List of best-selling albums in Australia explained

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; and Shania Twain's Come On Over holds record for the best-selling album by a female solo artist, with twenty-five times platinum. 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[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.

scope=col		Year	Album	Artist	Nationality	Award	Sales	Source
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1		Bat Out of Hell		US	26× Platinum	1,820,000	[5]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2		Come On Over		Canada	25× Platinum	1,750,000
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	3		Whispering Jack		Australia	24× Platinum	1,680,000	[6]
4		Gold: Greatest Hits (40th Anniversary Edition)		Sweden	17× Platinum 1× Platinum	1,260,000	[7]
	2002	The Eminem Show	Eminem	US	18× Platinum		[8]
6		Thriller		US	17× Platinum	1,190,000
		Brothers in Arms		UK			[9]
		21		UK
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	9		The Best of ABBA		Sweden	22× Platinum	1,100,000	[10]
10	1981	Greatest Hits	Queen	UK	15× Platinum	1,050,000	[11]
	2003	Innocent Eyes	Delta Goodrem	Australia			[12]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	12		Jagged Little Pill		Canada	14× Platinum	align=right	1,035,000	[13] [14]
13	2011	Christmas	Michael Bublé	Canada	2× Diamond	1,000,000	[15]
15		The Dark Side of the Moon		UK	14× Platinum	980,000
		Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta & Various Artists	Various	[16]
	Born in the U.S.A.		US	[17]
	So Far So Good		Canada
19		Cross Road		US	13× Platinum	910,000
	Falling into You		Canada
	Recurring Dream − The Very Best of Crowded House		New Zealand / Australia	[18]
	Rumours		UK / US
	Metallica		US
	Funhouse		US	[19]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	25		Arrival		Sweden	18× Platinum	900,000
26	1980	Back in Black	AC/DC	Australia	12× Platinum	840,000	[20]
		The Immaculate Collection		US			[21]
		Music Box		US
		Savage Garden		Australia			[22]
		The Complete Greatest Hits		US
				Australia
	2005		Eminem	US			[23] [24]
		I'm Not Dead		US
33	1979	The Wall	Pink Floyd	UK	11× Platinum	770,000
		Dirty Dancing	Various Artists	US
		Forrest Gump	Various Artists	US
		Come Away with Me		US			[25]
		Only by the Night		US
		Greatest Hits...So Far!!!		US
		1989		US
		÷		UK
39		Hot August Night		US	14× Platinum	700,000	[26] [27]
		ABBA		Sweden
		Led Zeppelin Remasters		UK	10× Platinum		[28]
		Dangerous		US
		Soul Deep		Australia
		Don't Ask		Australia			[29]
		Throwing Copper		US
		Greatest Hits		US
		Yourself or Someone Like You		US			[30]
		1		UK
		I Dreamed a Dream		UK
		25		UK			[31]
		×		UK

See also

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

External links

• ARIA Home Page

Notes and References

1. Web site: ARIA Accreditations . Australian Recording Industry Association. 2010-02-06.
2. Glenn A Baker. Riding an International Wave. Billboard. 12 June 1982. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.. 54, Australia New Zealand insert p. 2 (A/NZ2). 0006-2510.
3. Billboard. Glenn A Baker. Pacing the Majors: Labels Try to Balance Pluses and Minuses in Year of Transition . 60, Australia insert p. 6. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.. 15 November 1986 . 11 February 2024.
4. Web site: Ryan. Gavin. ARIA Albums: Adele '25' Debuts at No 1 in Australia. 28 November 2015. noise1.com. 20 January 2017.
5. Australia. 2022. album. 5 December 2022.
6. Australia. album. 2006. 22 October 2021.
7. Australia. album. 2019. 23 October 2021.
8. Australia. 2024. album. 28 June 2024.
9. Australia. album. 2009. 23 October 2021.
10. Billboard Magazine Volume 91, No. 36. 0006-2510. Glen Baker. Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 8 November 1979. 11 December 2010.
11. Australia. album. 2014. 23 December 2019.
13. Australia. album. 1998. 23 October 2021.
14. Web site: ARIA Charts media release 7 November 2015. ARIA. 20 January 2017.
15. Web site: ARIA End of Year Album Chart 2016. Australian Recording Industry Association. 20 January 2017.
16. Web site: ARIA Catalogue Albums Chart – 03/12/2012. Australian Recording Industry Association. 2012-03-12. 2012-03-12. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20121204000500/http://www.ariacharts.com.au/chart/catalogue-albums/397. 4 December 2012.
17. Australia. 2021. 6 February 2022.
18. Australia. album. 2010. 23 October 2021.
19. Australia. album. 2023. 3 May 2023.
20. Australia. album. 2013. 23 October 2021.
21. Web site: ARIA Catalogue Albums Chart . Australian Recording Industry Association . 2012-10-06 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121006023207/http://www.ariacharts.com.au/chart/catalogue-albums/94 . 6 October 2012.
22. Australia. album. 2001. 23 October 2021.
23. Australia. album. 2020. 23 October 2021.
24. Web site: Eminem – "Curtain Call" Certified 12xPlatinum in Australia | Eminem.Pro - the biggest and most trusted source of Eminem. 6 September 2020.
25. Australia. album. 2012. 23 October 2021.
26. Position 21, 138th week: Hot August Night - Neil Diamond, 14 x Platinum ARIA Albums Chart. 24 November 1991.
27. Position 41, 145th week: Hot August Night - Neil Diamond, 14 x Platinum Web site: ARIA Album Chart. 12 January 1992.
28. Australia. album. 2007. 23 October 2021.
29. News: The all-time more than 500,000 sellers, according to ARIA accreditations . The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 2009-08-10 . 12 July 2007.
30. Web site: ARIA Australian Top 20 Catalogue Albums Australia's Official Top 20 Catalogue Records - ARIA Charts . www.ariacharts.com.au . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120912050643/http://www.ariacharts.com.au/chart/catalogue-albums/196 . 2012-09-12.
31. Australia. album. 2017. 23 October 2021.