The Sun-Herald

The music Australia loves

THIS IS AN OUT OF DATE REPORT. TO SEE THE UPDATED CHARTS AND JOIN THE LATEST DISCUSSION OF AUSTRALIAN POPULAR CULTURE, GO TO http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

Lists of top selling albums and most successful performers, prepared by David Dale and last updated updated September, 2006

The top selling albums of the past ten years
1 Come On Over (Shania Twain)
2 Jagged Little Pill (Alanis Morissette)
3 Innocent Eyes (Delta Goodrem)
4 Savage Garden (Savage Garden)
5 Falling Into You (Celine Dion)

6 Abba Gold (Abba)
7 Immaculate Collection (Madonna)
8 Recurring Dream (Crowded House)
9 Come Away With Me (Norah Jones)
10 Forgiven Not Forgotten (The Corrs)
11 Yourself or Someone Like You (Matchbox 20)
12 Forrest Gump (Soundtrack)
13 The Very Best of (The Eagles)
14 1 (The Beatles)
15 Affirmation (Savage Garden)
16 The Eminem Show (Eminem)
17 Live (Throwing Copper)
18 HIStory (Michael Jackson)
19 Get Born (Jet)
20 The Sound of White (Missy Higgins)
21 Unplugged (Eric Clapton)
22 Let Go (Avril Lavigne)
23 Barricades and Brickwalls (Kasey Chambers)
24 Fever (Kylie Minogue)
25 Odyssey No 5 (Powderfinger)
26 Remasters (Led Zeppelin)
27 Symbols (Led Zeppelin)
28 The Best of 1980-1990 (U2)
29 The Ultimate Collection (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
30 No Angel (Dido)
31 Back To Bedlam (James Blunt)
32 Just As I Am (Guy Sebastian)
33 Fallen (Evanescence)
34 That's What I'm Talking About (Shannon Noll)
35 Feeler (Pete Murray)
36 Life For Rent (Dido)
37 Michael Buble (Michael Buble)
38 Greatest Hits (Robbie Williams)
39 Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson)
40 Songs About Jane (Maroon 5)
41 Mistaken Identity (Delta Goodrem)
42 American Idiot (Green Day)
43 It's Time (Michael Buble)
44 Love Angel Music Baby (Gwen Stefani)
45 Monkey Business (Black Eyed Peas)
46 So Fresh - Hits of summer 2003 (Various)
Based on charts since 1995 from the Australian Record Industry Association

The all-time million sellers, according to ARIA accreditations

1. Bat Out of Hell (Meatloaf) 22 platinum*
2. Whispering Jack (John Farnham) 17p
3. Come On Over (Shania Twain) 15p
4. Jagged Little Pill (Alanis Morissette) 14p
5. Innocent Eyes (Delta Goodrem) 14p
6. Greatest Hits Collection (Queen) 13p
7. Thriller (Michael Jackson) 12p
8. Rumours (Fleetwood Mac) 12p
9. Savage Garden (Savage Garden) 12p
10. Falling Into You (Celine Dion) 12p
11. Abba Gold (Abba) 11p
12. Immaculate Collection (Madonna) 11p
13. Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd) 11p
14. Recurring Dream (Crowded House) 11p
15. War of the Worlds (Jeff Wayne) 10p

*A recording is awarded platinum status each time it sells 70,000 copies. But not all record companies have supplied ARIA with sales information on all their performers, so the list above is incomplete. It lacks obvious million sellers such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Seekers, and Neil Diamond.
Till we find out for sure, we must rely on estimates like this ...

The all-time most popular musicians with Australian record buyers
Prepared by David Dale for The Sydney Morning Herald, based on each performer's total sales of vinyl and CD albums, using estimates from the Australian Record Industry Association and music researcher David Kent's Australian Chart Book.

Performer Biggest Year Bestselling Album
1 Elton John 1973 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
2 The Beatles 1968 Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
3 Billy Joel 1976 Piano Man
4 Paul McCartney 1973 Band on the Run
5 Michael Jackson 1982 Thriller
7 Abba 1975 The Best of Abba
8 John Farnham 1986 Whispering Jack
9 Jimmy Barnes 1985 For The Working Class Man
10 Neil Diamond 1972 Hot August Night
11 Madonna 1990 The Immaculate Collection
12 Fleetwood Mac 1977 Rumours
13 The Rolling Stones 1971 Goat's Head Soup
14 Rod Stewart 1975 Atlantic Crossing
15 Dire Straits 1978 Brothers in Arms
16 Led Zeppelin 1973 Led Zeppelin II
17 Pink Floyd 1973 Dark Side of the Moon
18 Eurythmics 1985 Be Yourself Tonight
19 The Carpenters 1973 Now and Then
20 Celine Dion 1996 Falling Into You
21 Delta Goodrem 2003 Innocent Eyes
22 Savage Garden 1997 Savage Garden
23 Kylie Minogue 2001 Fever
24 Cat Stevens 1971 Teaser and the Firecat
25 Joe Cocker 1971 Cocker Happy
26 Mariah Carey 1994 Music Box
27 U2 1988 Rattle and Hum
28 INXS 1990 The Swing
29 Creedence Clearwater Revival 1970 Cosmo's Factory
30 Cold Chisel 1984 Twentieth Century
31 Midnight Oil 1983 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
32 Deep Purple 1970 Deep Purple in Rock
33 Elvis Presley 2003 30 #1 Hits
34 The Seekers 1968 The Best of the Seekers
35 Crowded House 1986 Crowded House
36 Leo Sayer 1974 Just a Boy
37 Eagles 1976 Hotel California
38 Meat Loaf 1978 Bat Out of Hell
39 Split Enz 1980 True Colours
40 Australian Crawl 1981 Sirocco
41 Bette Midler 1980 Beaches
42 Lionel Richie 1983 Can't Slow Down
43 Eminem 2002 The Eminem Show
44 David Bowie 1973 Let's Dance
45 Police 1979 Synchronicity
46 Skyhooks 1975 Living in the 70s
47 Bob Dylan 1976 Desire
48 AC/DC 1976 Back in Black
49 The Bee Gees 1999 Saturday Night Fever
50 Queen 1976 Greatest Hits Collection
51 Van Morrison 1974 Astral Weeks

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). His latest book is Soffritto -- A delicious Ligurian memoir. To join a daily discussion of Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.