These are the top 50 albums of 1988 in Australia from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) End of Year Albums Chart.[1] These were the first End of Year album charts created by ARIA, it had started producing its own charts from mid-1988.[2] ARIA had previously used the Kent Music Report, known from 1987 onwards as the Australian Music Report.[3]
| Title | Artist | Highest pos. reached | weeks at No. 1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kick | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2. | Dirty Dancing | Motion Picture Soundtrack | 1 | 8 | |
| 3. | Freight Train Heart | 1 | 5 | ||
| 4. | Whenever You Need Somebody | 1 | 1 | ||
| 5. | The Lonesome Jubilee | John Cougar Mellencamp | 2 | ||
| 6. | Man of Colours | 1 | 11 | ||
| 7. | Tracy Chapman | 3 | |||
| 8. | Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby | 1 | 5 | ||
| 9. | Push | 4 | |||
| 10. | Whispering Jack | 1 | 25 | ||
| 11. | Faith | 3 | |||
| 12. | Tour of Duty | TV Soundtrack | 3 | ||
| 13. | Age of Reason | 1 | 9 | ||
| 14. | Temple of Low Men | 1 | 2 | ||
| 15. | Good Morning, Vietnam | Motion Picture Soundtrack | 2 | ||
| 16. | Open Up and Say... Ahh! | 2 | |||
| 17. | Kylie | 2 | |||
| 18. | A Momentary Lapse of Reason | 2 | |||
| 19. | Bonk | 5 | |||
| 20. | Lap of Luxury | 6 | |||
| 21. | Big Bad Noise | 11 | |||
| 22. | Wow! | 1 | 1 [4] | ||
| 23. | Heavy Nova | 2 | |||
| 24. | Cloud Nine | 4 | |||
| 25. | Wired World of Sports | 1 | 3 | ||
| 26. | Noiseworks | 2 | |||
| 27. | Diesel and Dust | 1 | 6 | ||
| 28. | Tiffany | 6 | |||
| 29. | Hit Pix '88 | Various Artists | 1 | 3 | |
| 30. | '88 Kix On | Various Artists | 1 | 4 | |
| 31. | Tales of the City | 14 | |||
| 32. | Live Line | 2 | |||
| 33. | Monsoon | 9 | |||
| 34. | Richard Marx | 7 | |||
| 35. | You've Always Got the Blues | 7 | |||
| 36. | Tango in the Night | 5 | |||
| 37. | Tour of Duty II | TV Soundtrack | 5 | ||
| 38. | Appetite for Destruction | 7 | |||
| 39. | Union | 8 | |||
| 40. | 88 the Winners | Various Artists | 1 | 4 | |
| 41. | Chantoozies | 8 | |||
| 42. | Blow Up Your Video | 2 | |||
| 43. | Bad | 2 | |||
| 44. | Pump It Up '88 | Various Artists | 37 | ||
| 45. | ...Nothing Like the Sun | 3 | |||
| 46. | OU812 | 9 | |||
| 47. | Boomerang Cafe | 10 | |||
| 48. | Unchain My Heart | 24 | |||
| 49. | Vital Idol | 12 | |||
| 50. | 1988 What's Hot | Various Artists | 2 |
Peak chart positions from 1987 and early 1988 were calculated by David Kent for the Kent Music Report.[3] Late 1988 peak chart positions are from the ARIA Charts.[2] Overall position on the End of Year Chart is calculated by ARIA based on the number of weeks and position that the records reach within the Top 50 albums for each week during 1988.