This list is focused only on songs by Australian acts. It was compiled by aggregating more than 20 lists and also integrating chart data, such as songs which reached #1 in Australia, America, and the UK. Sources are at the bottom of the page.
Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.
1. Men at Work “Down Under” (1981)
2. Midnight Oil “Beds Are Burning” (1987)
3. The Easybeats “Friday on My Mind” (1966)
4. Gotye with Kimbra “Somebody That I Used to Know” (2011)
5. John Farnham “You’re the Voice” (1986)
6. Cold Chisel “Khe Sanh” (1978)
7. Hunters & Collectors “Throw Your Arms Around Me” (1984)
8. Natalie Imbruglia “Torn” (1997)
9. Icehouse “Great Southern Land” (1982)
10. INXS “Never Tear Us Apart” (1987)
11. Bee Gees “Stayin’ Alive” (1977)
12. AC/DC “It’s a Long Way to the Top if You Wanna Rock N’ Roll” (1975)
13. INXS “Need You Tonight” (1987)
14. Daddy Cool “Eagle Rock” (1971)
15. Divinyls “I Touch Myself” (1990)
16. Rick Springfield “Jessie’s Girl” (1981)
17. Kylie Minogue “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” (2001)
18. Silverchair “Tomorrow” (1994)
19. Jimmy Barnes “Working Class Man” (1985)
20. Crowded House “Don’t Dream It’s Over” (1986)
21. Savage Garden “Truly, Madly, Deeply” (1997)
22. AC/DC “You Shook Me All Night Long” (1980)
23. Daryl Braithwaite “The Horses” (1991)
24. AC/DC “Back in Black” (1980)
25. Olivia Newton John & John Travolta “You’re the One That I Want” (1978)
26. Australian Crawl “Reckless (Don’t Be So)” (1983)
27. AC/DC “Highway to Hell” (1979)
28. Redgum “I Was Only Nineteen” (1983)
29. Tones and I “Dance Monkey” (2019)
30. Kylie Minogue “The Loco-Motion” (1987)
31. Olivia Newton-John “Physical” (1981)
32. The Church “Under the Milky Way” (1986)
33. Bee Gees “Night Fever” (1977)
34. Moving Pictures “What About Me?” (1982)
35. Goanna “Solid Rock” (1982)
36. Jet “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” (2003)
37. Yothu Yindi “Treaty” (1991)
38. Olivia Newton-John “I Honestly Love You” (1974)
39. INXS “What You Need” (1985)
40. Men at Work “Who Can It Be Now?” (1981)
41. Bee Gees “Tragedy” (1979)
42. Powderfinger “My Happiness” (2000)
43. Icehouse “Electric Blue” (1987)
44. Kylie Minogue “I Should Be So Lucky” (1987)
45. Crowded House “Better Be Home Soon” (1988)
46. AC/DC “Thunderstruck” (1990)
47. Andy Gibb “I Just Want to Be Your Everything” (1977)
48. Vance Joy “Riptide” (2013)
49. Paul Kelly “To Her Door” (1987)
50. Bee Gees “How Deep Is Your Love” (1977)
51. Russell Morris “The Real Thing” (1969)
52. Sia with Sean Paul “Cheap Thrills” (2016)
53. Little River Band “Help Is on Its Way” (1977)
54. Frank Ifield with Norrie Paramor “I Remember You” (1962)
55. Bee Gees “You Should Be Dancing” (1976)
56. Olivia Newton-John & John Travolta with Grease Cast “Summer Nights” (1978)
57. John Paul Young “Love Is in the Air” (1978)
58. Sherbet “Howzat” (1976)
59. Bee Gees “Too Much Heaven” (1979)
60. Savage Garden “I Knew I Loved You” (1999)
61. Midnight Oil “Power and the Passion” (1982)
62. Bee Gees “Jive Walkin’” (1975)
63. INXS “Original Sin” (1983)
64. Ariana Grande with Iggy Azalea “Problem” (2014)
65. Olivia Newton-John with Electric Light Orchestra “Xanadu” (1980)
66. INXS “New Sensation” (1987)
67. Pseudo Echo “Funky Town” (1986)
68. Iggy Azalea with Charli XCX “Fancy” (2014)
69. Olivia Newton-John “Magic” (1980)
70. Helen Reddy “I Am Woman” (1972)
71. Split Enz “I Got You” (1980)
72. Sia “Chandelier” (2014)
73. Olivia Newton-John “Hopelessly Devoted to You” (1978)
74. Savage Garden “I Want You” (1996)
75. The Seekers “Georgy Girl” (1966)
76. The Living End “Prisoner of Society” (1997)
77. Slim Dusty “Pub with No Beer” (1957)
78. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds “Into My Arms” (1997)
79. Andy Gibb “Shadow Dancing” (1978)
80. Little River Band “Cool Change” (1979)
81. The Models “Out of Mind, Out of Sight” (1985)
82. Joe Dolce “Shaddup Your Face” (1981)
83. The Seekers “I’ll Never Find Another You” (1965)
84. 5 Seconds of Summer “Youngblood” (2018)
85. Gang Gajang “Sounds of Then (This Is Australia)” (1985)
86. Silverchair “Straight Lines” (2007)
87. Midnight Oil “Blue Sky Mine” (1990)
88. David Guetta with Sia “Titanium” (2012)
89. Sia “Elastic Heart” (2015)
90. Icehouse “Crazy” (1987)
91. Stevie Wright “Evie” (1974)
92. 5 Seconds of Summer “She Looks So Perfect” (2014)
93. The Choirboys “Run to Paradise” (1987)
94. INXS with Jimmy Barnes “Good Times” (1987)
95. The Angels “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” (1977)
96. Air Supply “All Out of Love” (1980)
97. Bee Gees “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” (1971)
98. INXS “Suicide Blonde” (1990)
99. The Seekers “The Carnival Is Over” (1965)
100. Olivia Newton-John “A Little More Love” (1978)
Resources and Related Links:
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This is probably the most obvious #1 choice of all-time
ReplyDeleteDave, is this list not a personal ranking of yours based on your opinion but instead chosen from songs from various lists?
ReplyDeleteI noticed that you put Split Enz in your list. Personally I'd consider them a New Zealand act and in fact I think that they are considered as such. I'd also personally count Crowded House as a New Zealand band but they're a tricky one to place, a bit like The Jimi Hendrix Experience. I'm not sure where I placed TJHE on my lists but I may want to reconsider them. Same goes for where you place a band like Fleetwood Mac. Tricky to place, in other words.
dfle3
P.S. I've ranked songs by country myself, i.e. Australia, US, British Isles, New Zealand and Canada, as well as a lumped category of "Other" as I'm not familiar enough with music from such countries to make a decent sized list.
As noted at the top of the page, this list is not a personal list but an aggregate from multiple sources. I would agree that Split Enz and Crowded House are more New Zealand-based, but they showed up on enough Australian-based lists to make the cut.
DeleteAre you Australian? I'm guessing that you are. I had a look at some of your sources. I'd personally be interested in a list which listed songs which had hit #1 in Australia and mentioned how long they were in that position for and how many copies they sold. It would make for interesting reading. I'm guessing that especially in recent years the sales figures are way down on what they were decades ago.
DeleteI should have a copy of some Australian radio stations' listener polls for best song, if you're interested. They are a few years old though. More than.
dfle3
I am American, not Australian - but I'm glad the sources are apparently authentic enough to make it seem like I'm Australian. If you have links to other lists, feel free to post. Thanks!
DeleteHere's a meta list on Wikipedia for the Hottest 100. You can get each year's full 100 via the hyperlinks. They've thoughtfully
Deleteflagged the country that the songs hail from. This year's Hottest 100 announced recently has 66 Australian songs. Triple J
isn't my type of station but I have bought their Hottest 100 compilation double CDs in the past.
The radio station listener polls are something that I saved to spreadsheet, so I don't think that exist in online form
anymore.
It's quite random that an American would be interested in compiling a list like this, as Australia isn't one of the biggest
music markets. What sparked the idea of this list for you? How many of the songs in your list have you actually listened to?
I've had trouble getting my replies up here. Tried numerous times, so maybe might have seemed like I was spamming replies or
something. I haven't checked in in a while, so if this isn't up in a few days I might try again.
2nd attempt now, weeks after my first attempt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_J_Hottest_100#Hottest_100_top_tens_and_summaries
And I just thought of adding these lists now (maybe the ABC site has all time lists, which I didn't see):
https://www.nfsa.gov.au/about/our-mission/sounds-australia
https://scenestr.com.au/music/top-100-best-aussie-songs-of-all-time-max
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Australias-Ultimate-Songs-The-100-Greatest-Hits-Of-The-Century/release/894862
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/sounds-of-then-100-australian-songs-that-shaped-our-lives-20190124-p50tf8.html
https://www.abc.net.au/doublej/music-reads/features/the-50-best-australian-songs-of-the-90s/10267974
d
Here's a meta list on Wikipedia for the Hottest 100. You can get each year's full 100 via the hyperlinks. They've thoughtfully
Deleteflagged the country that the songs hail from. This year's Hottest 100 announced recently has 66 Australian songs. Triple J
isn't my type of station but I have bought their Hottest 100 compilation double CDs in the past.
The radio station listener polls are something that I saved to spreadsheet, so I don't think that exist in online form
anymore.
It's quite random that an American would be interested in compiling a list like this, as Australia isn't one of the biggest
music markets. What sparked the idea of this list for you? How many of the songs in your list have you actually listened to?
I've had trouble getting my replies up here. Tried numerous times, so maybe might have seemed like I was spamming replies or
something. I haven't checked in in a while, so if this isn't up in a few days I might try again.
3rdd attempt now, weeks after my first attempt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_J_Hottest_100#Hottest_100_top_tens_and_summaries
And I just thought of adding these lists now (maybe the ABC site has all time lists, which I didn't see):
https://www.nfsa.gov.au/about/our-mission/sounds-australia
https://scenestr.com.au/music/top-100-best-aussie-songs-of-all-time-max
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Australias-Ultimate-Songs-The-100-Greatest-Hits-Of-The-Century/release/894862
https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/sounds-of-then-100-australian-songs-that-shaped-our-lives-20190124-p50tf8.html
https://www.abc.net.au/doublej/music-reads/features/the-50-best-australian-songs-of-the-90s/10267974
d
Wonderful! Thanks Dave.
ReplyDelete