ARIA announces the biggest selling albums and singles of the year

2014 was a year of diverse and infectious music, to say the least. Punters went from enjoying clap-happy, family-friendly pop tunes to X-rated electronic-tinged rhetoric quicker than you could change that ‘dial’ on your digital playbox. Here’s what sold the best, according to those clever folk at ARIA…

Pharrell Williams’ ubiquitous single ‘Happy’ blitzed the singles chart, sitting contently in the top spot. The song spent 12 weeks at number one in 2014 and is currently more than nine-times platinum (note: even if you don’t know record company sales-speak, that’s a shitload of digital and hardcopy unit-shifting).

The biggest selling album was Ed Sheeran’s ambiguously titled ‘X’ which spawned three huge singles and sold more units than any other album release across 2014 (approaching four-times platinum).

Australians faired very well on the ARIA charts this year, with 36 Aussie artists making the top 100 albums for the past 12 months. These include Hilltop Hoods (‘Walking Under Stars’ sits at number nine in the best albums chart), Human Nature (their Christmas tie-in ‘Jukebox’ at number 10) and rock stalwarts INXS whose ‘The Very Best’ collection was the fourth highest selling LP.

Taylor Swift was a favourite throughout the year; her single ‘Shake It Off’ being the third best-selling track of the year, and LP ‘1989’ sitting pretty at number two in the end-of-year album charts. Only two other artists feature in the top 10 of both the top 100 singles and albums charts of 2014, these being Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith.

On the singles chart, the highest position from an Australian act comes from Brisbane pop sensation Sheppard and their infectious hit ‘Geronimo’, which landed at number four overall, closely followed at number five by Sydney-based group Justice Crew, whose smash ‘Que Sera’ spent nine weeks at the top, making it the longest-running number one single by an Australian artist since the ARIA charts began in 1983!

One of our favourite singles of the year, ‘Chandelier’ by Sia, stole the number six spot on the singles list.  Antonino Tati

TOP 10 SINGLES OF 2014

01. Pharrell Williams ‘Happy’

02. Meghan Trainor ‘All About That Bass’

03. Taylor Swift ‘Shake It Off’

04. Sheppard ‘Geronimo’

05. Justice Crew ‘Que Sera’

06. Sia ‘Chandelier’

07. Ed Sheeran ‘Thinking Out Loud’

08. Sam Smith ‘Stay With Me’

09. Timmy Trumpet featuring Savage ‘Freaks’

10. G.R.L. ‘Ugly Heart’

TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2014:

01. Ed Sheeran ‘X’

02. Taylor Swift ‘1989’

03. Various / Soundtrack ‘Frozen’

04. INXS ‘The Very Best’

05. Coldplay ‘Ghost Stories’

06. Sam Smith ‘In The Lonely Hour’

07. Katy Perry ‘Prism’

08. Michael Bublé ‘Christmas’

09. Hilltop Hoods ‘Walking Under Stars’

10. Human Nature ‘Jukebox’