This is the oldest album to appear on this list, in fact it was already one of the biggest successes of the 60’s by the time that decade ended, which goes to show how long its popularity lasted here in Australia given how I’m not even including its full chart run on this ranking (mainly because I don’t have access to it.)
Well, we needed at least one entry from the back catalogue of Simon and Garfunkel to feature on this site of mine, didn’t we? Here we are with their final album which contains some of their most instantly recognisable work in their catalogue which indeed was big at the time of its release.
We have another live album to feature on this list, this time it’s from Joe Cocker who scored massive success with this live release thanks to putting on such an explosive show for the tour this album is named after.
These guys were on a roll entering the 70’s as this managed to spawn several of their most iconic tracks as both singles and their B-sides, in fact it’s incredible that said singles were among the most successful of the day given how they achieved said success through sales and not airplay.
I’m not sure how well the first self-titled album from Led Zeppelin did here in Australia due to limited album sales data from the 60’s, however I do know that the second album was a massive success mainly due to the success of its lead single which eventually ran into copyright issues.
It was the final album to come from the fab four, at least they were able to end things on a high note given how both the album and the singles were phenomenally successful, although it was for the best, they broke up given the behind-the-scenes drama the members were enduring.
This is one of the earliest albums to come out of the 60’s to appear on this list, suffice to say that it was released from CCR in the dying days of that decade and managed to achieve most of its success in the 70’s thanks to the strong lead single and its B-side.
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.
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.
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.
This was the only notable success that Melanie had with one of her albums, although curiously this didn’t contain her biggest hit “Brand new key” which came off her next album which was a slight departure from the chamber pop of this album.
Although he did find moderate success later in the decade here in Australia, this is the biggest success that James Taylor had given it was released during the height of the folk-rock scene that was kick started by Cat Stevens with his two entries from the top of this list.
Although this serves as the soundtrack to the documentary made for Woodstock, you can consider this a live album from the iconic event given how the documentary comprises of clips taken from the festival rather than it being a recreation of it in any way.
This is the last album that Jimi Hendrix released in his lifetime, it was a live album from a concert he had during the final days of the 60’s which naturally meant it was guaranteed success upon its initial release that was no doubt boosted when he tragically passed away.
This was by no means Deep purple’s earliest work and admittedly it’s hard to say if this was the first taste of success they had here in Australia due to limited data for album sales from the 60’s here, however it was the album that made them superstars right at the start of the decade.
Often considered one of the best albums of all time, this was a surprise hit here in Australia at the start of the decade likely due to the line-up of well-known musicians that came together to make it as iconic as it’s remained over the last five decades.
This is the debut album from Black sabbath, the fact these guys did so well off their first attempt here in Australia should tell you just how hungry we Aussies were for music that wasn’t affiliated with hippy culture as the 60’s became the 70’s.
This is the best proof I have that the Doors earlier entry wasn’t necessarily a success due to the tragic passing of Jim Morrison given how this was a huge hit when he was alive and well, it failed to spawn that huge hit they had with their other entry but it was a success nonetheless.
Even though they achieved massive success in the 60’s here in Australia, from what I can gather, this live album is the first in their catalogue to be a huge success for them outside of their singles given how quickly their previous albums fell off our charts.
I really think that the rerelease of “Nights in white satin” is what pushed the band’s earlier entry on this list over the edge here in Australia given how this album wasn’t nearly as successful as that was back in the day, although at least it was able to compete with other prog albums on this list.
It may be one of the most infamous albums ever recorded (at least by a professional musician) however it appears that we Aussies were rather kind to this cover’s album from Bob Dylan upon its initial release given how it appears on here over so many other albums of the day.
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.
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.
This was released shortly after Paul’s departure from the fab four, as such, its success was inevitable even if said success seems pitiful compared to all of the entries, we’ve looked at from him so far on this list.
This is the first album that Jethro Tull released that was a huge success here in Australia, or at least I think it is as they did have a couple of albums from the 60’s that I’m not sure were a success or not due to the lack of data available for what was popular here in Australia back then.
Sergio Mendes was one of the lucky few to have a successful album here in Australia throughout the 60’s, so it makes sense that he would find success with this greatest hits album at the start of the 70’s before he fell into obscurity. He would come back thirteen years later with a Billboard hit “Never gonna let you go.”
This is the only album from Blood sweat and tears I’ll be featuring on this site, mainly because they were a 60’s band and I’m not covering their 60’s material due to it already falling off our charts by the time the decade had begun here in Australia.
This is the only success that prog band Tully had in their career; they were Australian which allowed them to see success with this album even though that success didn’t extend to their subsequent releases. I guess you can argue they were a bit ahead of the curve when it came to prog rock with us Aussies.
It’s hard to say how much success Eric Burdon had with his first band the Animals with his albums here in Australia as information for the 60’s album chart here is scarce at best. I do know that their greatest hits album was a massive success here, which would explain how well this album from his second band did here.
This was the first album Eric Clapton released as a solo artist, although this was right before he formed Derek and the Dominoes who are of course best known for their hit single “Layla” which curiously flopped here for some reason. He would disband them and return with his entry from my previous list.
We had previously looked at the Band throughout this site, be it with their live album or their works with Bob Dylan. This is their only entry on this list that doesn’t fit into either category as it was their big breakthrough here in Australia and indeed throughout the rest of the world.
From what I can gather, this was a live album from a supergroup that was quite popular in the UK during the height of Woodstock, that would explain its success even though their studio material failed to find an audience here in Australia.
These guys had two massive hits here in Australia throughout the 60’s, so it makes sense that a greatest hits album would do decently well here at the start of the decade. In fairness, I don’t know how well their albums did, however there’s a good chance they were also huge down under.
Here’s the live album I mentioned earlier on this list from Chain, this was their introduction to their fellow Aussies given how they only released two studio albums with both of them coming out after this. I guess they were considered better live which makes sense given the genre they’re in.
From what I can gather, Tom Jones had a bunch of success with his albums throughout the 60’s here in Australia. Even so, this will be the oldest album from his catalogue I’ll be featuring due to me not covering the 60’s on this list.
This is the only successful album that John Mayall had in his career, he was a blues singer similar to that of Eric Clapton and other blues legends from around this time which perhaps is why he had a big hit with this entry but nothing else in his catalogue.
Although she didn’t find that much success with her singles here in Australia throughout the 60’s, Dionne Warwick did achieve a few hits throughout the decade which makes the success of this greatest hits album make sense.
This was the debut album for Santana, it was a bit of a dud at first as are most debut albums from well established artists throughout music history, however it gained popularity here in Australia due to how much their second album took off shortly after this albums release.
We have one final entry from Grand funk railroad on this list, this one being their oldest entry as this was released at the start of the decade to decent success here in Australia for the funk band. It’s curious how their only hit single came after the success of their three albums on here.
This is the oldest album from the brothers Gibb I’ll be featuring on this site (well second oldest as their greatest hist album from earlier was released in late 1969) it was their first album of the decade and arguably their first successful album in Australia since as far as I can tell, they saw no success with their albums in the 60’s here.
This is the most recent entry from Jose Feliciano on this list, mainly because he saw more success in the 60’s given how that’s when he scored not one but two massive hits here in Australia. Even so, this feels like a last hurrah more than anything else due to how quickly the 60’s transitioned to the 70’s.
From what I can gather, Paint your wagon is a western film that was panned by critics specifically for the awful singing from its stars Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. This didn’t seem to prevent its soundtrack from being a massive success here in Australia upon its initial release.
Dionne Warwick first charted here in Australia with her 1964 hit “Anyone who had a heart,” so it’s not that out of the ordinary that the RNB legend would’ve had a successful album to her name here prior to her 1982 comeback.
This is one of the oldest albums to appear on this list, although the fab four were one of the biggest names in music during the transition from the 60’s to the 70’s so it makes sense this iconic album lasted long enough in the early months of the decade to qualify for this list.
As far as I can tell, this live album from Tom Jones’s Vegas tour remains his most successful here in Australia, although it’s possible that This is Tom Jones and Green green grass of home were even bigger given how there is enough data to suggest they were at least successful here.
We have another carryover from the 60’s here, this time it’s the biggest album that Jose Feliciano had in his career in the English-speaking market following the success of his hit singles “Adios amor” from the year prior to when this was released in Australia and NZ.
This is another carryover from the 60’s, this time it’s the Australian recording of the musical Hair which was a major success likely due to how inescapable the Broadway recording was throughout the 60’s.
What better way to cap off this list than with the umpteenth greatest hits package from the fab four? At least this came out around the same time as their final album which means it wasn’t just a hollow cash grab like so many of their other albums I’ve featured on this site.
