It's also one of the reasons artists will try to bundle music sales alongside concert tickets or merchandise. 'A physical album gives an Australian artist a shot in the first week by doing a pre-order campaign, and really it's the only hope a lot of Australian artists have of getting in the charts whereas the equivalent streams take years to get back to that equivalent of somebody buying a record today,' Bill Cullen said at an ARIA panel last month. It doesn't detract from their achievement in a competitive market, but it would explain why when the following week's chart was published, Cub Sport was nowhere to be seen. One of the reasons Cub Sport topped the charts is likely due to strong pre-order sales, which get counted in launch week. 'Now that we get to have one of those little number one ARIA album plaque things, I'm excited to put that in my studio when we get home from this tour.' 'For us, having released five albums now, it's kind of just like a cool marker to be able to recognise the growth that we've seen throughout that time,' he says.

Tim Nelson, from Cub Sport, agrees the charts don't mean as much for music fans anymore but says it's still an important milestone for artists. 'I think we're in a really dire place right now and none of us actually know the solution,' artist manager Bill Cullen said last month. Industry bodies, managers and music broadcasters now fear that in a world where most music consumption happens on global streaming platforms, emerging local artists will struggle while megastars like Harry Styles never leave the top 50. They're hits for a reason, but the chart success of old music has come at the expense of local artists.Īfter streaming upended the music industry, the number of Australian artists in the charts has this year plunged to its lowest level since the ARIA charts began, an analysis by ABC News has found. It's part of a trend that has also seen decades-old songs from artists like Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac propelled into the charts off the back of viral cultural moments, while perennial favourites like The Killers' Mr Brightside seem impossible to dislodge.

Every week this year, there have been more albums by Taylor Swift in the Australian top 50 than albums by all Australian artists combined.

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