752
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1751
It may be one of the most infamous albums ever recorded (at least by a professional musician) however it appears that we Aussies were rather kind to this cover’s album from Bob Dylan upon its initial release given how it appears on here over so many other albums of the day.
#1750
Even though they had success earlier in the decade with "In the flesh" in Australia and "Denis" in the UK, Blondie were finally able to make it big in their native America with this album given how the lead single incorporates disco into their sound. This made the band a household name internationally and set them up for major success in the 80's which they unfortunately didn't manage to achieve after their album Autoamerican.
#1749
I really think that the rerelease of "Nights in white satin" is what pushed the band's earlier entry on this list over the edge here in Australia given how this album wasn't nearly as successful as that was back in the day, although at least it was able to compete with other prog albums on this list.
#1748
Well, this feels like a shameless cash grab, granted the Beatles do have themed greatest hits packages and such it is possible this album was always meant to be released when it was. That said, the fact that this came out so soon after John Lennon's death just leaves a bad taste in my mouth as I doubt it would've been as successful as it was if John had lived to see this year.
#1747
What I said about Jay Sean's entry earlier on this list applies to this debut single from Jason Derulo, so much so that you can pretty much copy and paste what I said here and apply it to his subsequent releases.
#1746
While this did very well on our digital charts back in the day, it's a bit disheartening to see that most of its success came from people buying physical copies of it, suggesting that few people found the song problematic back in the day like the world certainly does now.
#1745
We've seen plenty of success stories to emerge from Neighbours in the music industry over the years, however after Kylie Minogue and possibly Delta Goodrem, Natalie Imbruglia wins the award for having the most international success from the cast given how inescapable this ballad was over in America. She accomplished this by going the Alanis Morissette route on her album by channelling her inner angst for a wider audience.
#1744
By far the biggest hit to come from Mondo rock, in fact this is only second to "Eagle rock" as the most successful thing Ross Wilson has done throughout his career. It's easy to see why this song was so big as it tells a coming-of-age story about two young lovers looking to explore their sexual relationship narrated expertly by Ross. Sadly, this was the last hit single he would have in his career.
#1743
This was the lead single to Backstreet boy's third album Millennium, an album that was meant to signify the beginning of a new era given how they felt confident that they had won the boy band wars before they were even over (to be fair they absolutely did win the wars overall.) The lyrics are a bit strange on this track, however I don't think many people care about that anymore and I doubt many people did to begin with.
#1742
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1741
This was clearly inspired by the Wizard of Oz given how the yellow brick road in that movie is what immediately springs to mind when mentioning it, naturally the nostalgia of the (then) thirty-five-year-old film was what made this a huge success for Elton John in addition to it being the title track of his magnum opus double album.
#1740
You better believe that Jack Black had a music career as a side gig to his acting career, although aside from this one hit he had here in Australia, said music career didn't yield much success for him and his partner in crime Kyle Gass who together make up Tenacious D. This is a throwback to those old cowboy tracks about how the narrator encounters the devil and hijinks ensuing from that premise.
#1739
This was the debut single from Savage Garden and one that has a different music video depending on where in the world you're from. The original is a low budget clip which is basically Darren Hayes poorly green screened onto a car driving around the country whilst the international version is more visually striking as it has Darren singing in front of a camera and then has the footage play on a girl's TV.
#1738
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1737
This was the lead single from Delta's third album, it was equally as successful as the songs from her first two albums even though the public had really begun to turn on her as a person due to her relationship with Brian McFadden who was considered a massive public nuisance while he was with her. They eventually came around for her once they broke off their engagement.
#1736
Given the discourse that "Milkshake" by Kelis has had since its release in America, I'd hate to think of how the internet would react to this track from the Sugababes given how it's also built around a sexual innuendo that I doubt most of it would understand (here's a hint, the button in question isn't to an elevator like the video suggests.) They would only have one more hit in Australia after this before they faded into obscurity.
#1735
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1734
This was the lead single to Cosmo's factory, as such it was guaranteed to be a massive success for CCR even if it was the lowest charting single from the album here in Australia. What's interesting is that the band never made it to number one in their native America, they came close several times to the point where they have the most songs to peak at number two on Billboard without ever reaching the top spot.
#1733
It looked like that Fall out boy finally managed to take the international charts by storm this year given how this and their earlier entry were both massive hits for the band despite them failing to dent the charts outside of their native America with their earlier material from the decade. To this day, I have no idea why they decided to name this song with all of the vowels taken out of the title.
#1732
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1731
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1730
Although Barricades and brickwalls was already a solid success for Kasey Chambers upon its initial release the previous year, it was this ballad from the country star that made that album a household name due to it being an inescapable hit for her this year here in Australia. It even managed to crossover to NZ which goes to show how it managed to strike a chord with audiences from the southern hemisphere.
#1729
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1728
This was the only noticeable success that David Dundas (sorry Lord David Dundas as he does have an official title) achieved in his music career, although he did score a minor hit here in Australia with "Another funny honeymoon" which means there was some appeal to this guy's music outside of this ad jungle for a jean commercial. Oh yeah, this was written specifically as an ad jingle, hence why it sounds like one.
#1727
Well, this song seems to have come out of nowhere, Slim Dusty is best known for being one of the very first Australian artists to achieve any form of success in the music industry back in the 50's with his hit single "A pub with no beer." Fast forward over thirty years and he scored a surprise hit with this track he performed on Countdown which even the kiwis found amusing as it was a moderate success over there as well.
#1726
This was initially a flop in Australia, presumably because with rare exceptions, non-English tracks tend to be failures in our music scene. That changed however when this became bundled with "Cup of life" which was the theme to the FIFA world cup for this year which in turn put Ricky Martin on the map and set him up as the leader of the Latin craze that happened.
#1725
This was the first song Ronan Keating released when Boyzone announced they were going their separate ways, it was written for the film Notting hill starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts and is one of the better romantic comedies of the decade to boot. This was also included as the advanced single from Ronan's solo album and strangely enough, also as a bonus track on Boyzone's greatest hits package.
#1724
Well, if nothing else, this is equal opportunity when it comes to calling out both sides of the gender spectrum who mooch of their significant others minimum wage while that person works hard to provide for them. It's easy to see how this struck a chord with audiences given how the name of the song is what we often shout at to people who seem to just mooch off of those around them for a living.
#1723
This was the song which made Celine Dion into a household name worldwide, oh sure her previous hit "Power of love" was a huge success for her, but people dismissed it as an updated rendition of the Jennifer Rush track from the mid 80's and nothing more. This ballad on the other hand became a huge surprise hit in the UK which encouraged her to go on a world tour which was highly successful.
#1722
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1721
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1720
There are multiple reasons why this cover of the Bruce Channel classic was a hit in Australia this year, firstly it was due to it being selected as the theme for this year's FIFA world cup which kept up the tradition that Ricky Martin began four years prior with "The cup of life." The second reason was that it had multiple music videos including a cartoon video with the Austrian DJ performing the song live, the final was that this was a good year for remixes of older songs on our charts.
#1719
OK before people lose their minds at the thought of the English playwright managing to score a hit single centuries after his death, I should point out that this was simply the stage name of John Cave who scored two huge hits during the height of glam rock with this being the second of the two. Had glam rock persisted during the second half of the decade, I'm sure he would've had more success after this.
#1718
Well, this is certainly a surprise entry from Spiderbait for a number of reasons, first off, we have their take on a track made popular in the 70's by the one hit wonder band Ram Jam which goes to show that 70's nostalgia was still very much a thing in Australia this far into the new millennium. The other big surprise was that it features vocals from the drummer Kram (Mark spelt backwards) as opposed to Janet English.
#1717
This was sadly the second to last single that the Carpenters were able to achieve in Australia, their final hit being "Calling occupants" which only became as such due to how bizarre it was upon its initial release. It's certainly a far cry from this cover of the Marvelettes track which is more in line with what they had to offer throughout their career, although I get the feeling the Captain and Tennille stole their thunder with their earlier entry on this list.
#1716
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1715
This was the sophomore album from Train after the failure of their debut album from the late 90's, it became a worldwide smash thanks to its title track becoming a massive hit for them on the radio. Train is another band I never cared for; this is mainly due to Pat Monahan's vocals always rubbing me the wrong way even back in the day. Of course, this leaves me in the minority as they have millions of fans worldwide.
#1714
We have another entry from Deep purple on this list, it's not even our final entry as we still have two more to feature from the British prog band to give you some idea as to how inescapable these guys were during the first half of the decade.
#1713
These guys were on top of the world when they released this greatest hits album, although it's worth noting that while they had hit after hit on the Australian charts, their albums weren't quite as successful. I'm not sure why as other glam rock acts such as Slade and Suzi Quatro were able to ride the balance between their singles and albums in the mainstream.
#1712
Following the success of their previous album Wings at the speed of sound, the band decided to embark on an American tour which they named after said album which proved to be a massive success for them. This live album captures the highlights of the tour which the rest of the world was able to appreciate as it became a huge success for them in their catalogue.
#1711
Although he wasn't scoring many hits during the second half of the decade in Australia, that didn't mean that Neil Diamond was yesterday's news here as his albums were still among the more popular in Australia likely due to him still retaining much of his audience that made him a household name during the first half of the 70's.
#1710
Bob Dylan was certainly on a roll when he released this album as it showed promise that he would thrive throughout the 80's, alas since he wasn't what would be marketable for the MTV era, this promise proved to be empty as he struggled to find mainstream success that decade. He did eventually return to the mainstream as a member of the Traveling wilburys, so it's not like this was the last people heard from him.
#1709
She may be a one hit wonder here in Australia with the lead single from this album, however that single was apparently all the incentive we Aussies needed in checking out the album it came from as it became one of the more successful to come out this decade. I'm guessing this was due to Carole performing the song on Countdown back in the day as from what I can gather, this wasn't a success anywhere else in the world.
#1708
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1707
Although this wasn't their first album, this was the album which made Cold Chisel a household name in Australia likely due to how pub rock was taking over the mainstream in Australia around this time despite this album failing to produce a hit single for them. Their next album would be even bigger and would make them one of the biggest names of the 80's along the likes of Australian crawl and Split enz.
#1706
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1705
Toto began their life as a group of session musicians for other bands and artists before they decided to join the leagues of their clientele by releasing their debut album, it proved to be a worthy decision as this album was a huge success for them worldwide. They did struggle to retain their popularity with their next two albums; however, they would be back in the spotlight with their Grammy winning fourth album.
#1704
This was released at the tail end of the 70's to commemorate how far the Brothers Gibb had come from their previous greatest hits album from a decade prior, they made a habit of doing this once a decade as they would release another greatest hits package in 1990 despite not having much success in the 80's.
#1703
Jimmy Barnes was one of the biggest Australian artists of the decade, so why not have Ian Moss join the elite ranks as he was a contributing factor as to why Cold Chisel were a big deal in Australia? Here he is with his debut album which was a huge success for him thanks to the lead single, however it was a short-lived victory as his subsequent albums from the 90's failed to find any success.
#1702
City of angels is an American remake of a film known as Wings of desire, a French film from the 70's about a fallen angel falling in love with a mortal woman and the conundrum that ensues from there. It's an admirable remake of a foreign film, although like most Hollywood remakes it removes the cultural identity of the original to appeal to a more mainstream audience. At least the soundtrack was a huge success.
#1701
This was the biggest success that Rickie Lee Jones had in Australia, this was largely due to the lead single becoming a huge international success for her at a time where adult contemporary was competing with disco. She did have some minor success throughout the following decade, although she would never again reach the dizzying heights of her debut.
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