Well, this is the album many of Kiss’s former fans cried sell-out to given how they like so many other bands and artists of the day, decided to cash in on the disco trends for commercial success. It does remain their most popular album in their career even though many will tell you that their earlier material is much better, however it’s clear that this was the peak of their popularity regardless.
If you’re wondering why ELO decided to name this album what they did, that’s because it’s a pun because the band found themselves “discovering” disco with this release which means that this album was cashing in on the disco craze of the decade. Like many artists dipping their toes into the genre, they did so respectfully which is why the tracks on this album remain staples on oldies stations to this day.
While this is far from Pink Floyd’s most successful album, it is by far their most iconic as evidence by its own theatrical adaptation a few years after its initial release starring Bob Geldof in the role of the albums narrator. This album also has the distinction of spawning a rare hit single for the band as “Another brick in the wall” became a huge chart topper for them upon its initial release worldwide.
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.
Compared to the rest of their discography, this feels like an outlier in Fleetwood Mac’s catalogue, mainly due to it being their one double album as well as it being more in line with a prog album compared to the rest of their work. As a result, it wasn’t quite as successful as their other albums, however it was still a massive success for them regardless.
Although they achieved sound success with their debut album Outlandos d’amour, this was the album which made Sting and company a household name due to how inescapable the two singles from the album were in their native UK. They would go on to achieve massive success with their blend of new wave and reggae, something I just realised not many other bands and artists achieved back in the day.
For nearly thirty years, this was the final album that the Eagles released in their catalogue, although I doubt they were planning for this to be their final album given what was in store for them during its promotion. They were supposed to give a concert in their native California to with a government official in the audience, and yet the behind-the-scenes drama got so out of control that they ended up embarrassing themselves during the show.
This is the first of three albums that MJ made with Quincy Jones, and while it’s easily the most dated of the three due to it being primarily a disco album as opposed to the other two with more timeless elements to them, it didn’t stop it from succeeding during a time where disco was becoming a bad word in the music industry. This even revived the careers of his family act the Jackson five in Australia.
While he wasn’t among the most successful artists of the decade, his (then) most recent album Stranger in town was a huge sleeper hit for Bob Seger which likely explains the success of this greatest hits package from him here in Australia. What’s interesting is that he would return to the mainstream eight years later with one of the tracks on this album.
This was another album that took its sweet time in finding success here in Australia, although at least it was a success unlike in the bands native America where they didn’t have any success until their comeback from the late 80’s. It’s little wonder this appealed to Australians as it’s the type of wacky throwback rock from the 50’s that was all the rage at the time, that and appearing on Countdown also did the trick.
Following the huge success of the Saturday night fever soundtrack, it was only inevitable that the Brothers Gibb would find massive success with whatever album they put out provided it was within the disco genre. Indeed, this album was a massive success for them and likely would’ve been even if it weren’t released at the height of disco, although it has been cited as one of the contributing factors to the disco backlash in America.
This was a very productive decade for Leo Sayer given how he scored two of the biggest albums of the 70’s, here he has a greatest hits package to overlook the journey he made from his humble beginnings, although the journey wouldn’t end here as he had further success in the 80’s.
This was a greatest hits package from Kenny Rogers that was released exclusively here in Australia and NZ, as such it was a huge hit for the country legend in both countries and even prompted him to give us a slightly altered version of his international greatest hits package the following year when he topped the charts with “Lady” on Billboard. This was one way of beginning the 80’s and a positive one at that.
What better way to end the decade than with an album overlooking the success you achieved throughout it? Rod Stewart decided not to release a new studio album once the 70’s ended which might have costed him his success throughout the 80’s as he wouldn’t have a bestselling album again until 1991’s Vagabond heart.
Even though this was a massive success for Donna Summer and is often considered to be the quintessential disco record from a musician of colour, it unfortunately led to her developing resentment for her previous work as the marketing depicted her as a sex worker which she felt sent her audience the wrong message. As a result, she became a devoted feminist after this album cycle was finished and changed her image going into the 80’s.
This was the biggest success that Rickie Lee Jones had in Australia, this was largely due to the lead single becoming a huge international success for her at a time where adult contemporary was competing with disco. She did have some minor success throughout the following decade, although she would never again reach the dizzying heights of her debut.
This was released at the tail end of the 70’s to commemorate how far the Brothers Gibb had come from their previous greatest hits album from a decade prior, they made a habit of doing this once a decade as they would release another greatest hits package in 1990 despite not having much success in the 80’s.
Toto began their life as a group of session musicians for other bands and artists before they decided to join the leagues of their clientele by releasing their debut album, it proved to be a worthy decision as this album was a huge success for them worldwide. They did struggle to retain their popularity with their next two albums; however, they would be back in the spotlight with their Grammy winning fourth album.
Although this wasn’t their first album, this was the album which made Cold Chisel a household name in Australia likely due to how pub rock was taking over the mainstream in Australia around this time despite this album failing to produce a hit single for them. Their next album would be even bigger and would make them one of the biggest names of the 80’s along the likes of Australian crawl and Split enz.
Bob Dylan was certainly on a roll when he released this album as it showed promise that he would thrive throughout the 80’s, alas since he wasn’t what would be marketable for the MTV era, this promise proved to be empty as he struggled to find mainstream success that decade. He did eventually return to the mainstream as a member of the Traveling wilburys, so it’s not like this was the last people heard from him.
This was the final album that Led zeppelin released in their career, OK so technically that honour goes to Coda in 1982, however that album was only released due to contractual obligations and by their label as the band had broken up by that stage. I’m not even sure why they called it quits the following year as there weren’t any behind the scenes drama that I’m aware of, it could be to allow Robert Plant to have a successful solo career.
There’s a version of this album which doesn’t include Art Garfunkel’s theme to Watership down on the track listing, I’m guessing he wanted the album to stand on its own but changed his mind when he realised that his popularity only revived this year because of his affiliation with the animated film. The next time he would trouble the charts was with his reunion tour with his former partner in crime Paul Simon.
It looked like Cheap trick weren’t going to find any crossover success here in Australia given how their live album At Budokan failed to become a success for them over here like it was throughout the rest of the world, however due to a rather memorable Countdown performance with the title track of this album, they were able to finally score mainstream success here which set them up for much success throughout the 80’s.
ELO was another band who released a greatest hits package just as the 70’s was coming to an end, this really was a time to celebrate the accomplishments of the biggest names of the decade given how many of them found success with these albums. They also managed to gain some mileage going into the 80’s thanks to their sustained popularity.
These guys saw a lot of hype with their debut album, so much so that they were declared to be the American equivalent of the Beatles before it even dropped. Fortunately for them, the album was a huge success thanks to the strength of its lead single. Unfortunately for them, this made them a one album wonder as their subsequent releases failed to find much of an audience for them.
This was the final album to be released from Wings before they went their separate ways in the new decade, it’s worth noting that every one of their albums was a huge success here in Australia proving how much we Aussies loved Paul McCartney back in the day as he didn’t start to feel irrelevant until the mid 80’s.
It seems odd that both this guy and his American counterpart Eric Clapton wouldn’t see much success this decade in Australia, perhaps due to both men having success earlier in their careers and thus seeming like they were out of touch by the time the Countdown era rolled around. In any case, we have this album from JJ Cale which was indeed his fifth album and one that was a huge hit for him here.
This was a collaboration album between Neil Young and the American band Crazy horse, although half of the album is only a Neil Young album with side B being his collaborations with Crazy horse. The album was such a huge success upon its initial release that both parties went on tour to cash in on it which led to the tour being a huge success for them and even the live album being big as well.
This is the one and only album to be released from Racey, naturally it was a massive success here in Australia given how it managed to spawn three of the bigger hits during the final stretch of the 70’s here, which makes you wonder why they never even attempted to release a second album given how successful they were going into the 80’s.
Now that these guys had a highly successful album under their belt, they had little issues with finding success with their subsequent follow ups beginning with this album which may have failed to produce a hit single for them but was a massive success regardless. The 80’s would see their popularity increase as they began scoring hits from their albums as well as developing a positive reputation as a live act.
Phoebe Snow was a singer/songwriter who had promise earlier in the decade when “Poetry man” became a huge hit for her in her native America, now she never had a hit here in Australia but due to how popular she was in NZ during the second half of the decade, this album became a huge success for her despite it flopping on the Billboard charts. Why her popularity fizzled out over there is anyone’s guess.
The decade might have been coming to an end, however that didn’t mean Abba was yesterday’s news quite yet as they were able to score a massive hit with this album and even several hit singles to spawn from it. While their popularity wasn’t as unavoidable as their earlier material, it was still noteworthy which is more than I can say for several other bands and artists that dominated the midpoint of the 70’s.
I’m a bit surprised this wasn’t an even bigger success for Barbra Streisand given how it contains her feminist duet with Donna Summer among the track listing, perhaps we Aussies were only interested in Donna’s transition towards female empowerment throughout the 80’s as Barbra’s next album would see her working with the brothers Gibb with a heavy theme towards love.
This was the only notable success that Elvis Costello had in the music industry, mainly for its lead single which remains a staple on oldies stations despite a controversial lyric where he uses a racial slur at one point (the slur is edited out on the radio.) Elvis is best known for being a punk rocker even though this album is more in line with what would eventually become new wave.
Following the breakthrough success of Parallel lines in their native America, Blondie no longer had any issues with finding success worldwide with their subsequent follow ups including this album which managed to rebound on our charts here in Australia when they released their theme to the Richard Gere flick American gigolo at the start of the 80’s, meaning this became a success twice down under.
This was the last successful album that Little river band had in Australia for nearly ten years, I’m guessing it’s because they were more interested in chasing their international appeal that they seemed to have forgotten to make music for us Aussies during the 80’s. They would have a surprise comeback in 1988 with Monsoon when Glenn Shorrock re-joined the band after John Farnham’s brief stint as the lead singer.
This was released eight years after the band called it quits, by this stage they had already released a greatest hits package to help fans cope with the fact they were no longer together which was a modest success back in the day. Here they released another best of album exclusively here in Australia where it became a huge success a decade after their biggest hits.
Jon English had begun to see massive worldwide success this year due to the popularity of his miniseries Against the wind, as such he released this greatest hits package to help fans navigate through his back catalogue that proved to be a success for him just as the decade was coming to an end. He would struggle to retain his popularity in the 80’s as did many of his contemporaries from the 70’s.
Their self-titled debut album was a massive flop in Australia, this is despite the fact it was one of the biggest albums of the decade in NZ proving there was an audience for them upon their initial breakthrough. Indeed, it’s likely due to this audience over there that their second album was a huge success here, even managing to spawn a hit single here that they lacked over there.
This was an album that was originally released six years prior to deafening silence for the Greek pop artist, it was given a second chance this year for reasons I can’t seem to fathom which allowed him to close out the decade with a successful album here in Australia. He was a one album wonder here of course, although I have heard him described as the Greek Bob Dylan over the years.
There were two artists to perform at Budokan this year, the first was Cheap trick who scored a massive international hit with their performance at the Japanese stadium and the second was Bob Dylan who also scored massive worldwide success with his performance there. Naturally it was Bob’s live album that managed to become a massive success here in Australia proving how well loved he was this decade.
Well, this is an album that many have claimed to be a carbon copy of the band’s debut album, I’m guessing audiences felt this was too much of the same back in the day to pay as much mind to it as they did with their earlier entry on this list even though it was still a massive success back in the day due to how talented the band was.
They may not have had much success here in Australia with their singles or even albums, however at least this greatest hits package from Earth wind and fire was able to become a success likely as a way of reconciling with our ignorance of their music throughout the decade. Indeed, they managed to score a major hit this year with the Emotions, proving that we were ready to make them a household name.
In 1978, the members of Kiss each released a solo album which went largely ignored due to them being best known as a unit even at the time, however thanks to the success of their earlier entries on this list, their label decided to commission this album which pulled the best tracks from their individual releases which proved to be a modest success here in Australia for the band.
One of the wackier bands to make it big through Countdown was Mi-sex, this is largely due to the antics of their lead singer as well as their unconventional song topics ranging from aliens to the rise in videogaming. While this was a sleeper hit for the band, it did set them up for a ton of success here and in their native NZ that they sadly never ended up having after their second album.
This was the only notable success that the Sports were able to achieve here in Australia, they were among the more popular pub rock bands of their time even though they didn’t reach the same heights as Cold chisel or Dragon during the Countdown era. They would sadly not last for very long as their next album didn’t bring in the numbers of their earlier work which would cause them to break up.
This was the only successful album that Van Morrison had here in Australia prior to the release of his 1990 greatest hits package, I bring this up because we Aussies really did seem to ignore the Irish singer/songwriter’s catalogue back in the day which makes you wonder what compelled us to correct that mistake throughout the 90’s.
This was another successful album to come from George Benson back in the day, although it didn’t have that big crossover hit that his next album had likely due to his work from the 70’s being more in line with jazz rather than disco like that album was.
Kenny Rogers saw massive success in Australia throughout the 80’s, not to the extent that he saw success in his native America of course but for a country artist, he made quite the impact during the height of the disco and MTV era. This was his first album of the decade which set him off to a good start proving that there was still some niche room for country music around this time.
Given how Dragon had called it quits this year due to Marc Hunter wanting to embark on a solo career (as well as the behind the scenes tension they were going through) they decided to cap off their initial run together with a greatest hits package that was a decent success for them here in Australia.
They may have only been active for an entire year, however this Canadian trio did manage to have a successful album to their name if only due to a wardrobe malfunction from the video of its lead single. I’m sure if MTV had existed back when these guys were big in Australia and NZ, they would’ve been equally as successful in their homeland and especially in America.
This guy had been making albums since the start of the decade with very limited success, so to see him cap off the 70’s with this throwback album was a bit of a surprise but inevitable given all the throwback albums to make it big over the years. In NZ this was an even bigger success due to his cover of an Elvis Presley classic becoming a surprise hit over there during the start of the 80’s.
Given how the lead single from this album managed to become a huge success for Kingston Trio member John Stewart here in Australia, it only makes sense that the album itself would be a moderate success even if this was the only success he achieved here throughout his career (this includes his work with his band by the way.)
While this wasn’t their biggest album here in Australia, this was a huge hit for the Village people regardless due to it including one of their more iconic tracks in their catalogue which helped them acquire a fanbase that was willing to embrace their campy nature at a time where other artists seemed to be more down to earth with their image.
This is the soundtrack to the miniseries which helped Jon English briefly become an international household name by the end of the decade, it allowed him to find a worldwide audience due to how well received it was internationally which makes you wonder why this wasn’t more of a success here in Australia back in the day.
One of the funniest movies to ever be made was the Life of Brian, a satire about the story of Jesus Christ (or perhaps more accurately Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ superstar) that was infamously banned in several religious countries for its depictions of blasphemy. This serves as both a soundtrack and comedy album as while there were songs in the film, it’s largely known for its sketches that still resonate with audiences to this day.
Following the success of their greatest hits package from earlier on this list, Earth wind and fire managed to score moderate success with this album largely due to the lead single being their duet with the Emotions which became both groups one and only hit here in Australia (unfortunately.) At least their back catalogue was finally recognised down under thanks to the success of both of these albums this year.
While David Bowie did achieve more success throughout the 70’s here in Australia than he did in the 80’s and beyond, I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high as each of his entries will be appearing on the bottom half of these lists from here on out. Hey at least his brand of creativity was able to achieve some notoriety down under during the height of the Countdown era.
I’m not sure why this album sat on shelves largely ignored for over a year in Australia, however once MJ was able to make it big with his album from earlier on the list his family had little issues with following suit in making it big with this album. Like MJ, the band had continued success into the 80’s, making this the second album on here to be a comeback for his career.
This was the last album that Santana had any success with for nearly two decades, it was more of the same of their south American style pop rock that had made them a household name throughout the 70’s but didn’t do them any favours going into the 80’s. They would need the help of the 90’s scene to find success in the mainstream again.
It’s a bit of a coincidence that Gary Numan would find more success with his album with Tubeway army than he did with his solo album here in Australia considering the opposite was true with the only hits he had with each respective project here, either way, his work has been widely accepted as what pioneered new wave going into the 80’s and as such, remains critical darlings to this day.
It appears that fifth time was the charm for Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons as this was their fifth album in their catalogue as well as the album that finally made them a household name here in Australia thanks to the lead single becoming their only hit. This is another surprise for me as I would’ve thought this would be among the more successful albums of this time from the overplay on oldies stations to the band appearing regularly on Countdown.
Ever wanted to know if the female vocalist on Meat Loaf’s iconic Bat out of hell album had her own catalogue worth checking out? It turns out she does as this was her debut album following the positive reception she received with her contributions to her earlier work. Sadly, this was the full extent of her popularity here in Australia, likely due to the downward spiral Meat loaf and company went through at the time.
This was released at the bookend of the 70’s following the massive success of her (then) most recent album Bad girls, it surprisingly underperformed here in Australia likely due to the lead single also being included on Barbra Streisand’s earlier entry and thus failing to promote this album over that release.
Even though he had a good run with his solo material throughout the decade, it appears we Aussies were still sceptical with Bryan Ferry’s band Roxy music as the decade was coming to an end given how they wouldn’t achieve inescapable success here until their next album at the start of the 80’s. This had much better success internationally including in NZ where it was their first taste of success with the kiwis.
This is the only other album that Gerry Rafferty had success with here in Australia following the success of his first solo album City to city, it failed to produce a hit single here despite being able to do so in his native UK which is perhaps why the album overall didn’t do as well here as it did internationally.
Given the success that these guys had with their second entry on this list, their debut album was finally able to find massive success here in Australia given how it failed to spawn them a hit down under despite the lead single being one of their more iconic in their catalogue. In a way, they had the same start to the 80’s as the Jacksons did given how this was also released two years prior and how it became popular here,
Given how Kate Bush was now one of the most prominent artists in the music scene, it makes sense that a rip-off in the form of Lene Lovich would also find success with her own album this year. Said success largely came from the lead single which was inescapable this year, however the album itself did find its audience who didn’t mind it borrowing heavily from the younger artist.
This was the last successful album that Marcia Hines released in her career, although she did score one more hit in the 80’s with the lead single to her next album, meaning she did somewhat survive the transition from the 70’s to the 80’s unlike most albums who were inescapable this decade. It’s also the album which gave her international recognition given how the lead single became a huge hit in NZ for her.
This is another surprise for me as I would’ve thought the Boomtown rats would have at least one of their albums be inescapable here in Australia, alas this was only a success here due to the lead single becoming one of the last big hits of the decade which of course translated to moderate success for it. Like many other new wave bands, this did far better in the UK where that genre thrived.
This seemed like the perfect way to end the decade for 10cc given how they were coming off the success of their earlier entry on this list, unfortunately this album activated a curse many bands and artists suffer from where they release a greatest hits package only for said album to kill their popularity moving forward.
