Top 10 Australian Artists
Music is often described as the gateway to the soul. Because of its deep connections to the brain, we intrinsically thrive off it. Music influences the brain to create a unity only a few other art forms can provide. For some, it drives our actions and emotions.
Like the rest of the world, music has been an integral part of the Australian community for as long as anyone can remember. Many stars have come and gone, each leaving a footprint of their genius – their creativity evident in their millions of listens and record sales. Let us examine some of the all-time Australian Artists by record sales.
How we chose
One of the most fascinating things about music is that it cuts across cultures and borders. Evidently, the all-time best-selling album in Australia’s history is “Bat Out Of Hell” by Meat Loaf. The album recorded more than 1,750.000 sales and 25 Platinum awards. But Meat Loaf is an American Singer and not an Australian.
To decide the best all-time Australian Artists by record sales, we turn to the ARIA Music Awards. The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards celebrates the best of the Australian Music industry. We have compiled a list of the best-selling albums by Australians that have been certified by ARIA as the best-selling albums in Australia.
Qualifications
Since the 1970s, ARIA certified album platinum for a shipment of more than 50,000 copies across Australia. It raised the number of copies required for platinum to 70,000 in 1973. As a result, any album released after 1982 must have sold 700,000 copies to win 10 ARIA platinum awards. Conversely, any album released before 1983 with 700,000 copies must have won 14 awards.
With that out of the way, let us get straight to our list.
Overview
| Rank | Artist | Album | Award | Total sales |
| 1) | John Farnham | Whispering Jack | 24p | 1,680,000 |
| 2) | Delta Goodrem | Innocent Eyes | 15p | 1,050,000 |
| 3) | Crowded House | Recurring Dream – The Very Best | 13p | 910,000 |
| 4) | AC/DC | Back In Black | 12p | 840,000 |
| 5) | Savage Garden | Savage Garden | 12p | 840,000 |
| 6) | Bees Gees | Saturday Night Fever (Soundtrack) | 11P | 770,000 |
| 7) | Cold Chisel | Chisel | 10P | 700,000 |
| 8) | Tina Arena | Don’t ask | 10P | 700,000 |
| 9) | Jimmy Barnes | Soul Deeper… Songs from the Deep South | 9p | 630,000 |
| 10) | Missy Higgins | The Sound of White | 9P | 630,000 |
All-time top 10 Australian Artists by record sales
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John Farnham
John Peter Farnham is a British-born Australian singer. Born in July 1949, the teen pop idol is a contemporary singer whose career has been mostly as a solo artist. His solo single “you’re the voice” peaked at No. 1 on the Australian singles chart in September 1986. The associated album, “Whispering Jack” remained at the No.1 position for 25 weeks, making it the second highest-selling album in the country’s history. The single and album were also successful internationally, including No.1 in Sweden. Farnham is Australia’s only artist to have the number one record in five consecutive decades. As expected, he has been recognized by many awards and honours, including 1996 Officer of the Order of Australia, 1987 Australian of the year, 19 ARIA awards, and 2003 induction into the hall of fame.
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Delta Goodrem
Delta Goodrem is an Australian songwriter, singer, and actress. Born on 9 November 1984, Goodrem signed to Sony music at the age of 15. Her debut album “Innocent Eyes,” released in 2003, is the second-best-selling Australian album of all time. The album topped the ARIA albums chart for 29 consecutive weeks. Goodrem has 17 top-ten hits and nine number-one singles on the ARIA singles chart. She has also sold more than 9 million albums globally and has won three World Music Awards, including an MTV video music award and 9 ARIA music awards.
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Crowded House
Crowded House was formed in Melbourne Australia in 1985. The rock band featured founding members from New Zealand, America, and Australia. It included Neil Finn, Paul Hester, Nick Seymour, Tim Finn, Mark Hart, and Matt Sherrod. Crowded House recorded consistent commercial and critical success in Australia and New Zealand. It also extended its success to international charts, beginning with its self-titled debut album. The compilation album, recurring dream, won 13 platinum awards in Australia, Gold in Canada, 2 Platinum in Spain, and 4 platinum awards in the United Kingdom.
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AC/DC
AC/DC is another Australian rock band that has been active since 1973 till date. Formed in Sydney by Scottish-born brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, their music has been described as heavy metal, blues rock, and hard rock. However, the band called itself rock and roll. The band went through various line-up changes before releasing their first album, and membership stabilized with a few other additions like Bon Scott to the group. They released their album “Back in Black” later in 1980 and dedicated it to Scott’s memory, who died in February 1980 of alcohol poisoning. The album is an influential hard rock and heavy metal album that has been hailed by some as a high watermark for heavy metal music.
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Savage Garden
“Savage Garden” ties with “Back In Black” with 12 platinum awards. The band, which bears the same name as the album formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1993. It consisted of Daniel Jones and Darren Hayes. Both singers achieved international success from the mid-1990s to early 2000 with the No.1 singles “To the Moon and Back,” “I Want You,” “Truly Madly Deeply,” “I Knew I Loved You,” and “The Animal Song.” However, it was Savage Garden that went on to top Australia charts and peaked in the top 10 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The group also won 10 ARIA Music Awards in 1997 and disbanded at the end of 2001.
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Bee Gees
Bee Gees is a music group that features brothers Robin, Maurice, and Barry Gibb. Formed in 1958, the trio were successful as a popular music act in the early 1970s and late 1960s. Their “Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack” marked the turning point in their career as the film and soundtrack gained cultural impact throughout the world. For that alone, the group won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The Bee Gees have sold more than 220 million records worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
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Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel was formed in Adelaide in 1973 and are an Australian pub rock band. Although the group disbanded in 1983, they reformed several times and went on to become one of the best live bands that could fuse a combination of hard rock and rough-house soul’n’blues. Eight of the band’s studio albums have reached the Australian top five. Chisel is a compilation album that was released in September 1991. It contained a selection of their best songs from previous albums and peaked at number 3 on the ARIA charts. The album was certified 9 Platinum in 2000 and 1 later.
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Tina Arena
Filippina Lydia Arena was born on the first of November 1967. Also known as Tina, she is an Australian musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and musical theatre actress. With more than 10 million record sales worldwide, Tina is one of Australia’s highest-selling artists. She sings live and records in Italian, French, English, and Spanish, and has a vocal range of a soprano. Arena has earned numerous national and international awards, including two World Music Awards, seven ARIA Awards, and a BRIT Award. In 2011, she became the first Australian to be awarded a Knighthood of the French National Order of National Merit. She was also inducted into the ARIA hall of fame in 2015.
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Jimmy Barnes
James Dixon Barnes is a Scottish-born Australian musician, songwriter, and singer who has excelled as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel. As a result, he is one of the best-selling and most popular music artists of all time. He recorded a combination of 14 Australian top 40 Albums for Cold Chisel and 13 charting solo albums to earn the highest number of hits albums of any international or Australian artist in the Australian market.
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Missy Higgins
Melissa Morrison Higgins was born on the 19th of August 1983. Professionally referred to as Missy Higgins, the Australian singer is a songwriter, actress, musician, and activist. Higgins was a support act on a 2003 Australian tour by folk-rock band until she travelled to the US to produce her first EP, The Missy Higgins EP. She released her first album, “The Sound of White” in September 2004 and debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums charts. The album, which was released while she was still in high school, won 9 Platinum, selling more than 660,000 copies.
Conclusion
The Australian music industry is rich and diverse, and these artists prove the point. If they could sell this much even without streaming technologies, we can only imagine what they would have achieved if a technology came earlier than it did. To these ones, we tip our hats.