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.
#1900
This is a song many people like to label as problematic due to all of the ladies Lou Bega mentions throughout the song, personally I feel that this song is too harmless to find any offense with as the charisma and catchiness of the production more than make up for any problematic nature of the lyrics here.
#1899
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1898
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1897
This was the theme to Eminem's autobiographical film about his rise to the height of his popularity, it was released during the album cycle of his biggest and (in my opinion) best album the Eminem show where it dominated the charts worldwide due to how big it became in the rap scene. It was also the first hip hop number to win an academy award due to how it resonated with audiences back in the day.
#1896
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1895
This was the album which introduced the world to Katy Perry, an artist that would become very divisive upon its initial release for a multitude of reasons that I won't list on here as few if any of them paint her in a positive light. Instead, I'll bring up why it was successful as though it does have its songs that even back then were meant to be seen as offensive, the rest of the album is a harmless pop jam that was adored by the general public.
#1894
This was a flop for Peter Allen when it was released the previous year, I'm guessing the news of him coming out as gay following his divorce from Liza Minelli initially put us Aussies off from his brand of lounge music on this album. We were fortunately won over this year when he scored a huge hit with the album's second single, so much so the album and its lead single became a huge success this year for him.
#1893
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1892
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1891
There was no stopping Gary Glitter during the first half of the decade given how this was a huge hit from his second album Touch me despite failing to reach out top ten (the highest entry on this list to do so.) It's easy to see how he made it big in the glam scene given how energetic he is on record; let alone the energy he displayed on stage when performing these tracks.
#1890
This was the first album that Dr Hook released by reinventing themselves as a country band given how their earlier material as a comedy rock band wasn't finding much of an audience outside of their big hit "Sylvia's mother" (and also "Cover of a rolling stone" depending on where in the world you're from.) It was a big hit here in Australia that should be higher on this list but isn't due to being a bit of a sleeper hit with its success.
#1889
For many years, this was Leonard Cohen's only successful album here in Australia given how the singer/songwriter never saw that much mainstream success throughout his career. He eventually found success with his final album in 2016 even if it was through sentimentality.
#1888
When word got out for when the Beach boys would be releasing a new album, fans became excited despite the mediocre reception of their previous album Still cruising from the start of the decade. They rediscovered their back catalogue with this greatest hits album in preparation for the new album, said album was Summer in paradise which is considered to be their worst album.
#1887
This is a double album that actually consists of two solo albums from Big Boi and Andre 3000, a concept that I don't think has ever been done in hip hop which is perhaps how it managed to win album of the year at the Grammys due to how unique it remains to this day. Whilst Big Boi's album remains the critical darling from the project, the success of this project came from Andre's album given that's what spawned all but one of the singles.
#1886
Given how Stevie Wonder was one of the hottest names in music during the first half of the decade, it only makes sense that his greatest hits package would be a massive success here in Australia even if it became a success twice during its run down under for some reason.
#1885
There was plenty of hype going into this debut album from Kids in the kitchen, so much so that they released an E.P's worth of advanced singles before it finally dropped this year where it was of course a massive success for them. It appears this marketing strategy was what made this album a success as their next album had a more conventional release which resulted in it being a huge flop for the band.
#1884
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1883
This is often considered to be the magnum opus from Enya's discography, although it wasn't her most successful album as that honour goes to her next album she released later in the decade. This confirmed the new age trend to be legitimate as there were a ton of albums in this vein to make it big throughout the 90's.
#1882
While this was mostly a sleeper hit even on our digital charts, the fact that it has a much more respectable placement on this list compared to my hypothetical physical list should tell you how much we Aussies loved Evermore on our digital storefront as opposed to their physical media.
#1881
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1880
It looked like the album cycle for J-Lo's debut album was finished when "Feeling so good" underperformed on the charts from the start of the year, however it looks like she had other ideas as she released this fourth single from the album which became a massive success here in Australia likely due to the Latin craze still being strong in our music scene. I'm not sure what took her so long to release this track as this felt like a natural single from the start.
#1879
This was the last album that Bette Midler had any success with throughout her career, although she would release a greatest hits package later in the decade to bookmark her music career so that she could focus on her acting career again. The album is infamous for its lead single which while a pretty ballad on the surface, has some rather disturbing undertones when it comes to religion in response to Madonna's Like a prayer album.
#1878
They may have lost out to Coldplay as the British band of the 00's, however Travis was primed to claim that prize entering the decade when their second album became a huge success worldwide thanks to having similar qualities that their English counterpart would have with their own material later in the decade. If nothing else, the Scottish band did make a huge splash here in Australia with this effort.
#1877
I'm not sure if there's a version of this song without Will.I.Am's involvement, however even if there was, it it's obvious that this song was far less popular as a digital single here in Australia than it was as a physical release back in the day.
#1876
I'm a bit surprised this wasn't even higher on this list given how the likes of Fall out boy and especially Panic! at the disco saw a massive improvement on this list with their entries, still the fact this was more of a genuine hit on our digital charts for My chemical romance does prove where the bulk of their fanbase came from in our music scene.
#1875
This was supposed to come out the previous year for the Spice girls here in Australia like it did in NZ and throughout Europe, I don't know why it was delayed as it ended up being a huge success once it was released here but that's what happened back in the day. This is one of the more recognisable tracks from their catalogue, again likely due to how catchy it is and how it expands on their theme of friendship.
#1874
Natalie was certainly on a roll this year as she was able to find massive success with the second single from her album Left of the middle, this has a much more abrasive tone to her earlier entry which was a sign that she was channelling her inner angst in a way that was very common from around this time. While she didn't have any more hit singles here, she did find success internationally with her subsequent albums.
#1873
Oh, wow does Muhammad Ali deserve so much more than to have this song be affiliated with him. This was an obvious cash in from Johnny Wakelin who released this track months after the boxer scored a massive victory against the formerly undefeated George Foreman which incidentally had him compared to the comic book hero due to how much of an inspiration he was worldwide. If you can believe it, this guy scored a second hit in his home country with "In Zaire."
#1872
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1871
Rita Coolidge is best known as the ex-wife of Kris Kristofferson, I thought I'd bring that up considering her success came during her marriage with the singer/songwriter/actor. Here she scored her biggest success thanks to her cover of the Jackie Wilson classic that still divides audiences to this day.
#1870
Given the surprise success of their hit single which they named after this album, the Royal philharmonic orchestra (that is, the REAL orchestra that's been around for decades at this point) released this album which contained other mashups of classical music that became a surprise success for them in the mainstream worldwide. They were relegated to novelty status in the music industry until recent years where they started making classical renditions of artists discographies.
#1869
This was the only successful album Gloria Gaynor was able to achieve here in Australia, I'm guessing this was due to her losing the disco crown to Donna Summer who so more success as the decade went on with her disco records. Even so, this wouldn't be the last time we hear from the fellow disco singer of colour as she would return by the end of the decade with her classic "I will survive."
#1868
Hush was another Australian band that were able to see success even without the assistance of Countdown back in the day, in fact this album was a genuine success here as opposed to their follow up which flopped in exchange for the singles being massive hits thanks to Countdown promoting them. Their legacy was sadly limited to these two albums due to glam rock losing its popularity as the decade went on.
#1867
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1866
While it wasn't a flop by any means, this second album from Avril Lavigne did unfortunately underperform partially due to audiences feeling it was more of the same from her debut album (which I disagree with) but mainly due to Sony tampering with its release schedule here in Australia to allow Australian idol to rule over our charts this year. These two factors led to her going in a different direction with her third album.
#1865
The last time Joe Cocker troubled the charts was five years prior with his album Unchain my heart and its title track, so I'm guessing this greatest hits album (which would have its name taken from Sony's lucrative Essential collections in the 00's) was meant to help audiences rediscover his catalogue which they of course did around this time.
#1864
This is another song that had more than one entry on our digital charts back in the day, meaning that once again we have a song that should be much higher on this list but wasn't due to ARIA's strange decision in not bundling all versions of a song into one entry on their digital charts back in the day.
#1863
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1862
This was the second of only three hits that Ne-yo managed to achieve here in Australia, likely because of how catchy the song is compared to most of his other tracks which were RNB ballads. He of course had much more success over in NZ and especially his native America, and to be fair he did have other hits here as a featured artist for the likes of Pitbull and Rihanna.
#1861
Given how he had two massive albums from earlier in the decade as well as a bunch of hits with some of the biggest names of the decade, it only makes sense that Santana would release a greatest hits album which collects all of the biggest collaborations he had with decade given how he was arguably bigger now than what he was back in his heyday in the 70's.
#1860
This was the first album to be released from Van Halen that had Sammy Hagar on lead vocals, this was due to their original front man David Lee Roth getting fired from the band due to creative differences he had with the other band mates. While this drama no doubt fueled the success of this album, it didn't do the rest of their catalogue any favours as the band would never again reach the success of this period.
#1859
Even though his debut album won album of the year at the Grammys, George Michael felt that he was little more than a shallow pop star which can only truthfully be said about his time with Wham as Faith did have some introspective tracks that resonated with more mature audiences. In any case, that was the premise for his first volume of Listen without prejudice which true to its title, is a song by a pop star looking to be taken more seriously in the music scene.
#1858
True to its title, this is indeed a live album recorded at the Who's show at Leeds during their Tommy tour, I guess if nothing else, this was the album which led to the success of the Tommy album even if I'm not sure if that album was a success or not here in Australia.
#1857
This was the only notable success from Big pig, a British based Australian band who initially gained buzz two years earlier with their self-titled E.P which led to this being a huge success for them. I'm guessing this was a success due to the music fitting in with the dance scene that was emerging this year, it would certainly explain why their second album flopped in the new decade and lead to them breaking up.
#1856
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1855
I'm not sure how this took off here in Australia given how their fellow kiwis largely ignored them throughout the 60's, however once it did, the band moved over here to Australia where they admittedly took their sweet time releasing a follow up which came out in the midpoint of the decade.
#1854
This is the final album that Slade found any success with here in Australia, it came close to appearing on my 1974 list but dropped off just before the AMR charts officially launched that year. It doesn’t seem rather convenient these guys lost their popularity right as David Kent began tracking popular music down under.
#1853
This was the debut album from the Pretenders and one that opened up many doors for bands just like them as we hadn't seen many male bands with a female vocalist see success prior to them breaking through with this album. This was popular enough to even crossover to America which was another rare feat for a band who broke through prior to the rise of MTV this decade.
#1852
We've look at the Jason Donovan version of this ballad, time to look at Bobby Vinton's take on the Brian Hyland track from a decade prior which proved to be quite popular for the aging (former) teen pop crooner from the 50's. Bobby did have a massive hit a decade prior with "Roses are red" which many consider to be one of the worst songs of the 60's due to its cheesy lyrics.
#1851
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1850
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1849
One of the bigger success stories to come from Countdown in terms of international artists was that of Leif Garrett, specifically how he managed to find massive success with this album despite it being a huge failure in his native America. His next album would be a success on Billboard; however, it would also lead the teen idol to develop a drug addiction which put a halt on his music career indefinitely.
#1848
It appears that these guys picked up where they left off eight years prior as they managed to score instant success with this album following a five-year hiatus due to the polarising reception of their previous album These days. It may have brought them back to the mainstream; however, it was merely temporary as aside from a hit with "Have a nice day" later in the decade, this would be the last they trouble our charts.
#1847
Although he didn't have much success with his singles here in Australia, Leon Russell nonetheless scored massive success with his albums with this one being the biggest of the bunch. From what I can gather he had a bit of a Jesus complex with his imagery which seemed to work out for his audience.
#1846
KD Lang was on a roll by this point of her career as she managed to score yet another successful album that connected with her audience, she really did carry the torch for LGBT singer/songwriters this decade as her ballads connected with women who felt they weren't fitting into the conventions of the day.
#1845
This is an album that was a success upon its initial release due to it being the follow-up to the band's breakthrough album Hold on to me, however it became a success again due to a successful tour that the band went on to promote their album. Unfortunately, this would be the last we'd hear from them as their next album would flop.
#1844
Coldplay were another band to greatly benefit from our digital charts particularly with their fourth album named after this track, as such, this is the best proof I have that like Matchbox 20 and Silverchair, they were far more popular with their singles during the first half of the decade than the charts would otherwise suggest.
#1843
If this feels a little low on this list, I should remind my readers then that there is indeed two versions of this song even if it was the version with Snoop Dogg on it that became a success on our digital charts back in the day. Still, this did quite well given how any version of a track was fair game for becoming a success during the chart's infancy.
#1842
As the club boom was beginning to rise in popularity during the final stretch of the decade, it seems natural that it would flourish on the digital charts given how it was seen as the hip and new genre to get into. As such, this collaboration between David Guetta and Kelly Rowland was bound to be more popular on that format than as a physical release.
#1841
This was initially a flop for Tina Charles in Australia, that's a bit strange because she already had success with "I love to love" and with her band 5000 volts prior to this being released as a single. It was fortunately given a second chance here following the international success of its follow up "Dr love" which also needed a second chance in order to find an audience here due to this being promoted when that was released.
#1840
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1839
It seemed like Kelly Rowland would be yesterday's news following the demise of Destiny's child three years prior, although it turns out she was simply biding her time as she knew that releasing her second solo album before or while Beyonce's own album was out would've meant it would be overshadowed by her former band mate. Here she is with the second single from said album which was a massive hit for her.
#1838
Want to hear a Boyz II Men cover of a popular Japanese track from the 60's? Well, you'll sort of get that here as 4PM (short for four positive music) covered the Kyu Sakamoto track "Ue o Muite ArukÅ" which roughly translates to "I walk with my head high." This became a huge success for the RNB group likely due to people confusing them for Boyz II Men during the height of their popularity, although audiences weren't fooled for long.
#1837
It seems weird that BEP wouldn't have any success with their first two albums without Fergie considering that everything they released while she was part of the group was a massive success, this is the latest example which was the fourth and final single from Monkey business which was likely a hit due to the sample of that scene from Pulp fiction (later parodied in Space jam) they used to open the track.
#1836
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1835
There were a lot of songs about jumping around during the early 90's weren't there? Here we have a hit from the Movement which was an American EDM group who scored a surprise hit here in Australia with this track given how EDM generally doesn't do well on the Billboard charts. The lack of success they had back home caused them to give up on music soon after this became a hit here.
#1834
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1833
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1832
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1831
These guys saw minor success in their native UK in the late 80's with their debut album, this success didn't translate to Australia likely due to us being uninterested in British soul at the time. This attitude obviously changed with their third album as there was plenty of British artists finding success with soul music, although it did take a while for this album to peak here despite finding success with the singles.
#1830
Given that this was the soundtrack to the theatrical adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Weber's Evita and that it starred Madonna in the title role, it was going to be a success regardless of if the film was a critical and commercial success or not. Fortunately, the film was both which got the soundtrack to rebound on the charts when the lead single took home the academy award for best song and its second single became a hit.
#1829
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1828
This was a big comeback for Silverchair, mainly because they had been on hiatus for five years so that Daniel Johns could work on his side project with the Dissosiactives which didn't yield much success for him. It was also their final album as they would go their separate ways in 2011 for good, likely to allow Daniel to stretch his creative wings which led to a bunch of unusual projects throughout the 2010's.
#1827
True to the name of the album, this is indeed more of a blues record from the Rolling stones which sadly costed them success with their singles as there didn't seem to be an obvious hit from the album. That didn't stop the album from being a huge success for them as evidence by its appearance on this list.
#1826
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1825
This is the only song from Beyonce to find more success on our digital charts than our main charts, I'm guessing because it was the final single to come from her album I am Sasha fierce which meant that its physical success was slightly hampered due to it coming from an album that was already highly successful by the time it was released.
#1824
Taylor Swift was always going to dominate our charts with this second single from her breakthrough album regardless of which format it was charting in, this is further proof that she was the star of tomorrow once the decade came to an end which of course she effortlessly lived up to throughout the 2010's.
#1823
Here we have another song from Taylor Swift that seems inoffensive enough, sure you can say the lyrics are problematic, however there's been plenty of songs with this premise over the years and I've found that people have taken everything in media way too seriously as of late. It was a massive hit for her likely due to the video which depicts the situation she describes in the lyrics.
#1822
This had a bit of a climb to its success here in Australia, mainly because we Aussies didn't seem to have much love for British artists this decade, although at least we had more love for them than America where they had close to no success on Billboard. Liberty X were the runners up on the first season of Popstars UK, meaning they were more popular here than the winners Hear'say who never charted here.
#1821
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1820
This is a song that I don't have much to say about, or at least I don't have much to say that wouldn't be offensive to my readers as I'm pretty sure this was only a hit through name recognition as well as how it addresses her recent controversies in the media.
#1819
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1818
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1817
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1816
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1815
This was a comedic record that comedian Bob Hudson managed to score a massive hit with back in the day, mainly due to the title track becoming a surprise hit for him here and in NZ as well. I can't say this is a comedy routine as there is a melody to these jokes, however it does feel like it belongs in the realms of Kevin Wilson and the 12th man.
#1814
This was originally released to only minor success here in Australia, likely because no matter how big the singles get, EDM albums usually don't do well on our charts. I guess we eventually made an exception here following the news that Martha Walsh from the Weather girls was the lead singer of the band and not the conventionally attractive woman that appeared on the cover art and in the music videos.
#1813
The panel was a talk show that was quite popular during the late 90's and early 00's, mainly for its musical segment where a popular artist of the moment (usually a guest) would perform on the show (basically it was like the Ellen DeGeneres show only with multiple guests and less behind the scenes drama.) This third instalment from the soundtrack series proved to be quite a success back in the day.
#1812
Michael Bolton was still very much a thing this far into the 90's, although his popularity would dwindle following the success of his greatest hits package later in the decade. Even so, he along with Bryan Adams and Richard Marx are a large reason why male adult contemporary stars get such a bad rep as many people feel their over passionate ballads are too over the top and melodramatic to find any enjoyment out of.
#1811
This album also serves as the soundtrack to the film Dick Tracy, a film that happens to star Madonna as a vaudeville singer which gave her the perfect opportunity to perform a bunch of throwback tunes that appear throughout the album. I can't say if the film is good or not because I haven't seen it yet (I'll update this post once I have) however it's seeming like it'll be campy fun if this soundtrack is anything to go by.
#1810
It's a bit surprising that Rihanna's previous entry wasn't more of a success on our digital charts considering that the second bonus track from Good girl bad was, it still didn't reach the dizzying heights it achieved over in NZ or her native America, however its success was certainly far more admirable there than on our main charts.
#1809
It seems odd that this would be less successful on our digital charts than as a physical release given how this was released slightly sooner than when Leona Lewis saw massive success in this format with her earlier entry on this list, I guess this goes to show just how unpopular Alicia Keys was here in Australia during the peak of her popularity.
#1808
Well, we saw massive success here with the Gipsy kings the previous year, so why not have this track from French group Kaoma find success with their Spanish influenced pop music? I guess you can say that the Latin craze began much earlier than you otherwise thought given how many Latin influenced tracks there were to make it big, however it saw a large dry spell this decade before regaining its popularity.
#1807
This is the final hit single Tina Turner managed to score in Australia, mainly because her theme to her biographical film "I don't wanna fight" was a flop here despite the film being a huge critical and commercial success in 1993. This song has since become her signature tune in Australia given how she performed it with Jimmy Barnes in 1992 and that recording allow this to become a hit again that year.
#1806
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1805
(THIS IS THE ARIA ENTRY)
#1804
It feels weird that this song is Jessica Simpson's biggest hit here in Australia, mainly because it was tied to her reality show the Newlyweds where her and her (then) husband Nick Lachey were filmed in their day to day lives similar to what the Kardashians would be on Keeping up with the Kardashians. It also serves to present her as who she really is which people have criticised for it failing to do.
#1803
Much like Joan Jett from earlier in the decade, these guys had a hard time trying to market their music to a mainstream audience as they were too rock for pop, too sexy for rock and too successful to be alternative. Eventually they threaded the needle in their native UK which allowed them to score a hit with this lead single from their debut album that saw even more success here in Australia likely due to audiences being infatuated with lead singer Wendy James.
#1802
This was originally released as the B-side to "I do I do I do I do I do" the previous year, however it became such a fan favourite from the album that it was given its own release here in Australia and eventually in NZ where it became one of the biggest hits of the year down under. This should give you an idea as to how inescapable Abba was back in the day if a B-side could be one of the biggest hits of a year.
#1801
We had "Computer games" from Mi-sex, now it's time for the music scene to get specific with this song written about the Space invaders phenomenon from the Australian novelty act Player 1 (not to be confused with the soft rock band Player.) Before "Pac man fever" and around the time that arcade classic was launched, this song was making it big down under with a specific arcade unit.
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