It’s quite a sad state of affairs really. There was a time when Aussie music dominated the charts in Australia. ARIA Charts posts videos of top 10s from the past on Instagram and this week they did 31 May 1992.
That week saw four Aussie hits in the top 10:
10. Shakespear’s Sister - Stay
9. Michael Jackson - In The Closet
8. Metallica - Nothing Else Matters
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge 6. Frente - Ordinary Angels (Clunk EP) 5. Rockmelons feat. Deni Hines - That Word (L.O.V.E.) 4. Euphoria - One In A Million
3. Kris Kross - Jump
2. Mr. Big - To Be With You 1. Girlfriend - Take It From Me
Last week in the ARIA Top 50 there were only two old songs from Kid Laroi lingering at 37 and 47.
There are a lot of issues in this space, but no one seems to be interested in talking about the quality of the music. Now people have multiple ways of accessing music (and much more than ever), (perceived) quality becomes a factor in what people will listen to.
It is rather subjective though. Some people like today’s music. People like me think it’s all toilet sounds (cue Hank Hill clip here, since I can’t insert Youtube clips).
Given the news about Mark Sheehan’s death this morning I would not be surprised if The Script’s catalogue of singles/albums re-enter the ARIA Top 50 next week (starting 24/4/2023), as was the case when Michael Jackson passed away in 2009 when a lot of his music re-entered the Singles and Albums charts in the week starting July 5 that year, and in July 2017 when Chester Bennington died suddenly after which a lot of Linkin Park’s old music re-charted in the top 50 in both Singles and Albums.
There is some very good new music around and there is some absolute tripe - the charts help sort the wheat from the chaff. If Australian music isn’t charting well, surely one of the questions is whether it’s just not getting people interested in listening?
The modern formation of the charts offers us a much better reflection of what music people are actually consuming (as opposed to simply buying)
I don’t know how accurate it is because there are a lot of algorithms involved and unless you’re specifically choosing the music you want, a lot music gets chosen for you by streaming services.
I know a lot of people who just select a genre, chart etc and will just listen to everything that is offered up. I’m convinced this is why so many tracks linger in the top 50 or even the top 10 for a year or two.
These two categories should have been introduced much earlier, to encourage commercial FM stations to play more Australian songs in the key slots of breakfast and drive.
A new version of Mimi Webb’s song “Last Train to London” featuring Finneas (the brother of Billie Eilish) is set to drop on Friday. She announced this at her London show which was the last stop on her Amelia Tour.
