Australia is the sixth biggest David Bowie market according to Spotify

Australia is the sixth largest market in the world for David Bowie, according to Spotify.

Forty one years after its release, ‘Heroes’ remains our favourite Thin White Duke song.

Interestingly it was not one of his greatest commercial releases in this country.

It peaked at #11 when first released in 1977 and at #36 when it re-charted after his death.

This week marks his birth (January 8) and death (January 10).

To mark what would have been his 71st birthday, Spotify released a playlist of 71 tracks called This Is David Bowie.

The streaming service also released figures about the British superstar who sold 140 million albums at the time of his death – seven million of those 1983’s Let’s Dance, which went to #1 in Australia.

Top Bowie Songs on Spotify (Australia)

Heroes
Starman
Rebel Rebel
Life On Mars?
Space Oddity
Let’s Dance
Modern Love
Moonage Daydream
Right
Ziggy Stardust

Top Bowie Songs on Spotify (Global)

Heroes
Under Pressure
Starman
Let’s Dance
Rebel Rebel
Space Oddity
Life On Mars?
Modern Love
Moonage Daydream
Ziggy Stardust

Top Countries Listening to Bowie on Spotify (Global)

Ireland
Iceland
United Kingdom
New Zealand
Greece
Australia
Italy
Belgium
Spain
Poland

Last August, Spotify reported that the British superstar had generated 1 billion streams worldwide.

As part of its announcement, the service also included a quote from 2002 when the far-sighted Bowie predicted, “The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it.

“Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity.”

Australia always had a strong fascination for David Bowie.

It went back to when he was a 12-year old, still called David Jones, and growing up in the bleakest part of London in the 1950s.

He saw a Stravinsky record with an album cover depicting an artist’s impression of Uluru.

During his first visit to Australia in 1978, he made it a point to visit the landmark – and fell in love with indigenous culture.

He was outraged by the treatment they received, especially in the outback.

When he returned in 1983, he shot the $500,000 video for ‘Let’s Dance’ in the NSW bush, in a bar in the small town of Carinda and which highlighted the injustices – and which he spoke about repeatedly in interviews around the world.

Australians’ laid back attitude to life and celebrity also led him to, that year, buy an apartment in Elizabeth Bay.

He returned to stay there many times, just to get away from the hassles of being a superstar in the northern hemisphere, and where he could walk around and not be badgered.

He sold it in 1992 after his marriage to Iman.

Bowie also shot the video for ‘China Girl’ in Sydney, a city where he also recorded the Tin Machine albums, which were clearly inspired by the music of Australian band The Celibate Rifles.

It is said that Bowie’s work in Sydney helped those in the northern hemisphere start seeing the city as a pop culture destination – something which is common nowadays but not in the early ‘80s.

When he died two years ago, grief stricken Australian fans went out and bought his records in droves.

Blackstar debuted at #1 on the ARIA chart – his third Aussie chart topper, after Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) and Let’s Dance.

No less than 17 Bowie albums rushed back into the ARIA Top 100 a week later.