The late 80’s was a dark period in Elton’s life, after all he was battling a serious drug addiction as well as having to cope with having his polyps removed which affected the way he sung live. Not helping was a decrease in quality in his music, which perhaps is why he released this album which was meant as a coping mechanism for his mental health which in turn restored his popularity in the mainstream.
But seriously……. this was the album that Phil Collins needed to end the 80’s given how he had made a major stumble in his career with his acting debut in Buster the year prior. The success of this album going into the 90’s encouraged the other members of Genesis to reunite with him one more time to release and album which was also a huge success, that being We can’t dance.
Well, this was the album which had Madonna officially denounce her faith not just in the catholic church but religion in general, prior to this album she had proudly proclaimed herself as a catholic girl but then a bunch of things happened which made her realise that she could no longer consider herself as such. This caused quite a controversy following its release as this was back in the day where religion held importance in the mainstream.
This was the solo debut from Kate Ceberano who had previously achieved success as the lead vocalist from the jazz pop band I’m talking as a child star, a pretty impressive transition to a solo career if you ask me. This was an album that promised her so much success going into the 90’s, but alas she wasn’t able to find a way to retain her audience despite her stellar vocals on her subsequent releases.
Following the success of their debut album from four years prior, Fine young cannibals returned with this album which proved to be an even bigger success for the British trio, likely due to it becoming a surprise hit over in America by spawning two Billboard chart toppers for them. Despite how huge this album was for them, they decided to call it quits going into the new decade for reasons I never quite understood.
This was the only album to be released by Johnny Diesel and the Injectors, although don’t think that it’s because no one was interested in this album because it was a huge success for them and even led to international interest in the band. I’m guessing this was meant to be an advertisement for Diesel’s solo career which would pan out the following decade with his solo album Hepfidelity.
Even though she saw massive success with her singles throughout the second half of the 80’s, Belinda Carlisle didn’t see much success with her albums in Australia until her third album became a surprise hit for her this year. I’m guessing this was due to the third single being a hit exclusively down under as the songs on here bombed in her native America, this led to her next album never being released over there.
This took a while to take off worldwide due to how long it took for the boys to be confirmed as the real deal, after all this was back in the day before boy bands had any real presence in the mainstream. Once they scored their third hit here in Australia, the album was able to take off and possibly prepare us for the boy band wars of the 90’s. They may have bowed out before the wars begun but their impact is noted.
Whatever did happen to this Canadian singer/songwriter? Well from what I can gather, she did achieve further success in her homeland as the decade went on despite only finding success there on this album with its third single. Again, we have a Canadian artist only making it big internationally due to them having one of their songs make it big on Billboard as opposed to their homeland, strange how this was a thing.
This almost didn’t find any success outside of the duo’s native Sweden, in fact it took a foreign exchange student requesting an American radio station to play this on the radio for it to finally see success internationally. Roxette are one of my favourite bands of all time, so this was a huge victory in my eyes, and indeed the general public agreed with this assessment as the album spawned four huge hits worldwide.
Although her comeback came with her previous 1987 self-titled album, it was this album which made Cher’s music career relevant again if only briefly as it would see peaks and valleys throughout the 90’s as she juggled it with her acting career. This has been described as Cher’s peak in popularity thanks to her hopping on the hair metal trend and her voice working very well with heavier rock and roll.
The last time anyone cared about Alice Cooper was back in the late 70’s when he tried to appeal to a more mainstream market with his adult contemporary ballads, fast forward a decade and we’re here with his glam rock album from the height of hair metal which got him back in the mainstream worldwide except for his native America. I guess his fellow Americans felt he was already too old to rock with the younger crowd.
Jenny already had success earlier in the decade with her first solo album as well as the lead vocalist to the short-lived group QED, however it was her second album which finally made her a household name both here and in her native NZ largely thanks to the success of its second single. She released a new album in the 90’s which while successful, wasn’t well received critically which resulted in her becoming yesterday’s news after its release.
It looked like this album was going to flop in Australia just like her debut album, however it received a massive push in popularity thanks to the third single from the album being a huge success for her and helping people realise what an amazing vocalist she is on her songs. Taylor’s popularity would stretch out to her third album later in the decade where she almost topped our charts with a Barry White cover.
It had been almost an entire decade since we last heard from these guys, admittedly one of their members did tragically pass away in the time they were absent from our mainstream so it’s not like they were too interested in being household names throughout the 80’s. They closed out the decade with this comeback album which seemed to pick up their momentum where it left off with their 1980 effort Planet Claire.
Jimmy Barnes was one of the biggest Australian artists of the decade, so why not have Ian Moss join the elite ranks as he was a contributing factor as to why Cold Chisel were a big deal in Australia? Here he is with his debut album which was a huge success for him thanks to the lead single, however it was a short-lived victory as his subsequent albums from the 90’s failed to find any success.
OK here’s an album which I have to tread carefully with given how infamous the story is behind its creation, I guess I can safely talk about why the US version is on here instead of the original as we Aussies were very sceptical about these guys but were eventually won over when they won a Grammy for best new artist. Of course, our initial sceptism was accurate as it was revealed they never sung a note on the album.
She entered the decade with a bestselling soundtrack, so what better way to leave the decade with another soundtrack to book end her achievements? Here we have the soundtrack to Beaches that also serves as a studio album for Bette Midler due to her character being a struggling singer in the film. Speaking of the film, this is a movie people will either love or hate, specifically due to the twist that never fails to induce crying from the audience.
It took them seven albums, but the Hunters and collectors were finally able to achieve massive success with one of their albums given how hugely success this was for them. It’s worth noting that these guys were very popular in our alternative scene and even saw moderate success over in NZ throughout the 80’s, and indeed their popularity would continue well into the 90’s with their subsequent follow ups.
This was released the year prior to deafening silence for Gloria Estefan, I’m guessing because unlike the rest of the world, we Aussies weren’t particularly interested in her work with the Miami sound machine and thus had little interest in her solo work. The album eventually became a success for her due to her surviving a horrific accident where she was violently knock out of her bed in her tour bus while she was sleeping during a crash it was involved with, needless to say our support for her was strong as a result.
This was a bit of a disappointment from Billy Joel considering how inescapable (at least in Australia) his previous album was, although it did spawn arguably his biggest hit in the form of its lead single which in turn translated to the album’s success worldwide. His next album would be even bigger, although it would also be his final album as he would spend the rest of his life as a touring act.
While this wasn’t the most successful album from Simply red (that would be their second album) it did spawn the biggest hit of their career in the form of the second single which in turn helped the album become a massive success following a slow start to its chart run. These guys would continue to find success well into the 90’s, proving that their sound was able to withstand the test of time with their audience.
These guys had a massive run throughout the 80’s here in Australia and over in NZ, so much so that it makes sense they would close out the decade with a greatest hits package in both countries which would unfortunately explain the lack of success they would achieve in both countries going into the 90’s.
This was released a few months after the death of Roy Orbison, I’m guessing some of the tracks on here were meant for the second volume for the Traveling wilburys given how that was never released despite the success of the first volume. It proved to be a huge comeback for Roy who outside of his contributions to the supergroup, hadn’t had any success since his hit single “Penny arcade” from 1969.
His debut album had a bit of a climb to its success due to him initially being dismissed as a Bryan Adams knockoff, however it did eventually find an audience here through the strength of its singles. Here Richard Marx had no such barrier as this was able to become a huge success upon its initial release once again due to how big the singles were throughout the world.
Although this French band did have success throughout Europe throughout the decade, it wasn’t until the lead single from this album became a surprise hit in English speaking countries that they were able to find an audience here in Australia. For some reason, I thought these guys were Mexican, I guess that’s me revealing my ignorance towards European culture.
Martika was off to a good start when she entered the 90’s as this album from 1988 became a massive success here due to how big the second single was. Evidently, she always wanted to be a pop star at a young age, which makes her retirement from music after the failure of her second album in her native America that much more tragic considering it was a moderate success throughout the rest of the world.
Following the success of his album Mallee boy, John Williamson was able to revive his popularity which peaked again with his final album of the 80’s as this became a massive success for him this year. Interestingly, this was much bigger on ARIA than it was on AMR, suggesting there was a bias against country music on the latter charts.
This was the first album to be released in Australia to see major success for Aerosmith, I’m guessing because they revealed themselves to have a sensitive side with the second single which they were reluctant to show on their earlier material. I’m not sure why their earlier work failed to find an audience here as it does regularly appear on oldies stations, I guess they were too ahead of their time.
This album looked like it was going to be a complete failure in Australia due to our refusal to give Paula a hit single from the album, however we eventually relented with her duet with a cartoon cat which helped the album find success here almost two years after its initial release. I’m guessing we didn’t let this be a success at first due to us already having to deal with all of the Kylie Minogue rip-offs from this period and not wanting to deal with Paula’s rip-offs as well.
This was an album that really took its sweet time in becoming a success here in Australia, mainly because Janet wasn’t among the most popular artists here prior to the release of her next album Janet. I guess we were eventually won over with “Black cat” as that was her rare rock song, however even then it wasn’t until “Love will never do without you” that the album finally took off here.
This was the second album to come from James Reyne, I guess so much for him being the weak link in Australian crawl if he was able to achieve this much success on his own long after the band had broken up. Indeed, his popularity would continue well into the 90’s where he even joined a supergroup by the name of Company of strangers, that group would achieve moderate success as recently as 1993.
This was the second album to come from Mike and the Mechanics, an album which proved to be their biggest hit given how their first album was released prior to when Mike Rutherford saw massive success with his other band Genesis as well as prior to establishing lead singer Paul Carrack as a household name with his solo work. Sadly, none of this did them any favours for transitioning their success into the 90’s.
This took its sweet time in becoming a success here in Australia, this is mainly because “Every little step” became a surprise hit here during the final stretch of the 80’s which enabled us Aussies to check out what all the fuss was about from Bobby Brown despite the big hit from the album flopping here when it became a Billboard chart topper for him.
This was a bit of a last hurrah for John Mellencamp given how this was the last successful album of his career here in Australia, although it did follow up his biggest album the Lonesome jubilee so perhaps it was bound to be successful regardless. He did retain success in his native America throughout the 90’s, he even scored a massive hit in 1994 with “Wild night” proving how much his fellow Americans still loved him.
This was the final album to be released from Stevie Nicks this decade, I guess its success is proof that we Aussies were into her music regardless of all the drama that went on behind the scenes of her career. That said she wouldn’t find much success going into the 90’s, so I guess this was a hit due to her tumultuous relationship with Lindsey Buckingham which officially came to an end during its production.
Well, this was an obvious attempt at Andrew Lloyd Weber cashing in on the success of his (then) most recent theatrical production Phantom of the opera by reminding his fans of all the other shows he’s put on and their highlights. Naturally this was a huge success for him given how well loved his shows are specifically for the music.
The summer of 88/89 was a hectic time in music if this album is anything go by, it had a good selection of music to choose from which ensured its success here.
Although these guys never achieved much success here in Australia, it appears that they were well known in the mainstream long enough to have this greatest hits package be a huge success for them back in the day.
I feel if this wasn’t attached to one of the most successful films of the 80’s, this would’ve been a flop for Prince as he wasn’t doing very well in Australia following the critical disaster of his second film Under the cherry moon. Indeed, I’m not sure how many people particularly care for the lead single which is more a collage of scenes from the film with him occasionally singing throughout its runtime.as a huge success for him given how well loved his shows are specifically for the music.
This was so much less successful than Tracy’s previous album here in Australia, although it was nonetheless a success for her likely due to it connecting with an audience even if said audience wasn’t as vast as her debut album on this release. Still, it would be wrong to say that she only had two successful albums throughout her career given how this did leave a mark back in the day.
It had been nearly a decade since Deborah Harry last had a huge album in her catalogue, although her previous album did spawn a huge hit for her three years prior so it’s not like this was a comeback for her or anything. This was a massive flop for her in her native America, making this a true return to her Blondie days as this managed to find more success internationally for her entering the 90’s.
This was the final album that Linda Ronstadt managed to have any success with worldwide, although I’m guessing it was due to audiences resonating with the lead single about how getting old kind of sucks, but she doesn’t care now that she’s found the love of her life with Aaron Neville. Indeed, this is her most sombre album that I’ll be featuring on this site, likely a reflection of how she’s matured over the years.
Their debut album was plenty successful when it was released the previous year here in Australia, however it was the second album from Transvision vamp that made them a household name thanks to the seductiveness of Wendy James reaching its peak on this album. Sadly, the band couldn’t keep this winning streak going in the 90’s as their third album would be a huge flop for them that decade.
Well, the 80’s was coming to an end, so what better way for these guys to end it with one final album in their catalogue? This was more of a last hurrah for the duo as their last album Savage wasn’t a huge success for them, this is despite the fact that was the album they released after their biggest album Revenge which was only three years old by this point.
This was a bit of a commercial disappointment for Kylie Minogue as it’s the only album of hers where she tries her hand at standards music in addition to more of the fun bubble-gum pop she had from her debut album. It was a moderate success here in Australia and the UK; however, it was such a failure in America that it resulted in her getting dropped from her label over there.
This had a rather slow rise to its success here in Australia, I’m guessing because these guys weren’t among the more popular Australian bands of the decade despite scoring a huge hit with their debut single “Great wall.” Their fortunes changed for the better when the album became a huge success around the turn of the decade due to fan favourite “Dancing in the storm” taking over the airwaves.
This was the only notable success that Motley Crue had here in Australia, although the band members nowadays seem to be more famous than their music due to the antics that could take up an entire paragraph if I were to list them here (I won’t.) It makes sense this was a success given how it was one of the last hair metal albums to be released in the 80’s and that the songs on here still resonate with audiences to this day.
Given how his onscreen wife had taken the music industry by storm this year, it only seems fitting that Jason Donovan would follow suit by releasing this album which was a massive success despite people questioning his musical abilities when listening to the album. It may have been a hit at the time; however, few will claim that he was a vocal talent unlike his onscreen wife Kylie Minogue.
Rod Stewart hadn’t troubled the charts since his 1981 effort Tonight I’m yours, sure he had a minor hit here and there, but it seemed like his time in the spotlight was done going into the 90’s. Naturally that would turn out to be false with his next album Vagabond heart, however he did release this best of album which was a huge success for him with fans of his overall work.
This is the penultimate album from Queen to feature Freddie Mercury on lead vocals, it was a modest success here in Australia which was able to pick up the slack from their previous album and even managed to spawn one final hit for them here in the form of its lead single.
This was the second last compilation album to chart on ARIA’s main charts, it was noticeably more success on there than on the AMR charts meaning that had ARIA not pawned off these albums onto their own charts they likely would’ve dominated their main charts throughout the 90’s. Oh and this album proves that the summer of 88/89 was a hectic time in the Australian music scene.
Given how he was coming off by far his biggest album (at least it was here in Australia) it only makes sense that Robert Palmer would cap off the 80’s with a greatest hits package that only saw its success as the start of the 90’s here in Australia due to how long it took to take off here. Sadly, he wouldn’t find any further success here after this save for his collaboration with UB40.
This was a huge flop upon its initial release two years prior, in fact I’m not sure why it was a hit at the start of the decade other than to give Cliff ultimately false hope that he would still be relevant throughout the 90’s here in Australia like he admittedly was in his native UK.
This was the first solo album from the heartland rocker as he temporarily disbanded the Heartbreakers around this time, this was mainly due to his work with the Traveling wilburys which perhaps explains the success of this album here in Australia given how inescapable their earlier entry on this list was back in the day. Unfortunately, this revived interest in his career was temporary as his 90’s work flopped here.
This is where Tina Turner’s winning streak came to an end here in Australia as she wouldn’t see much success in the 90’s aside from her greatest hits package Simply the best, even then I get the feeling that was only the case given how she named it after the lead single to this album which became her biggest hit down under due to how well it connected with us Aussies.
Given how this managed to spawn three UK chart toppers for the band in question, it makes sense that this debut album for Jive bunny and the Mastermixers would be the first chart topper of the decade here in Australia given how it came out at a time where mashup singles were all the rage in the mainstream.
This is another album that needed more than one attempt to find an audience in the late 80’s, in this case it was due to the lead single not being able to connect with audiences upon its initial release from the previous year due to how different it sounded from everything else. Eventually people were won over by Sam’s unique vocals and how different the album was from everything else making it a success.
This was only barely a success here in Australia for the Cure (it charted high but quickly exited our charts, hence its relatively high placement on this list) I’m guessing it only became as such due to the lead single becoming the band’s biggest hit over in America and us Aussies wanting to support the band with their newfound fame over there.
This is the final album that Paul Kelly found any success with, at least it was until the 2010’s where he saw a massive resurgence in popularity likely due to country music (at least in our local scene) seeing a massive surge in popularity in recent years. It’s a bit weird this underperformed given how he saw massive radio airplay with “Dumb things” from the Young Einstein soundtrack, but at least he still found some success.
This would be the final album that Melissa Etheridge had any success with here in Australia, it’s a pit because both Tracy Chapman and Toni Childs would go on to have massive success in the 90’s whilst she was left in the dust. I wouldn’t feel too bad for her though as she did eventually find success in her homeland throughout the 90’s even if that success didn’t translate to our scene.
ARIA charts
Well, this is certainly a surprise, mainly because I really wasn’t expecting to feature one of the albums from this critically acclaimed band on this site. Admittedly they were seeing a bit of mainstream success worldwide given how the lead single became a surprise hit in certain countries, but it still feels like an outlier on this list doesn’t it?
This was the first hip hop album to find success here in Australia which is interesting that it should come from Tone Loc considering this was before he became known for being a voice actor in children’s media. Still it’s comforting to know that at least someone with credibility in the rap game managed to have the first rap album to be successful here, that honour could’ve gone to something far more embarrassing.
As far as their fans are concerned, this was the only album from Scottish band Texas given how their 90’s output saw mixed results for them both commercially and especially critically. They were a very earnest country band who made it big through the female singer/songwriter boom from around this time, although they didn’t have commercial success in the 90’s likely due to being a British band amongst American women in this group.
