The Top 10 Aussie Advertising Anthems

For advertising to be effective, it must stick. By successfully lodging itself into people’s memories, advertising’s effects continue long after exposure, increasing the likelihood of the brand coming to mind quickly during key buying moments. And there’s nothing that gets stuck in people’s heads quite like a musical earworm.
 
To dive into this more deeply, we spoke to over 1,000 everyday Australians to understand music’s role in the development of advertising that endures. We sought to understand the music used by advertisers that is most readily recalled by people, whether that be jingles, sonic logos, stings, mnemonic devices, and licensed tracks. And crucially, whether the music was associated with the right brand.
 
The results reinforced two enduring truths: music shouldn’t ever be treated as an afterthought in the creative development process, nor should it be confined to a mere supporting role. At its best, music has the power to make advertising—and the brands behind it—truly iconic.
 
Importantly, music and jingles don’t just create a feeling; they shape how a brand is encoded into memory. Nobody is mistakenly singing ‘we’re happy little Marmites,’ and that kind of ownership of course has the potential to be incredibly lucrative for brands.

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With the wider list featuring a diverse mix of music and sonic devices that brands have leveraged into their own, Kmart’s continued use of Avicii’s iconic EDM anthem ‘Levels’ emerged as the strongest brand/music combination in the Australian advertising landscape. The song has become inseparable from Kmart’s energetic creative identity—when people hear the familiar hook, odds are they’re going to think of Kmart.
 
Putting your own spin on famous songs can also work to make them your own. Every Australian is now likely familiar with Telstra’s whistling rendition of ‘Islands in the Stream,’ with the tune a crucial factor behind the ad’s repeated appearances on The Cubery Hot List in 2025. It’s therefore unsurprising to see it a close runner up to Kmart.
 
Rounding out the top three was the first bespoke brand composition, with Bunnings’ unmistakable jingle both highly memorable and widely loved, having deeply woven itself into the cultural fabric of Australia.

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The findings more broadly reinforce that music isn’t simply a decorative element when it comes to the pursuit of advertising effectiveness; it has the ability to fundamentally shape and alter a brand’s identity, and how it’s committed to memory.

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‘Levels’ helps inject dynamism and a sense of modernity into Kmart, while Peter Allan’s ‘I Still Call Australia Home’ anchors Qantas in national pride and belonging. When music aligns with what people already know and believe about a brand, or what the brand is striving to become, it helps strengthen mental shortcuts. And that’s when you move from simply having an ad that’s catchy to one that’s embedded into culture.