ARIA Celebrates Homegrown Acts With New Aussie No. 1 Awards

Hitting No. 1 now brings more than bragging rights.

With the publication of the ARIA Australian Albums and Singles Charts this Friday, Aug. 2, the trade body will present its Aussie No. 1 Awards.

The weekly honours, which are separate to the regular award for those artists scooping top spot on the ARIA Albums Chart or Singles Chart, are meant to shine a light on homegrown success.

“The local music landscape is jam packed with amazing artists and incredible work,” notes ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd in a statement. “Breaking through the noise to achieve a No. 1 is arguably a bigger accomplishment than ever before.”

Annabelle Herd

Empire of the Sun would be expected to collect the first ever Aussie No. 1 albums award with Ask That God, their fourth studio album. Ask That God is expected to follow in the footsteps of the electronic-pop duo’s previous three album, and sail into the top 10 of the all-genres ARIA Chart.

Based on the latest ARIA Top 20 Australian Singles Chart, The Kid Laroi would collect the first singles award with “Girls.”

The new weekly spotlight on homegrown albums and singles is announced during what’s been described as a “crisis” for Australian acts, may of whom are unable to rise above the influx of new music uploaded each week to streaming platforms, and the 100 million songs that are already ingested into the leading streamers.

That “discovery” problem was laid bare when ARIA published its year-end charts for 2023, on which Australian acts accounted for fewer than 5% of the top 100 singles and albums.

“The Australian Charts are showcasing outstanding examples of local success week-in, week-out,” adds Herd, “and we hope the addition of the Aussie Chart No. 1 Awards will celebrate what is a truly outstanding achievement and recognise the importance of our local charts.”