List of best-selling albums in Australia

This is a list of best-selling albums in Australia that have been certified by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Since the 1970s, ARIA certified an album platinum for a shipment of 50,000 copies across Australia. In 1983, the number of copies required for a platinum album was raised to 70,000 copies.^[1] All albums in this list released after 1982 must have won at least ten ARIA Platinum Awards (700,000 copies) or fourteen awards (700,000 copies) if released before 1983. This list is primarily based on the ARIA database, so it does not include some of the albums which were best-sellers before ARIA began tracking records.

According to ARIA certifications, Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf is the best-selling album of all time in Australia with twenty-five times platinum, Whispering Jack by John Farnham is the second-best-selling album and best-selling album for any local artist with twenty-four times platinum, Shania Twain's Come On Over holds record for the best-selling album by a female solo artist with seventeen times platinum. Gold: Greatest Hits by ABBA is the best-selling compilation album ever, while Madonna's The Immaculate Collection is the best-selling compilation album in solo artist category. All of these records (except for the second-best-selling album of all time) are held by foreign artists. The highest-selling album by an Australian female solo artist is Delta Goodrem's debut Innocent Eyes with fifteen times platinum.

Gold and Platinum certification awards (Timeline)

Albums

Certification	Until 1983^[2]	Since 1983^[1]^[3]	Since 2015^[4]
Gold	20,000	35,000	no change
Platinum	50,000	70,000	no change
Diamond	–	–	500,000

Best-selling albums in Australia

Listing is sorted by certified sales and by release year.

No.	Year	Album	Artist	Nationality	Award	Sales	Source
1	1977	Bat Out of Hell	Meat Loaf	US	26× Platinum	1,820,000	^[5]
2	1997	Come On Over	Shania Twain	Canada	25× Platinum	1,750,000	^[5]
3	1986	Whispering Jack	John Farnham	Australia	24× Platinum	1,680,000	^[6]
4	1992 2014	Gold: Greatest Hits Gold: Greatest Hits (40th Anniversary Edition)	ABBA	Sweden	17× Platinum 1× Platinum	1,260,000	^[7]^[8] ^[7]
5	1985	Brothers in Arms	Dire Straits	UK	17× Platinum	1,190,000	^[9]
	2011	21	Adele	UK			^[8]
7	1982	Thriller	Michael Jackson	US	16× Platinum	1,120,000	^[10]
8	1975	The Best of ABBA	ABBA	Sweden	22× Platinum	1,100,000	^[11]
9	2003	Innocent Eyes	Delta Goodrem	Australia	15× Platinum	1,050,000	^[10]^[12]
	1981	Greatest Hits	Queen	UK			^[7]
11	1995	Jagged Little Pill	Alanis Morissette	Canada	14× Platinum	1,035,000	^[13]^[14]
12	2011	Christmas	Michael Bublé	Canada	2× Diamond	1,000,000	^[15]
	2002	The Eminem Show	Eminem	US			^[16]
14	1973	The Dark Side of the Moon	Pink Floyd	UK	14× Platinum	980,000	^[10]
	1978	Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture	Various Artists	Various			^[13]^[17]
	1984	Born in the U.S.A.	Bruce Springsteen	US			^[16]
	1993	So Far So Good	Bryan Adams	Canada			^[5]
18	1994	Cross Road	Bon Jovi	US	13× Platinum	910,000	^[5]
	1996	Falling into You	Celine Dion	Canada			^[10]
	1996	Recurring Dream − The Very Best of Crowded House	Crowded House	New Zealand / Australia			^[18]
	1977	Rumours	Fleetwood Mac	UK / US			^[10]
	1991	Metallica	Metallica	US			^[16]
23	1976	Arrival	ABBA	Sweden	18× Platinum	900,000	^[11]
24	2005	Curtain Call: The Hits	Eminem	US	12× Platinum	840,000	^[19]^[20]
	1980	Back in Black	AC/DC	Australia			^[21]
	1990	The Immaculate Collection	Madonna	US			^[22]
	1997	Savage Garden	Savage Garden	Australia			^[23]
	2003	The Complete Greatest Hits	Eagles	US			^[18]^[6]
	1993	Music Box	Mariah Carey	US			^[10]
	2008	Funhouse	P!nk	US			^[24]
31	1987	Dirty Dancing	Various Artists	US	11× Platinum	770,000	^[10]
	1994	Forrest Gump	Various Artists	US			^[10]
	2002	Come Away with Me	Norah Jones	US			^[25]
	2006	I'm Not Dead	P!nk	US			^[18]
	1979	The Wall	Pink Floyd	UK			^[10]
	2017	÷	Ed Sheeran	UK			^[5]
	2008	Only by the Night	Kings of Leon	US			^[5]
38	1975	ABBA	ABBA	Sweden	14× Platinum	700,000	^[11]
	1972	Hot August Night	Neil Diamond	US			^[26]^[27]
	1990	Led Zeppelin Remasters	Led Zeppelin	UK	10× Platinum		^[28]
	1991	Dangerous	Michael Jackson	US			^[10]
	1994	Don't Ask	Tina Arena	Australia			^[10]^[29]
	1996	Yourself or Someone Like You	Matchbox Twenty	US			^[30]
	2000	1	The Beatles	UK			^[9]
	2009	I Dreamed a Dream	Susan Boyle	UK			^[10]
	2015	25	Adele	UK			^[31]
	1994	Throwing Copper	Live	US			^[8]
	1991	Soul Deep	Jimmy Barnes	Australia			^[19]
	2010	Greatest Hits...So Far!!!	P!nk	US			^[19]
	2014	×	Ed Sheeran	UK			^[16]
	1995	Greatest Hits	Bruce Springsteen	US			^[5]
	2014	1989	Taylor Swift	US			^[5]

See also

•  Australia portal
•  Music portal
•  Record production portal

• Australian Recording Industry Association
• Music of Australia
• List of best-selling singles in Australia
• List of best-selling albums by country

References

1. "ARIA Accreditations". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
2. Glenn A Baker (12 June 1982). "Riding an International Wave". Billboard. Billboard, Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 54, Australia New Zealand insert p2 (A/NZ2). ISSN 0006-2510.
3. Baker, Glenn A. (15 November 1986). "Pacing the Majors: Labels Try to Balance Pluses and Minuses in Year of Transition". Billboard Vol. 98, No. 46–. Retrieved 16 October 2012. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
4. Ryan, Gavin (28 November 2015). "ARIA Albums: Adele '25' Debuts at No 1 in Australia". noise1.com. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
5. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2022 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
6. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2006 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
7. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2014 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
8. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2019 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
9. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2009 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
10. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2011 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
11. Glen Baker (8 November 1979). "Billboard Magazine Volume 91, No. 36". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
12. Scatena, Dino (17 November 2013). "Delta force". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
13. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1998 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
14. "ARIA Charts media release 7 November 2015" (PDF). ARIA. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
15. "ARIA End of Year Album Chart 2016". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
16. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2021" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
17. . Australian Recording Industry Association. 12 March 2012. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
18. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2010 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
19. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2020 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
20. "Eminem – "Curtain Call" Certified 12xPlatinum in Australia | Eminem.Pro - the biggest and most trusted source of Eminem". 6 September 2020.
21. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2013 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
22. . Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 6 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
23. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2001 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
24. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2018 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
25. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2012 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
26. Position 21, 138th week: Hot August Night - Neil Diamond, 14 x Platinum "ARIA Albums Chart". 24 November 1991. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
27. Position 41, 145th week: Hot August Night - Neil Diamond, 14 x Platinum "ARIA Album Chart". 12 January 1992. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
28. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2007 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
29. "The all-time more than 500,000 sellers, according to ARIA accreditations". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 12 July 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
30. . www.ariacharts.com.au. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012.
31. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2017 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 23 October 2021.

External links

• ARIA Home Page