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.
#1100
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1099
For whatever reason, we Aussies passed up on making the singles from this album genuine hits despite how inescapable they were throughout the rest of the world, this is weird because Paul didn't have any issues with finding success with his singles on his earlier albums both solo and with Art.
#1098
It had been a long while since Phil Collins troubled the charts here in Australia and an even longer while since he did so as a solo artist, however like many successful greatest hits packages this decade, he was able to find success with this album which I'm sure gave him great solace in knowing that his fans enjoyed his back catalogue from when he was scoring hit singles worldwide.
#1097
This almost didn't find any success outside of the duo's native Sweden, in fact it took a foreign exchange student requesting an American radio station to play this on the radio for it to finally see success internationally. Roxette are one of my favourite bands of all time, so this was a huge victory in my eyes, and indeed the general public agreed with this assessment as the album spawned four huge hits worldwide.
#1096
I wonder how many people were able to predict that this album would be a huge success for Human nature in the lead up to its release, I say this because none of the advanced singles managed to find much of an audience for them and yet it was when they released the album that "Wishes" became a genuine hit for them. I'm guessing this albums success was what led to the Backstreet boys being inescapable here a year after its release.
#1095
While most people will be familiar with Kelly Marie for her disco hit "Feels like I'm in love," this was her biggest hit in Australia a year prior which I feel is a much better song as I feel she has better vocals on here. It appears the general public of Australia agreed as this was twice as successful as her big international hit here.
#1094
Although he remains one of the most iconic singer/songwriters of all time, Neil Young didn't have that much success in Australia back in the day save for the occasional solo album as well as his magnum opus with Crosby Stills Nash and Young at the start of the decade. This would be a close second to his biggest album here after Deja vu from 1971, allowing him to bookmark both sides of the 70's with a successful album.
#1093
This is the debut album from Black sabbath, the fact these guys did so well off their first attempt here in Australia should tell you just how hungry we Aussies were for music that wasn't affiliated with hippy culture as the 60's became the 70's.
#1092
It took him four albums and naming one of them after something besides himself, however Peter Gabriel finally managed to find success on his own worldwide around the time his former band was scoring the biggest success in their own career. While this wasn't as successful as Invisible touch from Genesis, it was more critically acclaimed which is the perfect way to describe both acts respective careers.
#1091
Even though they haven't had a hit in most parts of the world since the live version of "Nights in white satin," the Moody blues were able to find success with their albums well into the 80's with this perhaps being their most successful since they reformed in 1977. Their popularity wouldn't rise to this success again, although they've been releasing new material ever since.
#1090
It had been seven years since Tracy Chapman last troubled the charts with one of her albums, so to see her back in the spotlight with her fourth album was a bit of a welcomed surprise for audiences around this time. Although this comeback was short lived as Tracy unfortunately failed to capitalise off of its success, it's nonetheless one of the more heartwarming stories of perseverance.
#1089
It took a while for these guys to find an audience with their debut album Yourself or someone like you, however once they did, they managed to achieve one of the biggest albums of the decade with how much radio latched onto their songs. This was the only song from the album to have that airplay translate to sales here in Australia, although admittedly even in their native America they didn't sell any copies of their singles because they weren't released as singles there.
#1088
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1087
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1086
For the longest time, this was the only album from an aboriginal artist to find success here in Australia, in recent years Jessica Mauboy has found success with her albums but she only started doing so in the late 00's. Indeed, this album struggled to become a best seller initially due to audiences missing the point of its lead single, however it eventually won people over when it spawned another hit for the band.
#1085
This was the first greatest hits package that Elton John released with this exact title, in fact when he released the second album with this title exactly a decade later, he had to clarify which one was which by giving them distinctly different album art to help audiences tell them apart. Naturally this wasn't as successful given that it was released during the period where he wasn't working with Bernie Taupin.
#1084
This is the final successful album to come from Pete Murray, at least it was a hit upon immediate release as it was unfortunately unable to spawn a massive hit like his previous two albums from earlier in the decade. Like many artists on this list, he's continued to try and recreate the success of what he achieved this decade to minimal results in the 2010's.
#1083
After two highly successful nu metal albums under their belt, Linkin Park decided to expand on their sound with their third album which led to it not quite being as successful as their earlier efforts as it did alienate some of their fanbase, however it retained enough of them for it to still be a massive success for them. They would continue to experiment with their sound throughout the 2010's to mixed (and in one case fatal) results.
#1082
You'd think this would be the album where Gene Simmons and company would you know, unmask themselves. That wouldn't come until much later in their discography as this was simply a continuation of their previous album where they appealed to a more mainstream audience with their pop friendly rock tracks. This was their last successful album in most parts of the world, as such they were spared from the sight of seeing what these guys looked like without the makeup on.
#1081
It took a while for this debut album from the Killers to make it big here in Australia as was the case throughout the rest of the world, however once it did crossover, it proved to be inescapable thanks to how anthemic each of the tracks remain to this day as well as the band being critically acclaimed even compared to all of the other alternative rock that was coming out during the midpoint of the decade.
#1080
Il Divo was another group that didn't show signs of slowing down during the midpoint of the decade as they released their second album to massive success, indeed they went on to have uninterrupted success for the remainder of the decade even if each album they released proved to be less successful than the last.
#1079
This was another song whose popularity was a bit late in Australia, mainly because by the time it was released as a single here, it was already one of the biggest hits of the decade over in NZ for the Dutch trio Pussycat. This resulted in them being one of the more popular acts over there whilst the remained a one hit wonder here.
#1078
The last time anyone had heard from Matthew Wilder was with his version of this track from thirteen years prior, now all the sudden he was a well-respected producer for the likes of P Diddy and No doubt which would explain the popularity of this cover from Danish group Unique II. I have to say that the woman singing on this track is a far better vocalist than Wilder, yes, his lyrics are poignant, but he always sounded weird to me.
#1077
Given how inescapable the second advanced single was from their earlier entry was, this second album from the Prodigy managed to finally become a success here in Australia three years after its initial release in order to help hype up their third album. I'm not sure why their first two albums initially flopped here as industrial rock while not the most successful genre of the decade did have its fanbase here.
#1076
Hole is best known for their frontwoman Courtney Love and her relationship with her husband Kurt Cobain, I'm not going to repeat any of the conspiracies surrounding her on this site but suffice to say she's had a bad reputation in the music industry for several decades at this point. Here she scores her band's biggest album as they went in a more pop friendly direction compared to their earlier work.
#1075
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1074
Following the success of both their first film Stop making sense and their most recent album Little creatures, Talking heads decided to allow lead singer David Byrne to direct a proper film which wasn't well received at the time from what I can gather. It's gained a cult following over the years likely from audiences who bought the soundtrack from the band back in the day.
#1073
This was the final album to be released during the lifetime of Maurice Gibb given how he would tragically pass away in 2003 which left the brothers Gibb as a duet until the death of Robin a decade later. It was a greatest hits package which overlooked their entire discography, meaning fans could see how they evolved over the years and not just a specific point in their catalogue.
#1072
There were no signs of Foo Fighters slowing down exiting the decade here in Australia, so much so that they were one of the few rock bands to retain their popularity throughout the 2010's largely thanks to the success of this greatest hits package they released as the 00's was coming to an end.
#1071
This seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy as this will be the last time I feature a studio album from John Farnham on this site, in fact aside from a concert with Tom Jones and a greatest hits album, he didn't have much more success in his career after this which admittedly is impressive given how long he's been active in the music industry.
#1070
Folk music is another format that benefitted on our digital charts during the second half of the decade, as such it's little surprise that this one and only hit from Plain white T's managed to be even more successful on that format than it was on our main charts and indeed our physical charts back in the day.
#1069
It looked like that the Game would only produce one hit single for Queen, that changed when the band released this as the albums fourth single which thanks to its funky bassline, was able to become their second consecutive chart topper on Billboard as well as a massive hit throughout the rest of the world.
#1068
Even though this only peaked at number five on the Australian charts, the fact that this managed to linger on our charts for 64 weeks (mainly due to the B-side "Pink Cadillac" being promoted on radio) ensured that this would be the second-best charting single of the decade according to David Kent, I ranked it a bit lower as I tend to not take into account stats from the lower half of the charts.
#1067
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1066
Although this French band did have success throughout Europe throughout the decade, it wasn't until the lead single from this album became a surprise hit in English speaking countries that they were able to find an audience here in Australia. For some reason, I thought these guys were Mexican, I guess that's me revealing my ignorance towards European culture.
#1065
This is another album that saw most of its success in the following decade (this fact didn't impact its ranking on this list) even so it was an instant hit upon its initial release thanks to the big names that David Guetta managed to convince to collaborate with him, making this feel like more of a compilation album than a studio release.
#1064
This was released ten years after the band's magnum opus Diesel and dust, presumably to remind audiences of their back catalogue as the band's popularity had been in sharp decline since their 1993 effort Earth sun and moon. The album proved to be a massive success for them, proving that their fans had simple grown tired of their newer music and still had plenty of love for their older music.
#1063
Whereas most of his contemporaries from the 80's had struggled for mainstream relevancy by this point in the decade, John Farnham continued to thrive thanks to him adapting with the change in sound that adult contemporary was shifting towards at the time. This led to him having success well into the new millennium which is something even some of the biggest artists of the 90's was unable to do.
#1062
It looked like that Madonna had officially won the battle over Cyndi as the pop princess of the 80's, although Cyndi did put up a valiant fight with her sophomore album as it was a huge success for her back in the day. Alas it didn't spawn multiple hit singles from it like her previous album did, and it also showed a more mature side of her which is perhaps why she lost her battle with Madonna this decade.
#1061
This was the only notable success that Bob Marley managed to achieve during his lifetime in Australia, although I guess we should be thankful that at least one of his albums was a commercial success here as opposed to America where he never even charted on the Billboard charts. I guess this album's success was a bit confusing considering how reggae music never seemed to be that popular here in Australia.
#1060
We have another greatest hits package from the fab four to make it big in history, this did come on the twentieth anniversary of John Lennon's death so perhaps this was more a celebration of his legacy than anything else.
#1059
There was apparently a highly popular TV series known as Tour of duty which aired for three seasons in the late 80's, I'm guessing this was meant to be a more serious version of M.A.S.H that was set in the Vietnam war instead of the Koreon war. The show produced three soundtracks with the first soundtrack being a huge success here in Australia likely due to how many beloved 60's tracks appeared on the album.
#1058
We Aussies really wanted to hear Christina Aguilera take on the music from the first half of the twentieth century, at least we did when it came to radio airplay and digital sales given how both eclipsed how well this did with its physical sales back in the day.
#1057
Sweet were on a roll when they released this cover of a rockabilly track from the early 60's, after all glam rock was at the height of its popularity this year no thanks to Countdown promoting the genre on TV over the likes of all the easy listening that these guys had to compete with during the first half of the decade.
#1056
Although this wasn't the lead single to Icehouse's biggest album Man of colours, it was their biggest hit both in Australia and NZ as well as their one big hit over in America due to how big it was in both countries in the southern hemisphere. I guess it's their best song even though on a technical level, their work from Primitive man from five years prior is better.
#1055
It seems rather curious that Kim Wilde wasn't even aware of the original version of this track from the Supremes at first, admittedly it is shocking to know that Diana Ross and company didn't receive much love in the mainstream outside of America back in the day. Kim's version of this track about making a clean getaway from someone fooling around with the narrator's heart managed to equal the success the original version had two decades prior in America where it topped the Billboard charts.
#1054
The last time Steve Winwood had any notable success in Australia was with his bands Spencer Davis group, Traffic and Blind faith, all of which happened over a decade prior to him finding success with this solo album. I'm not even sure how this managed to become so popular other than it connecting with an audience organically as it's not like he was in the news that often outside of his music.
#1053
This was the first successful album that Fall out boy had here in Australia, mainly because their previous efforts went largely unheard of internationally, although their later efforts saw a decline in quality that even their fans couldn't abide by. Still at least they had a massive hit with this effort largely thanks to the digital charts finally exposing these guys to a wider audience.
#1052
This was the second live album that the Aztecs released within a year, whereas they didn't specify where their other entry was performed, here they make it clear it was at Sunbury theatre in Melbourne which proved to be fruitless as it didn't affect its popularity overall.
#1051
Perhaps the first film to feature a trans character and treat them with any sense of dignity and respect, we have this distinctly Australian film that managed to become a huge success everywhere in the world except for America because anything that isn't filtered by Hollywood doesn't tend to do well over there. The soundtrack was a predictable hit worldwide due to the film recontextualising many of the tracks as queer anthems throughout its runtime.
#1050
Due to the success of a mashup which combines three of the best tracks from the film, the soundtrack to this cult classic managed to become a success all over again at the start of the decade several years prior to it becoming a hit once more to commemorate the films 20th anniversary.
#1049
It's as if no time had passed between this album and its predecessor despite the fact that it had been over fifteen years since the first installment of this franchise from both men involved. Here we have an album that technically came out twelve years prior when Jim Steinman released his one and only album Bad for good which contains a few tracks on here as well as several tracks that were meant for this album, needless to say Meat loaf does these tracks better than he ever could.
#1048
Given how every other song that appeared on this list and the one for the 2010's from BEP was equally as popular on the digital charts as they were on the main charts, it's little surprise that this third single from the E.N.D would follow suit in this regard.
#1047
This song would be higher on this list if ARIA incorporated their digital charts at the start of 2006 rather than in April of that year, as such, I can't say how much bigger it was during the first stretch of the year on that format given how there's no data that exists which can tell me.
#1046
This was the only song to ever be released under this pseudonym, I'm not even exaggerating here, the French trio Stardust only ever released this one song before going their separate ways onto other projects. As EDM was the genre of choice in Australia, this was of course a massive success here regardless of who was responsible for its existence.
#1045
This was the other big hit that Kings of Leon had from their album Only by the night, it was also their one and only hit in their native America albeit months after it was a success internationally for the alternative band. I'm not sure why they weren't able to retain their popularity going into the new decade even in places like Australia where rock music still has its place in the mainstream.
#1044
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1043
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1042
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1041
Although their debut single was a huge success for them, it was this second single from 1927 which made them a household name and allowed their album ....Ish to become a huge success just as the decade was beginning to wind down. They were pipped for great things going into the 90's, however their second album was a huge commercial failure for them much like it was for Icehouse.
#1040
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1039
This is where it all began for Lady Gaga, given how she would explode in the music scene with how quirky and some would say bizarre her music and especially videos would get, this debut of hers seems rather tame and ordinary compared to what was to come. This took its sweet time in finding success in her native America as her earlier entry had already topped the charts worldwide before this made it on Billboard.
#1038
This is another (in my opinion) inferior cover of a more popular track released internationally at this time, at least the original was a hit here in Australia (stay tuned for it later down this list) even if this was by far the more popular version among us Aussies back in the day. The comes from the pop diva Liv Maessen who scored another minor hit with her rendition of Anne Murray's "Snowbird" (which won't be appearing on this list.)
#1037
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1036
This was one of only three hits that Jordin Sparks had here in Australia, although here she required the assistance of Chris Brown of all people to have a huge hit despite her already being successful with her victory single from American idol here (which is still to come on this list.) She was one of the rare contestants on American idol to find international success among the likes of Kelly Clarkson and Adam Lambert.
#1035
To think there was a time where this ballad wasn't a meme and instead a genuine hit single for Vanessa Carlton, nowadays it's become a meme due to it being ridiculed in the film White chicks and people struggling to take it seriously since that movie came out. I guess this is why there haven't been a lot of heartfelt piano ballads from female singer/songwriters to make it big in recent years which is a shame.
#1034
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1033
This is the last hit that Jessica Simpson had in her career, mainly because this cover of the Nancy Sinatra classic serves as the theme song to the theatrical adaptation of the Dukes of hazard which was a critical failure due to its outdated depictions of the redneck culture. She happens to star in the film as Daisy Duke which earned her a Razzie for worst actress due to how bad her performance was.
#1032
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1031
There were no signs of the Black-Eyed Peas slowing down exiting the 00's as this was their third huge hit in a row in most parts of the world, it's also considered to be one of their best songs as it's mostly a tender duet between Fergie and the other members as opposed to her being snarky towards them on their other tracks where she was the focal point of the group.
#1030
From what I can gather, this is an album released exclusively here in Australia and NZ, meaning that we have another greatest hits package from the Carpenters to feature on this site of mine that wasn't released in the northern hemisphere.
#1029
While I am aware that this greatest hits package from Queen might very well be the most successful album of all time in Australia, I'm ranking these albums based on how well they did on their original chart run and not their overall success. This is so that I don't have to keep updating these lists whenever an album becomes popular again. That said, this album was a success during its initial release thanks to how popular the band was.
#1028
I guess you can say that this album took its sweet time in finding an audience in the mainstream, except this was released when Silk degrees had finally gotten itself off the ground and thus had to compete with that album to find an audience worldwide. Both of these albums were highly successful and firmly put Boz Scaggs on the map in the music scene.
#1027
This was a huge success for Abba, although it was a given seeing as though they were on top of the world during the midpoint of the decade. Unfortunately for them, audience quickly grew tired of them as while their subsequent releases were successful, none of them reached the dizzying heights of this and their previous album.
#1026
It does amuse me that this guy is a one hit wonder in America given how inescapably popular he was for the remainder of the 00's internationally, this was his second hit from his debut album which proved to be as successful as hit one and only Billboard hit here in Australia. People have made jokes about how much of a wimp he is on record, however it's worth noting that he's a former Captain in the British army.
#1025
It looked like Beyonce's second solo album would be a huge flop for her worldwide given how the singles on the standard edition failed to become hits for her, she obviously had other plans as this bonus track from the deluxe edition managed to become a huge hit for her which restored the popularity of the album shortly after its release. The song is best known for the lines "to the left to the left" which she repeats throughout the track.
#1024
This was the second single from Prince's Diamonds and pearls album, although given how it was the runaway success from the album, you'd be forgiven into thinking it was the lead single. I don't think he's ever sounded hornier on any other track than he does on here, which is perhaps why this remains his most successful single even if it's not one of his more iconic.
#1023
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1022
This was the first solo hit that MJ had as an adult anywhere in the world (his first solo hit overall was with "Rocking robin" from earlier in the decade) it's also the first hit of his to feature Quincy Jones as his executive producer which resulted in some of his finest work both solo and with his family. Despite it clearly being a disco track, it still remains one of his more fondly remembered songs to this day.
#1021
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1020
Elton John had success prior to this Billboard chart topper, however it was when he released this track that he went from just another blues singer to a household name due to how inescapable it was back in the day for him. It likely owes part of its success to it feeling right at home with the glam rock genre which had exploded in popularity around the time of its release.
#1019
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1018
Billy Shake AKA William Shakespeare was one of the few Australian singers to score a hit here during the first half of the decade, I guess his brand of glam rock couldn't be ignored here even without a popular TV program to promote his music. I guess if you wanted to hear something akin to Gary Glitter but find the man to be too problematic, this guy is your best bet as he never had any such controversies to his name.
#1017
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1016
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1015
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1014
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1013
These guys were on a roll this decade as this was the third successful album they had despite the singles not being as popular as their previous entries (even though it finally spawned them a genuine hit thanks to the digital charts.) Their popularity would continue till the end of the decade where they would release their final album before going their separate ways in the 2010's.
#1012
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1011
There was a lot of hype going into the debut album for Kylie Minogue, that hype was effortlessly met when she released it as it became a huge success for her even with it already having three chart toppers here in Australia. It was an even bigger hit in NZ and the UK, likely due to the singles not being as big in the former and her popularity on Neighbours with the latter.
#1010
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1009
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1008
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1007
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1006
I have no idea why this signature track from the Rocky horror picture show became a hit five years after the success of the theatrical adaptation, I'm guessing it was due to the scene in Fame where the characters referenced the scene that this song takes place in the film which reminded us Aussies about how awesome the song was. It became one of the biggest hits of the decade as a result, and to be fair it's not the only time and older album found success much later here than it did internationally.
#1005
This was the only big hit to come from the Italian DJ Spiller, although the song is better known for having British model turned singer Sophie Ellis Bextor on vocals who would go on to have massive success with her own album later in the decade. I'm not sure why this was Spiller's only hit given how much success Sophie would have, perhaps it was seen as a novelty track at the time.
#1004
Let it be known that age has never been anything but a number when it comes to the music scene, how else do you explain this ragtime tracks success given that it was created by musicians who were each pushing seventy when it was released as a single? Naturally this is a song that was a success when it was due to nostalgia of a simpler time from the first half of the twentieth century.
#1003
I always thought this was a 90's track, although admittedly there was an inferior cover made a decade after this song came out that I do vaguely remember so maybe that's why I thought this was released later than it was despite the obvious usage of synths on the track. Something I'm sure most people don't realise about this track is that it's a breakup song, I'm guessing because of how repetitive it is without spelling out the moral of the track.
#1002
Simon and Garfunkel were another band who broke up at the start of the decade despite starting the 70's on a strong note, in this case it was with the title track from their final album which indeed was a massive hit for the folk duo worldwide. Curiously, Art would find more success in the 70's despite Paul finding more success on his own in the long run.
#1001
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
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