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Royel Otis Debut at No. 5 on ARIA Chart With 'Hickey'

Royel Otis bag a new career best as "Hickey," the Sydney indie rock act's second album, cracks the ARIA Chart Top 10 on debut.

By Lars BrandlePublished Aug 31, 2025
3 min read
Royel Otis Press Shot

It's a royal chart start for Royel Otis' Hickey, which cracks the ARIA Chart Top 10 on debut.

The Sydney duo of Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic bag a new career best as Hickey, their second album, opens its account at No. 5.

Hickey is the followup to 2024’s Pratts & Pain, winner of four ARIA Awards, including best rock album and best group. Pratts & Pain topped out at No. 10.

Hickey features the single “Moody,” which last month reached No. 1 on Adult Alternative Airplay chart, their first leader on a Billboard chart. “Moody” went one better than their cover of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor,” which hit No. 2 on Alternative Airplay in July 2024.

The soundtrack to KPop Demon Hunters can't be stopped, however, as the collection snaffles a seventh consecutive week at No. 1. That's the longest reign on the ARIA Albums Chart in 2025, according to ARIA.

Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, soundtrack hit “Golden” retains top spot for the fifth straight a row, and is one of KPop Demon Hunters songs in the Top 10.

The animated action/musical is a worldwide record-buster. Just last week, Netflix announced the show had accumulated more than 236 million views since its June 20 premiere, good enough to beat Red Notice and into first place on the streamer's all-time rankings for English-language films.

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Meanwhile, Laufey leads the new arrivals on the ARIA Chart, published Friday, August 29th, as A Matter of Time blasts to No. 2, the classical-adjacent artist’s career best in Australia.

Deftones complete the podium with Private Music, their 10th studio album. It’s new at No. 3 for the alternative rock heavyweight’s sixth ARIA Top 20 appearance.

Stray Kids debut at No. 4 with Karma, for the K-pop boyband’s sixth Top 10 appearance in Australia. That tally includes Maxident (No. 4 in 2022), 5-Star (No. 2 in 2023), Rock-Star (No. 2 in 2023), Ate (No. 2 in 2024) and Hop (No. 4 in 2024).

Stray Kids have an Australian connection. Band mate Felix was born and raised in Sydney, while Bang Chan was born in Seoul but also grew up in Sydney.

Tyler, The Creator’s CHERRY BOMB detonates for a new chart peak of No. 10, eclipsing its best of No. 13 in 2015. Tyler is currently working his way across Australia and New Zealand on the domestic leg of his Chromakopia tour, produced by Frontier Touring, and last Friday opened the flagship GOLF store in Sydney.

Further down the list, British indie rock outfit Wolf Alice enjoy a No. 14 debut with Clearing, their fourth album, while Bleak Squad, the Melbourne-based “super group” comprising Mick Turner (Dirty Three, Mess Esque), Mick Harvey (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, The Birthday Party), Adalita (Magic Dirt) and Marty Brown (Art of Fighting) are new at No. 40 with Strange Love, their first album.

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Reporting from inside the Australian music business since '94.

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