THE TRIBAL MIND ARCHIVE 2013: The music Australia loved

The most popular albums and singles of all time, updated to February, 2013, compiled by David Dale for readers of The Tribal Mind, based on data from ARIA.

Top selling albums of 2012: 1 The Truth About Love, Pink; 2 Up All Night, One Direction; 3 21, Adele; 4 Christmas, Michael Buble; 5 +, Ed Sheeran; 6 My Journey, Karise Eden. Top selling single: 1. Call Me Maybe, Carly Rae Jepsen; 2 Gangnam Style, Psy; 3 Battle Scars, Guy Sebastian; 4 Whistle, Flo Rida; 5 Wild Ones, Flo Rida; 6 Starships, Nicky Minaj.

Top selling albums of 2013 (so far): Red, Taylor Swift (3p), Unorthodox Jukebox, Bruno Mars (1p)

Top downloads of 2013 (so far): Thrift Shop, Macklemore and Lewis (6p); Don't You Worry Child, Swedish House Mafia (5p);

The top-selling albums of all time*

1       Whispering Jack,  John Farnham 1986    1,730,000 copies (estimated).

2       Bat Out of Hell,    Meat Loaf  1977 1,700,000

3       Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits 1985 1,240,000

4       The Best of ABBA,       ABBA 1975 1,210,000

5       Thriller,       Michael Jackson 1982 1,150,000

6       Come On Over,   Shania Twain 1997 1,140,000

7       Innocent Eyes,     Delta Goodrem 1992 1,120,000

8       21,     Adele         2011         1,030,000

9       Greatest Hits,       Queen 1981       1,030,000

10     Jagged Little Pill,  Alanis Morissette         1995                  1,020,000

11     Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd  1,020,000

12     Grease      Soundtrack         1978         1,010,000

13     Arrival        ABBA  1976 960,000

14     Born in the U.S.A.        Bruce Springsteen 1984 950,000

15     Rumours    Fleetwood Mac 1977 950,000

16     Recurring Dream         Crowded House  1996 940,000

17     Falling Into You   Celine Dion 1996         930,000

18     Back in Black      AC/DC 1985 920,000

19     Savage Garden  Savage Garden 1997  890,000

20     The Immaculate Collection    Madonna 1990 880,000

21     ABBA Gold ABBA         1979   870,000

22     Music Box  Mariah Carey 1993      860,000

23     The Very Best of the Eagles The Eagles         1994         850,000

24     Funhouse  P!nk 2008 850,000

25     Saturday Night Fever   Soundtrack 1977         830,000

26     Cross Road (Best of…)        Bon Jovi 1994 810,000

27     Come Away with Me     Norah Jones 2002 800,000

28     The Wall    Pink Floyd  1979 800,000

29     Dirty Dancing      Soundtrack         1987         790,000

30     I'm Not Dead       P!nk 2006  790,000

31     Age of Reason    John Farnham 1988    780,000

32     Forrest Gump     Soundtrack         1994         770,000

33     Hot August Night          Neil Diamond 1972 760,000

34     I Dreamed a Dream     Susan Boyle       2009 750,000

35     1       The Beatles        2000 750,000

36     Dangerous Michael Jackson 1991 740,000

37     Man of Colours   Icehouse    1987          730,000

38     Don’t Ask         Tina Arena 1994         730,000

39     Tubular Bells      Mike Oldfield 1973       730,000

40     Led Zeppelin Remasters       Led Zeppelin 1990       730,000

41     The War of the Worlds         Jeff Wayne 1978         730,000

42     Yourself or Someone Like You      Matchbox 20 1996 710,000

43     Only by the Night         Kings of Leon 2008     690,000

44     Chisel        Cold Chisel         1991         680,000

45     Greatest Hits       Fleetwood Mac           1988 680,000

46     Forgiven, Not Forgotten       The Corrs          1995 680,000

47     Soul Deep  Jimmy Barnes     1991         670,000

48     Back to Bedlam   James Blunt 2004        670,000

49     Get Born    Jet     2003         660,000

50     The Sound of White     Missy Higgins 2004 660,000

*Not all record companies have supplied ARIA with sales information on all their performers, so the album list above is incomplete. It lacks obvious million sellers such as the early albums of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and The Seekers. Another impression of sales can be derived from the number of weeks an album spent at number one in the chart. Here's that data, from David Kent's Australian Chart Books, with thanks to Graham West:

1 The Sound of Music, movie soundtrack (1965), 76 weeks on top.

2 Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits (1985), 34 weeks.

3 Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles (1967), 30 weeks.

4 Hot August Night, Neil Diamond (1973), 29 weeks.

5 Hair, Broadway soundtrack (1969), 28 weeks.

6 Innocent Eyes, Delta Goodrem (2003), 28 weeks.

7 Whispering Jack, John Farnham (1986), 25 weeks.

8 Come On Over, Shania Twain (1999), 20 weeks.

9 Cosmo's Factory, Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970), 19 weeks.

10 Silk Degrees, Boz Scaggs (1976), 18 weeks.

11 Abbey Road, The Beatles (1969), 18 weeks.

12 Going Places, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (1966), 17 weeks.

13. Teaser and the Firecat, Cat Stevens (1971), 17 weeks.

14 Greatest Hits, The Seekers (1968), 17 weeks.

15. Music Box, Mariah Carey (1994), 16 weeks.

 

The top selling singles/tracks 2000-2012

1 Party Rock Anthem, LMFAO (12p); 2 Somebody That I Used to Know, Gotye and Kimbra (10p); 3 Sexy and I know It, LMFAO (9p); 4 Moves Like Jagger, Maroon 5 with Cristina Aguilera (9p); 5 Call Me Maybe, Carly Rae Jepsen (8p); 6 Gangnam Style, Psy (7p); 7 Jason DeRulo, In My Head (7p); 8 Rolling in the deep, Adele (7p); 9 Someone Like You, Adele (7p); 10 Dynamite, Taio Cruz (7p); 11 Battle Scars, Guy Sebastian (6p); 12 Poker Face, Lady Gaga (6p); 13 Love The Way You Lie, Eminem & Rihanna (6p); 14 Lose Yourself, Eminem (5p); 15 Sexy Bitch, David Guetta/ Akon 5p; 16 Firework, Katy Perry 5p; 17 Yeah 3x, Chris Brown 5p; 18 Grenade, Bruno Mars 5p; 19 Just The Way You Are, Bruno Mars 5p; 20 Tik Tok, Ke$ha 5p. P=Platinum (70,000 copies sold)

Music DVDs selling more than 100,000: Funhouse Tour Live in Australia (Pink) 31p; Live in Australia (Andre Rieu) 21p; Hell Freezes Over (The Eagles) 20p; #1s (Michael Jackson) 22p; Live from Wembley Arena (Pink) 16p; What We Did Last Summer (Robbie Williams) 12p; Delta (Delta Goodrem) 12p; Live in Bucharest (Michael Jackson) 14p; Black and White Night (Roy Orbison) 11p; Live in Europe (Pink) 11p; Farewell Tour 1 (The Eagles) 13p; Greatest Hits Live (Neil Diamond) 13p; One Night Only (Bee Gees) 10p; The Wall (Pink Floyd) 10p; Highwaymen Live! 10p; (With DVDs, platinum means 15,000 sales).

 

This is a service for readers of The Tribal Mind column, by David Dale, which appears in The Sun-Herald newspaper and also as a blog on this website, where it welcomes your comments.

David Dale teaches communications at UTS, Sydney. He is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark The Tribal Mind.