The 100 Best Australian Albums of All Time

After the 47,000 votes were counted, the top gong went to Powderfinger's Odyssey Number 5.

Rich Fogarty
July 12, 2011

Each year on January 26 triple j put a mortgage on Australia's airwaves, pumping out the best 100 tracks from the previous year as voted by their listeners in the world's largest annual music poll. The station is one of the only non-commercial national youth radio networks anywhere in the world, and places a real focus on uncovering and supporting the best Australian talent, providing a soundtrack to many a misspent youth in the process.

So it was with great excitement that listeners awaited results in triple j's inaugural Hottest 100 Australian Records of All Time this past weekend. The results provided us with some interesting factoids, and after the 47,000 votes were counted, the top gong went to Powderfinger's Odyssey Number 5. At the time of its release in 2001, the album sold more than 500,000 copies and spent almost two years weeks on the ARIA Charts, winning six ARIAs in 2001, including Album of the Year and Single of the Year for 'My Happiness'.

Our personal picks for the Top Ten at Concrete Playground HQ are:

1. Since I Left You – The Avalanches
2. Frogstomp – Silverchair
3. Crowded House – Crowded House
4. Back In Black – AC/DC
5. Kick – INXS
6. Unit – Regurgitator
7. 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 – Midnight Oil
8. Lovers – The Sleepy Jackson
9. In Ghost Colours – Cut Copy
10. Human Frailty – Hunters & Collectors

The full Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time list is as follows:

1. Odyssey Number 5 – Powderfinger
2. Frogstomp – Silverchair
3. Back In Black – AC/DC
4. The Living End – The Living End
5. Kick – INXS
6. Internationalist – Powderfinger
7. Apocalypso – The Presets
8. Wolfmother – Wolfmother
9. Since I Left You – The Avalanches
10. Unit – Regurgitator
11. Like Drawing Blood – Gotye
12. Guide to Better Living – Grinspoon
13. Crowded House – Crowded House
14. Vulture Street – Powderfinger
15. Slightly Odway – Jebediah
16. The Hard Road – Hilltop Hoods
17. Eternal Nightcap – The Whitlams
18. Woodface – Crowded House
19. Innerspeaker – Tame Impala
20. Conditions – The Temper Trap
21. 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 – Midnight Oil
22. Diorama – Silverchair
23. The Calling – Hilltop Hoods
24. Sunrise Over Sea – The John Butler Trio
25. Get Born – Jet
26. Hourly, Daily – You Am I
27. Neon Ballroom – Silverchair
28. The Cat Empire – The Cat Empire
29. The Sound of White – Missy Higgins
30. Themata – Karnivool
31. Down the Way – Angus & Julia Stone
32. Universes – Birds of Tokyo
33. Diesel and Dust – Midnight Oil
34. Memories & Dust – Josh Pyke
35. Hi Fi Way – You Am I
36. In Ghost Colours – Cut Copy
37. Highly Evolved – The Vines
38. A Book Like This – Angus & Julia Stone
39. Birds of Tokyo – Birds of Tokyo
40. Echolalia – Something for Kate
41. Double Allergic – Powderfinger
42. East – Cold Chisel
43. Freak Show – Silverchair
44. Tu-Plang – Regurgitator
45. Sound Awake – Karnivool
46. Walking On A Dream – Empire Of The Sun
47. Black Fingernails, Red Wine – Eskimo Joe
48. Ivy and the Big Apples – Spiderbait
49. Whispering Jack – John Farnham
50. The New Normal – Cog
51. I Believe You Liar – Washington
52. Murder Ballads – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
53. Three – The John Butler Trio
54. Tea & Sympathy – Bernard Fanning
55. Blue Sky Mining – Midnight Oil
56. Bliss Release – Cloud Control
57. The Honeymoon Is Over – The Cruel Sea
58. New Detention – Grinspoon
59. As Day Follows Night – Sarah Blasko
60. We Are Born – Sia
61. Hold Your Colour – Pendulum
62. Cruel Guards – The Panics
63. Grand National – The John Butler Trio
64. Polyserena – George
65. Cold Chisel – Cold Chisel
66. Running on Air – Bliss N Eso
67. Flying Colours – Bliss N Eso
68. The Experiment – Art vs. Science
69. Gossip – Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls
70. Young Modern – Silverchair
71. Beams – The Presets
72. Beautiful Sharks – Something For Kate
73. Highway To Hell – AC/DC
74. The Overture & The Underscore – Sarah Blasko
75. Living In The 70s – Skyhooks
76. Human Frailty – Hunters & Collectors
77. Immersion – Pendulum
78. Lovers – The Sleepy Jackson
79. Gravity Won't Get You High – The Grates
80. (I'm) Stranded – The Saints
81. Feeler – Pete Murray
82. Up All Night – The Waifs
83. Wonder – Lisa Mitchell
84. 16 Lovers Lane – The Go-Betweens
85. State Of The Art – Hilltop Hoods
86. This Is The Warning – Dead Letter Circus
87. A Song Is A City – Eskimo Joe
88. Imago – The Butterfly Effect
89. Pnau – Pnau
90. The Long Now – Children Collide
91. Gilgamesh – Gypsy & The Cat
92. A Man's Not A Camel – Frenzal Rhomb
93. Moo, You Bloody Choir – Augie March
94. Everything Is True – Paul Dempsey
95. Stoneage Romeos – Hoodoo Gurus
96. Paging Mr. Strike – Machine Gun Fellatio
97. Begins Here – The Butterfly Effect
98. The Boatman's Call – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
99. Thrills, Kills & Sunday Pills – Grinspoon
100. Two Shoes – The Cat Empire

Published on July 12, 2011 by Rich Fogarty
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