# APRA Top 30 Australian songs

APRA's Top 30 Australian songs was a list created by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) in 2001, to celebrate its 75th anniversary. A panel of 100 music personalities were asked to list the "ten best and most significant Australian songs of the past 75 years". The top ten songs, in numerical order, were announced on 28 May 2001 at the APRA Awards. The next twenty were not ordered and had been released nearly four weeks earlier, on 2 May, in a media statement by APRA representative Debbie Kruger.
At the 2001 APRA Awards ceremony You Am I performed the No. 1 listed song "Friday on My Mind" with Harry Vanda of The Easybeats guesting on guitar. Ross Wilson of Daddy Cool performed the No. 2 listed song "Eagle Rock", while Midnight Oil's "Beds are Burning" at No. 3 was shown on video introduced by Senator Aden Ridgeway as an Indigenous spokesperson on reconciliation.

## Top Ten songs

| No. | Titles | Performers | Year | Writers | Music publishers | Peak chart position | Peak chart position |
| No. | Titles | Performers | Year | Writers | Music publishers | AUS | NZ |
| 1 | "Friday on My Mind" | The Easybeats | 1966 | Harry Vanda, George Young | J Albert & Son Pty Ltd | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | "Eagle Rock" | Daddy Cool | 1971 | Ross Wilson | Mushroom Music Pty Ltd | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | "Beds Are Burning" | Midnight Oil | 1987 | Rob Hirst, James Moginie, Peter Garrett | Sony Music Publ. Aus. | 6 | 1 |
| 4 | "Down Under" | Men at Work | 1981 | Colin Hay, Ron Strykert | EMI Songs Aus. Pty Ltd | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | "A Pub with No Beer" | Slim Dusty | 1957 | Gordon Parsons | EMI Music Publ. Aus. Pty Ltd | 1 | — |
| 6 | "The Loved One" | The Loved Ones | 1966 | Ian Clyne, Gerry Humphrys, Robert Lovett | Mushroom Music Pty Ltd | 2 | — |
| 7 | "Don't Dream It's Over" | Crowded House | 1986 | Neil Finn | Mushroom Music Pty Ltd | 8 | 1 |
| 8 | "Khe Sanh" | Cold Chisel | 1978 | Don Walker | Rondor Music Aus. Pty Ltd | 40 | — |
| 9 | "It's A Long Way To The Top" | AC/DC | 1976 | Bon Scott, Angus Young, Malcolm Young | J Albert & Son Pty Ltd | 5 | — |
| 10 | "Quasimodo's Dream" | The Reels | 1981 | Dave Mason | Festival Music Pty Ltd | — | — |

## The remaining 20 songs

Listed in chronological order:
| Year | Titles | Performers | Writers | Music publishers | Peak chart position | Peak chart position |
| Year | Titles | Performers | Writers | Music publishers | AUS | NZ |
| 1922 | "Along the Road to Gundagai" | Jack O'Hagan & various | Jack O'Hagan | Allans Music Aus. | — | — |
| 1969 | "The Real Thing" | Russell Morris | Johnny Young | Chappell & Co Aus. | 1 | — |
| 1971 | "I'll Be Gone" | Spectrum | Michael Rudd | Cellar Music Co | 1 | — |
| 1972 | "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" | The Bushwackers (1976) Eric Bogle (1980) | Eric Bogle | Larrikin Music Publ. | — | — |
| 1976 | "I'm Stranded" | The Saints | Chris Bailey, Ed Kuepper | Mushroom Music | — | — |
| 1979 | "Cool Change" | Little River Band | Glenn Shorrock | Warner Chappell Music | — | 25 |
| 1982 | "Science Fiction" | Divinyls | Christina Amphlett, Mark McEntee | EMI Music Publ. Aus. | 13 | — |
| 1982 | "Power and the Passion" | Midnight Oil | Robert Hirst, James Moginie, Peter Garrett | Sony Music Publ. Aus. | 8 | 4 |
| 1983 | "Reckless" | Australian Crawl | James Reyne | Warner Chappell Music | 1 | 8 |
| 1983 | "Cattle and Cane" | The Go-Betweens | Grant McLennan, Robert Forster | Festival Music, Complete Music Ltd (PRS) | — | — |
| 1983 | "I Was Only Nineteen" | Redgum | John Schumann | Universal/MCA Music Publ. | 1 | 41 |
| 1984 | "Throw Your Arms Around Me" | Hunters & Collectors | John Archer, Geoffrey Crosby, Douglas Falconer, Robert Miles, Mark Seymour, Michael Waters, John Howard | Mushroom Music | 49 | 28 |
| 1986 | "Wide Open Road" | The Triffids | David McComb | Mushroom Music | 64 | — |
| 1987 | "To Her Door" | Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls | Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls | Mushroom Music | 14 | — |
| 1988 | "My Island Home" | Warumpi Band (1988), Christine Anu (1995), Neil Murray | Neil Murray | Rondor Music Aus. | — | — |
| 1990 | "The Ship Song" | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | Nick Cave | Mute Song (PRS), Mushroom Music | — | — |
| 1991 | "Treaty" | Yothu Yindi | Paul Kelly, Mandawuy Yunupingu, Stuart Kellaway, Cal Williams, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Milkayngu Mununggurr, Witiyana Marika | Mushroom Music | 11 | — |
| 1997 | "Even When I'm Sleeping" | Leonardo's Bride | Dean Manning | Mushroom Music | 4 | 34 |
| 1997 | "Truly Madly Deeply" | Savage Garden | Darren Hayes, Daniel Jones | EMI Music Publ. Aus. / Rough Cut Music | 1 | 12 |
| 1998 | "The Day You Come" | Powderfinger | Jonathan Coghill, John Collins, Ian Haug, Darren Middleton, Bernard Fanning | Universal Music Publ. | 25 | — |