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.
#300
So, you know how there's the stereotype of certain types of music being described as elevator music? Well, no artist has that stereotype apply to them more applicably than Kenny G who makes the type of easy listening instrumentals that seem to be tailor made to be played whenever riding an elevator in a fancy building. I guess that would explain the overwhelming success of this album from him.
#299
Following the success of their album One of these nights, the Eagles decided to remind audiences of their earlier work by releasing this greatest hits package which in turn became a huge success for them several months prior to when they released their magnum opus Hotel California. If nothing else, their absence on the Australian singles chart is excused by how inescapable their albums were.
#298
Given how their fourth album didn't do so well, Human nature felt that this was the perfect opportunity to reinvent themselves as the throwback quartet they apparently always wanted to be which proved to be a massive hit for them likely due to their teenage fanbase having grown up with them since their debut from nearly a decade prior. As you can imagine, this is a throwback to the Motown era of soul music.
#297
#296
This was originally released in 1973 to deafening silence for John Denver, presumably because no one really cared about his music upon its initial release. Due the success of his breakthrough album Back home again, the album was given a second chance to shine in the spotlight as fans felt it was a convenient way to check out his back catalogue prior to him becoming famous.
#295
This album had a bit of a delay to its release in Australia for some reason, I'm guessing because we were initially sceptical of these guys taking over the mainstream with their synth driven music only to be won over once their heavily delayed third single became a hit for them here. The real triumph this album had was when it became a huge success over in America thanks to "Don't you want me" topping the Billboard charts.
#294
Following the success of the CSNY album from earlier on this list, Neil Young was able to finally achieve massive success here in Australia with one of his albums in the form of this entry, it would be his only success until much later in the decade.
#293
Although 10-1 remains their most successful album here in Australia, there's a good chance that my non-Australian readers will recognise this album as their signature work as it contains their biggest hit in their catalogue. Continuing with the theme of exploring political topics with their music, here the band stand up for aboriginal rights in Australia which is perhaps why it's often labelled as the greatest Australian album of all time.
#292
There were no signs of Rod Stewart slowing down in the mainstream this decade, even though the launch of Countdown would've swept his type of music away as it permeated the first half of the decade here in Australia, it didn't do any such thing as he continued to thrive along the likes of Queen and Alice Cooper down under.
#291
#290
#289
This was the third album to be released from Roxette and the second album to find massive worldwide success for them. Like many artists who made it big as the 80's was coming to an end, these guys were able to adapt with the changing times which allowed them to thrive when some of their contemporaries struggled to do so, although their popularity came to a halt when they appeared on the Super Mario brother's soundtrack.
#288
This is one of the most successful live albums of all time, that's impressive considering how Peter Frampton didn't have much success prior to this album both solo and with his band Humble pie. It's easy to see how this album won him such a dedicated fanbase given how iconic the live tracks remain to this day.
#287
Boney M was the first band that Frank Farian had success with, although it's the only band where he participated in the vocals as he was the lead singer of the band. This was their biggest success likely due to it spawning not one but two of their biggest hits worldwide, although as they were in the disco genre, their popularity began to dwindle as the decade was coming to an end.
#286
This was the biggest album of Stevie Wonder's career in Australia, it's fitting that his final decent album according to his diehard fans would be the one which finally allowed us Aussies to reward him for his genius music he created throughout the 70's. For what it's worth, he did achieve moderate success here throughout the decade even with Countdown giving us an allergic reaction to funk and soul.
#285
#284
#283
#282
Well, this is an album whose story is so laboured with drama that Tina's official biopic starring Angela Bassett was named after the signature track from the album. There's nothing I can add to the conversation about how this album came to be except that "What's love got to do with it" wasn't the lead single from the album. Instead, it was a cover of an Al Green track that was produced by the members of Heaven 17.
#281
True to its title, this is a live album from Deep purple's tour throughout Japan that impressed western audiences as much as it did those who were present throughout the tour, as such it became a massive success worldwide for the band.
#280
It looked like this third album from Matchbox 20 was going to underperform for them worldwide due to the failure of its lead single, fortunately the second single proved to be a massive hit for them which allowed the album to rebound on the charts and become a massive hit for the band. They would go on hiatus once they were finished promoting it in order to allow Rob Thomas to embark on a solo career.
#279
This was the first album that Pink Floyd released without Roger Waters on lead vocals, let's just say that he was very wrong when he said that the band would crash and burn without him when he left the group earlier in the decade as his solo career tanked around the time this album came out. It turns out that David Gilmour was a great replacement for him once he called it quits.
#278
This seems to be more of a mainstream pivot for Alice Cooper given how there's less of an emphasis for appealing to the edge lords of the 70's and more of a contemporary audience which seemed to pay off for him as this remains his second most successful album in his career (behind School's out of course.) He would continue watering down his music for a more mainstream market as the decade went on.
#277
Before they sold out hard in 1976, Chicago was a well-respected jazz rock band who got their big break with their second album at the very start of the decade, it just goes to show how quickly a band can abandon their roots for the sake of trend chasing.
#276
One of the more dynamic vocalists to come from Australia in the last quarter of the twentieth century was Wendy Matthews, and while she had modest success with her previous album Emigre, this was the album that made her a household name in the mainstream (albeit briefly.) It's a shame her subsequent follow-ups didn't achieve this level of success, or any success for that matter due to the shifting audience's music tastes.
#275
#274
Well, this was the official biggest hit of the decade here in Australia, so there's little surprise that the bulk of its success came from strong digital sales given how it was released when physical sales were rapidly on the decline worldwide.
#273
There were plenty of British new wave making it big this decade, however I don't think many people were expecting this duo to be among the most successful of the bunch given how much of a commercial failure their debut album was. Of course, appealing to an American market with this album likely helped it become one of the most successful albums of its day, that and also not being as morose as their previous effort.
#272
#271
Here's that collaboration album I mentioned a minute ago, it was originally meant to be a solo project from Paul following the sound success of his solo debut but became a collaboration with his wife Linda due to the emotional struggles he was going through at the time of its conception.
#270
#269
For the longest time, this was the best charting song in Australia given how it slowly but surely managed to win over every possible demographic in our music scene during its time in the spotlight. I guess it started off as a fan favourite from the alternative scene before getting massive appeal from the dance floors before finally finding its way into several commercials for more mainstream audiences.
(this is the most successful single of the AMR charts)
#268
Although these guys had been active in the industry for almost a decade by the time they released this album, they didn't achieve much success until they discovered that people had a nostalgia for the surf rock that was popular throughout the 50's and early 60's that they replicated on this album. The band achieved further success with their next album proving that this wasn't a fluke hit for them.
#267
#266
This was the debut album for Toni Childs, another female singer/songwriter who scored massive success around this time albeit only in the southern hemisphere as she bombed both throughout Europe and in her native America with this album. Even though she never found success in the northern hemisphere, she would find success with her next album in Australia and NZ in the 90's.
#265
Perhaps this is the album which made John Denver such a household name during the midpoint of the decade, after all this is a live album that's meant to be intimate for the listener rather than it just being the highlights of a popular concert for audiences to relive. It's a shame that John's popularity would quickly dwindle as the decade went on, likely due to country music in general going out of vogue.
#264
#263
#262
This was originally released at the start of the decade to minimal success, I'm guessing because we Aussies need a better incentive to make an album successful than having a greatest hits package from a long dormant band that claims to remaster their greatest hits. That incentive came three years later when it was released on CD at a time where everything was getting transferred from vinyl to CD.
#261
This was a bit of a sellout for the Corrs given how the band had dialled back on their Celtic influences in order to appeal to a more mainstream market, it worked out for them as they were able to score massive hits with the singles throughout Europe and even over in NZ as this gave them their first hit with the lead single over there. Unfortunately, they would see diminishing returns as the decade went on.
#260
I haven't seen the film, however going by the soundtrack, that's something I need to remedy at some point due to all of the classic 60's rock that it managed to collect to bring to life the setting of being an outlaw from a motorcycle gang.
#259
You don't begin the decade with one of the biggest hits of said decade and not have the album it came from be a massive success for the artist in question, so here's the debut album from Anastacia who indeed managed to prove she was the real deal on here even though it likely came at the expense of it spawning a second hit for her. Indeed, she would find more success with her subsequent material later in the decade.
#258
This is the only album to come from Carole King on this site, it remains her most successful album due to it spawning her biggest hit as well as it being released at a time where female folk rockers were plentiful on the music scene worldwide.
#257
Although they had moderate success earlier in the decade with their debut album, it was the second album from Gorillaz that made them a household name worldwide thanks to their blend of hip hop and alternative rock which helped them find success in America which was uncommon for non-American and Canadian artists this decade. I guess fans got tired of waiting for their third album as Plastic beach was a huge flop for them in 2010.
#256
Even though this album was an initial success thanks to the wacky singles released to promote it, audiences found that there was a more mature side to this Danish band and that they were indeed a band who played their own instruments rather than dancing around to a backing beat like so many other kiddie bands of the day. This resulted in the album being the most successful from an EDM act this decade.
#255
This feels like a return to form for U2 given how they spent all of the 90's experimenting with their sound to varying degrees of success, indeed this feels like something they would've released ten years prior given how well it fits as a follow up to Rattle and hum. This would lead to them having a highly success decade throughout the 00's with their subsequent material, although their popularity wouldn't extend to the 2010's.
#254
Given how he was the lead singer of Powderfinger, it makes sense that Bernard Fanning would achieve massive success with his first solo album during the midpoint of the decade where he and his band were among the most successful names in Australian music. This is a much mellower side of what the band normally offers us which in turn allowed him to distinguish himself from his band with this album.
#253
Given how we looked at an album from just Crosby Stills and Nash on this site already, it was only inevitable that their magnum opus with Neil Young would remain their most popular here in Australia like it was internationally given that it was released at the height of all four men's respective popularities.
#252
(this is the most successful single on the ARIA charts)
#251
From what I can gather, the this is a soundtrack to a film that's based on a book which depicts the struggles of Irish immigrants looking to make it big into the music industry in America. The film must have been a massive success here in Australia (it flopped in America) given how its first soundtrack (yes there was more than one) managed to become one of the biggest of the decade here and spawn a single that permeates on oldies stations to this day.
#250
This was the initial breakthrough that John Denver needed to conquer the mainstream market outside of his native America, although I guess this album's success came when "Annie's song" became a surprise hit for him over in the UK which helped him find an audience in the country scene along the likes of Glenn Campbell and Olivia Newton John.
#249
Even though his music was critically acclaimed even at the time of its initial release, many people complained that Billy Joel was little more than an artist made for the soccer mums of the world. Although they were often proven wrong by his highly diverse fanbase, Billy took this criticism to heart with this album where he expanded his sound to include harder rock which proved to be a huge success for him.
#248
This was the first of what was meant to be a trilogy of albums from the supergroup comprised of George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan. Sadly, due to the passing of Roy Orbison shortly after the album's release, the band cancelled volume two despite how successful this was back in the day. They did eventually release volume three which sadly bombed in 1990 which led to them cancelling this project.
#247
The legends are true people, this was the first of many Soul deep project from Jimmy Barnes, Soul deep being what he refers to his style of music where he attempts to recreate the success of many Motown records from the height of the label's popularity. This side project has achieved massive success over the years which means there's people out there who appreciate this side of his catalogue.
#246
This is the best charting album to come from Silverchair, it wasn't necessarily their biggest album as the album charts were admittedly very shaky during the 00's, however it did stick around for quite a while to earn its high spot on this list. This was the band's final album before they went on a hiatus so that lead singer Daniel Johns could pursue his side project as the Dissosiactives with Australian DJ Paul Mac.
#245
Given how he had a bestselling album under his belt, you'd think that this follow up would have all of its success upon its initial release instead of requiring another runaway hit (albeit on the radio and digital charts) to make it a massive success for Pete Murray. At least it was a hit upon its initial release due to his name recognition as well as folk rock in general being in vogue during the midpoint of the decade.
#244
Although this album would be blasted by the internet if it were released nowadays, this was a huge success for Kevin "bloody" Wilson who made no attempt to hide how politically incorrect this album was (even back then) which nonetheless managed to find a massive audience who were laughing at his character rather than with him. It's certainly not for everyone, however it does tread the line of offensive humour while realising that this language isn't socially acceptable.
#243
So, the Use your illusions era, it's referred to the time where Guns n Roses put out two long albums simultaneously and saw massive success with both of them both as albums and with the singles they released. The second volume proved to be more popular than the first likely due to having the bigger singles on the charts, although volume one did contain the Illusions trilogy which made them iconic.
#242
One of the most quintessential films to come out of the decade was Pulp fiction, and while I can't say that the film is a masterpiece myself (I never cared for Bruce Willis's segment) I will say that it is a fantastic film thanks to the performances from John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson. The soundtrack was also a huge success likely due to all of the 60's classics that appear throughout the film.
#241
This was U2 adapting with the times in order to retain their relevancy in a decade that seemed to want to purge all of the biggest names of yesteryear from the mainstream, this paid off for them as they went the industrial rock route with this album which did alienate a bunch of their older fans but then brought in a bunch of new fans as a payoff. I'm guessing people were initially intrigued with the lead single due to the Edge's presence on it.
#240
These guys had made two albums that achieved no success by the time they released their third album which became a huge success in Australia thanks to it catching the attention of Triple J upon its initial release. I'm guessing the initial appeal of the album was people relating to the loser persona the band adopted for this album, perhaps in response to how much of a failure they felt they were in the mainstream.
#239
Well, I hope David Bowie fans are prepared for what I'm about to say, this sellout album of his not only remains his most successful album in his career, but it's also one of only a select few in his discography to be a huge success for him back in the day. Admittedly pop sellout Bowie still has infinitely more artistic integrity than most mainstream artists so it's not like this was a bad representation of his genius.
#238
This was the biggest album to be released from Australian crawl following the huge splash they made the previous year with their album Boys light up, I'm guessing this was due to the band being huge in the pub rock genre which admittedly is the perfect setting for their music to shine in. The only complaint I and many have for these guys is that while he's a great vocalist, James Reyne really needed to learn how to enunciate in order for us to appreciate his lyrics.
#237
It looked like Dido was going to remain an albums artist given how this also failed to spawn a massive hit for her here in Australia (despite the lead single debuting at number one on our charts.) At least this proved to be equally as successful as her debut album if only because it didn't need to wait on shelves for two years before a rapper found one of the singles and sampled it for their most critically acclaimed song.
#236
Although their previous album Breakfast at sweethearts did put these guys on the map, it was this album which made Cold chisel a household name thanks to the raw vocal delivery of Jimmy Barnes in addition to how catchy their pub rock instrumentation remains to this day. It's a shame that the band would only last a few more years together as their popularity only continued to grow after this albums success.
#235
Even though I'm a decently huge fan of Baz Lurhman's work, I have to say that I've never particularly cared for his adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Something about the way he modernises it whilst saying faithful to the old English dialogue of the play just rubs me the wrong way for some reason. That's not to say I disklike everything about the film, indeed the soundtrack is one of the best to come from the decade thanks to how much shameless fun the tracks are.
#234
Nu metal was quickly becoming one of the most popular genres in the mainstream thanks to its popularity on the American music program TRL (Total request live for non-Americans reading this.) As a result, we have the third album from Korn which proved to be a huge worldwide success due to the campy antics of the band, indeed the music videos were among the flashiest of their time.
#233
So, here's an album from Billy Joel that's often forgotten by anyone who isn't in his diehard fanbase, mainly because this was where he shifted towards adult contemporary rather than the rock sound of his work from earlier in the decade or the piano driven ballads of his 70's output. This didn't prevent the album from being a huge success in Australia, proving that we Aussies were indeed in love with this man's music.
#232
This was the debut album for a band that would eventually name themselves after said album, yes before they were Icehouse, Iva Davis and company were known as Flowers before they were forced to change it to avoid confusion with another band with that name who was also set to make it big internationally (wonder whatever happened to them.) This international interest led to their second album being a moderate success in the UK of all places.
#231
#230
#229
There were no signs of Powderfinger slowing down in the 00's given how this was the second album they released this decade to have overwhelming success thanks to how popular the singles were on the radio, although again, said singles had their success eaten up by digital piracy due to them also underperforming on the charts back in the day (hence their absence on my singles lists.)
#228
Well, I didn't think I'd be including one of Shaggy's albums on this site, however there's little denying that this fifth album form the Jamaican rapper was a massive success here in Australia even if its success was slightly delayed due to his music generally being released much later here than the rest of the world. As with much music delayed this year, it proved to be more successful down under than it was internationally.
#227
With her obligatory sellout record out of the way, Madonna set out to make this album which she dedicated to her (then) husband Sean Penn, makes you wonder how she feels about it nowadays given how that marriage turned out. The album continued her winning streak both critically and commercially thanks to it spawning multiple hit singles which have all stood the test of time save for perhaps the title track.
#226
I bet fans of Genesis were beginning to wonder if Phil's success from his solo career would translate to one of their albums when they released this album a year after No jacket required won album of the year at the Grammys, it turns out that's exactly what happened as while this is more pop friendly compared to their previous work, it's still recognisably a prog album and was a huge success for the trio.
#225
#224
Although he had a hit in the 90's with "My name is," I don't think anyone would've predicted the overwhelming success that Eminem would go on to have this decade which began with this album that brought him to a wider audience thanks to it being slightly more commercially accessible than his earlier work. The album was a success twice here in Australia, once upon its initial release and again with the success of "Stan."
#223
This was where it all began for by far the most successful artist of the decade, although its success here in Australia was a bit lacking compared to what it achieved internationally likely due to Mariah not doing much to distinguish herself on this album like she does on her later material. It reminds me of Whitney's debut album from five years prior where it was more of a showcase for her voice than anything else.
#222
#221
I'm guessing Matchbox 20 titled their greatest hits package this way due to them feeling like they were not welcome in the alternative scene throughout the decade, I guess there are enough scathing reviews of their albums from rock snobs to justify how they would feel this way especially given how inescapably popular they were throughout the decade both as a band and especially with Rob Thomas.
#220
This is the magnum opus to come from Usher given that it not only remains his biggest album to date worldwide, but it also contains some of his most memorable work despite it all being about how he screwed up his relationship with Chilli from TLC. I guess Sony tampering with the singles here in Australia didn't prevent the album from flopping, it didn't boost its sales, but I guess things could've been worse.
#219
The 80's might have ended at the start of the year, however that didn't mean the trends did as evidence by this third solo album from Jimmy Barnes being a huge success for him despite sounding much like his previous efforts from the previous decade. Jimmy did change with the times as the decade went on, although not before he tried his hand at being a Motown artist with his first Soul deep project.
#218
This is where it all began for one of the more divisive pop stars of the new millennium, indeed Britney Spears isn't what you'd call a powerhouse vocalist despite her songs being pop classics for two decades at this point. That said there's a lot more love and respect for her in recent years than there was at the time as people would say some rather heinous things about her that I would rather not repeat on this site.
#217
This was another easy hit for Michael Bublé in Australia back in the day, in fact the album even came back a year after its initial release given how it was released around Mother's Day which people quickly picked up on his biggest fanbase around the world. Naturally the mothers of the world appreciated it when their children gave them a copy of this album as a thank you for being their parent.
#216
This was the first album that Ricky Martin released entirely in English, I'm guessing to cash in off the surprise success he had the previous year with his FIFA world cup performance that became a chart topper for him here in Australia. This greatly benefitted from the Latin craze as the lead single became a Billboard chart topper for him, although his popularity would dwindle going into the new millennium.
#215
This was the magnum opus for Supertramp given how the lead single was a huge hit on Billboard for the prog band upon its initial release, this was also the penultimate album they released that achieved massive success for them worldwide as they sadly struggled to adapt into the MTV era with their subsequent releases.
#214
Following the demise of his previous band Moving pictures, Garry Frost formed a new band in the form of 1927 whose gimmick is that they were a band who time travelled from that year in order to fit in with the times. Admittedly this gimmick is a little far-fetched considering they were riding the success of fellow Australian bands Icehouse and Choirboys with this release, but that didn't stop this album from being a huge success for them.
#213
Well this saw the band go in a different direction to what they were used to, admittedly even the greatest bands have to change their sound or else risk alienating fans in favour of more experimental acts. This paid off in a big way for Mark and company as the album was their most successful at the time of release, in fact it's second only to Brothers in arms as their most successful in their career.
#212
Yikes that is some horrifying album art, no wonder this sat on the shelves for over a year without anyone noticing it because who would want to buy an album with this cover art? Fortunately, the band issued a new cover for the album which allowed it to finally attract attention around the world, this allowed them to find huge success and join the ranks of Bon Jovi and Def Leppard as the kings of hair metal.
#211
It looked like this was going to underperform for Nickelback despite how big the lead single was for them here in Australia upon its initial release, it eventually saw massive success due to the second single becoming a surprise hit here which confirmed the band to be in the same leagues as Limp Bizkit and Creed from earlier in the decade as a band who was massively successful despite a mixed critical reception.
#210
#209
Although their debut album Ten is what many consider to be the peak of Pearl jam's artistic merit, it was actually their sophomore album where they began to become the megastars, we all know them for today. Sure, this didn't have the big hit on here that "Alive" was for their debut (at least in Australia it didn't) however the tradeoff was that the album was a huge success here and even encouraged Ten to linger on the charts throughout the decade.
#208
It seemed like Nelly Furtado's popularity had come to an end when she released her second album Folklore earlier in the decade, I guess people felt it was more of the same from the Canadian singer/songwriter which resulted in its commercial failure. She decided to shake things up with her third album by recruiting Timbaland which saw her sound be more urban which proved to be a massive success for her worldwide.
#207
While it was among the most successful albums of its day internationally, MJ's previous album Bad didn't quite live up to its hype in Australia despite it arguably being better than Thriller on an artistic level. I guess the takeaway he got from it was that the videos weren't as flashy, because the videos to this album are some of the highest budgets to ever come out of a music artist.
#206
#205
Following the demise of the Police, Sting made good on his word by embarking on a solo career which regardless of how you feel about it (he's a good singer but terrible songwriter in my opinion) was off to a great start commercially with this album of his. While he would never again reach the dizzying heights he achieved here or on his earlier work with his band, he remained popular for many years later.
#204
Many consider this to be the final decent album to come from Coldplay given how their fans from the 00's have felt that their 2010's material doesn't hold up to what they released this decade, they're kind of like the British equivalent of Maroon 5 in that regard (right down to me never being a fan of either group.) In any case, this was the album which finally broke them through over in America given how big its title track was.
#203
#202
While Kylie had plenty of success throughout the 90's here in Australia, many people felt this was a return to form given how she was best known for her bubblegum pop that made her famous in the late 80's. It was the album that finally resparked interest for her in America given how successful it was here and throughout Europe for the princess of pop, leading to her next album to finally get her out of the one hit wonder bin on Billboard.
#201
This was the debut album to a girl group whose time in the spotlight was much briefer than you would've otherwise expected, I blame their theatrical film which tried to showcase the girls as credible actors and didn't achieve this goal throughout its runtime. At least the music is still well loved and remembered to this day even though it went through a rough patch of being declared some of the worst songs of all time (thanks alternative scene.)
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