Australia’s 200 best albums of all time revealed by Rolling Stone Australia

Rolling Stone Australia has named the 200 Greatest Aussie Albums of All Time – a list sure to split ranks across the art versus popularity divide. Here’s a sneak peek.

Kathy McCabe

@McCabeRadar

3 min read

December 6, 2021 - 9:20AM

News Corp Australia Network

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There’s nothing music fans love to hate on more than a Greatest Of All Time list.

It is no great shock to find AC/DC’s world-conquering rock classic Back In Black on top of the new 200 Greatest Aussie Albums Of All Time poll compiled by Rolling Stone Australia.

The lean, mean arena rock record remains the second highest selling album in the world, with more than 50 million copies sold since it was first released in 1980. It continues to find new generations of fans with each anniversary reissue.

Musician Angus Young from band AC/DC.

But every record below its No. 1 perch on the Rolling Stone list is bound to provoke feelings.

Rolling Stone sought the input of 800 artists, producers, industry staffers and journalists for the list and the debate about inclusions and omissions will be exhaustive.

Editor Tyler Jenke cites his biggest surprises to make the cut were The Kid Laroi’s F*** Love (No. 99) and Lime Cordiale’s 14 Steps To A Better You (No. 198), both released in July 2020.

The Kid Laroi performs in Reading, England. Picture: C Brandon/Redferns

But Jenke said both records were career-defining, particularly when you consider Laroi just scored a 2022 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.

“When they made the shortlist, we thought we had to be really careful about recency bias,” he said.

“But you listen to those records, and look at the impact they have had, and you realise it is a correct choice to have them there.”

Supplied Entertainment Powderfinger. Picture: Supplied/Ian Jennings

The 200 Greatest Aussie Albums, like all contentious music lists, will split ranks across the art versus popularity divide.

Jenke said chart positions, sales, awards and other “metrics” which measured their local and international impact were weighed alongside artistic merit and cultural influence.

Midnight Oil.

That weighting explains why popular and era-defining records from the 80s and 90s – INXS, John Farnham, Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, Silverchair, Powderfinger and Crowded House – dominate the top 20.

Crowded House made the list. Picture: Supplied by EMI Music Australia

The 90s is the most featured decade which reflects perhaps a lot of Generation X voters or its golden age for alternative rock and homegrown pop exploding on the global airwaves and concert stages, from Savage Garden (No. 9) and Tina Arena (No. 120) and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (No. 13) to You Am I (No. 11).

Nick Cave. Picture: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Gucci

Cave was the most popular artist, with five albums with the Bad Seeds and one with The Birthday Party making the cut.

All five Silverchair albums figure on the list which was finalised before the recent Who Is Daniel Johns? podcast reignited the band’s catalogue on streaming services.

“So many of the songs and albums from that decade still resonate today. It was also the era when Triple J went national and shone a light on a lot of artists who wouldn’t usually get mainstream radio play,” Jenke said.

Kylie Minogue performs on stage during The Fashion Awards 2021 at the Royal Albert Hall on November 29, 2021 in London, England. Picture: Jeff Spicer/BFC/Getty Images for BFC

Kylie Minogue’s biggest selling album Fever (2001) was the highest ranked record by a female artist at No. 10.

Sia, Kasey Chambers, Sarah Blasko and Sampa The Great had two entries on the list but overall there were just over 40 records made by female or non-binary solo artists or bands featuring women in the final 200.

Jimmy Barnes performs at a Cold Chisel concert.

Jenke knows the list will fall short which scrutinised through the same equality lens now applied by fans and critics to festival line-ups and awards nominations.

“There were albums like Kylie’s Impossible Princess for example which made the ‘honourable mentions’ and I thought it was important to have Renee Geyer’s record (Ready To Deal, No. 183) in there but we had definitely hoped to spotlight more artists and albums which often get overlooked in favour of their male counterparts,” Jenke said.