Brisbane Singer Hits #1 Just Weeks After His Sister Tops Chart

20 June 2015 | 6:00 pm | Staff Writer

A rare occurrence.

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Aussie singer Conrad Sewell has not only defied the odds by scoring the #1 spot this week in the ARIA Singles Chart, but has achieved a rare occurrence in Aussie music history.

The Brisbane songwriter's hit track Start Again has taken out top honours, while his sister Grace's song You Don't Own Me, which comes in at #4 this week, topped the Singles Chart just last month, making them one of few Australian siblings to score separate #1 songs on the ARIA Chart.

Another Aussie pair who pulled off the feat are brothers Jimmy Barnes and John "Swanee" Swan. Barnes had a solo number one with Too Much Ain't Enough Love in 1987 while bro Swanee hit number one the same year when his band Party Boys topped the charts with He's Gonna Step On You Again. Not even the Minogues have pulled off this double whammy — despite Kylie's multiple chart-toppers, sister Dannii has never made the top of the Singles Chart here.*

Sewell's track finally dethroned pop princess Taylor Swift's Bad Blood which switched places with Sewell to land at #2. 

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The news caps off a stellar week for Sewell who also announced new headline shows for an upcoming tour, as well being announced as the support act for US band Maroon 5 on their Aus tour. 

Over on the Albums Chart, Splendour In The Grass headliner Florence + The Machine stormed back into the #1 position with the How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful album — having debuted in the top spot two weeks ago, it was dislodged last week by Muse's Drones (this week at #3). 

This week's highest new entry in the Albums Chart is from US singer Adam Lambert who cracked the top five with The Original High, finishing the week at #4.

The week's highest new local entry came in the form of Savage Garden's The Singles, in at #15. Melbourne indie-pop group Alpine's sophomore album Yuck came in at #16 and Perth's Ta-Ku came in at #18 with Songs To Make Up To.

Also debuting this week: Giorgio Moroder's Deja Vu (#23) and Melbourne's Ocean Grove landed at #50 with Black Label.

WA band Karnivool saw their back catalogue flooding into the chart as well. While 2009's Sound Awake re-entered at #32 and 2013's Asymmetry came back in at #35, their album Themata made its first appearance in the charts at #41, ten years after its initial release. 

*We are scouring the record books to see what other Aus siblings may have scored their own number ones here… stay tuned.