Chart File: A Strong Week For Aussie Solo Acts

Busby Marou

This week’s ARIA Charts were strong for Australian solo acts.

On the Australian Albums Chart, folk duo Busby Marou’s Tom Busby debuted at #1 with his first solo record Rockhampton Hangover, written in the Far North Queensland town, and recorded with US indie hero Ben Kweller in Texas Hill Country

Meg Mac debuted at #2 with her fourth studio album, It’s My Party, recorded in London and Los Angeles with UK producer Bullion, and consisting of songs that were so cathartic that she cried “quietly to myself” over each one.

MAY-A came in at #10 with Goodbye (If You Call That Gone), a record she admits was so traumatic to make that she was “either paralysed or crying.”

Making its debut at #14 was It's Not That Funny by Melbourne-based Romanie who migrated seven years from rural Belgium where she learned sax at school and learned to play songs around the campfire at scouts jamborees.

Meantime, marking its 20th week in the chart, Ninajiranchi’s I Love My Computer climbed up to #4. It previously peaked at top spot. This latest rise came on the heels of the EDM act landing two wins at The Music Producer and Engineers’ Guild of Australia (MPEG) Awards in Sydney.

On the main Top 50 Albums, Rockhampton Hangover bowed in at #3 while It’s My Party entered at #6.

With Busby Marou, Tom Busy released five albums, all of which went Top 50, and three entered the Top 5. Farewell Fitzroy (2013) and The Great Divide (2019) got into the Top 5, while Postcards From The Shell House went to #1 in 2017.

When informed about his solo chart success, he responded, “I’m absolutely floored. This is mental! We’ve been grinding hard, but the real deal is the music. To everyone who’s backed it, thank you, this is wild! And tomorrow, I’ll be waking up with one of the great Rockhampton Hangovers”.

Meg Mac reached #2 in 2017 with Love Blows, #9 in 2019 with Hope and #1 for one week in 2022 with Matter Of Time.

The Sydney-born daughter of a pilot father and a mother who worked in the clothing industry, is currently on the road getting direct feedback from audiences.

She posted: “So far it seems like Valentine and What Have You Done are your favourites?? But also Now You Know and 17?? 

“This is so fun, I have been living with this album for so long now and trying to guess what songs people will like the most, it is impossible to know!! So thank you for listening and actually letting me know, it makes me so happy to know you’re listening.”

Australian Solo #1s In The Last Five Years

If Busby makes it to #1 in the next week or two, he joins a list of 22 Australian solo acts  who have done so in the last five years. He would also be the third to have launched a music career in Queensland after Barry Gibb and Amy Shark. 

If Mac does so, it will be her second time in the ARIA lead, of course.

The #1s were:

• Calum Hood, Order Chaos Order (June 23, 2025)

• Jimmy Barnes, Defiant (reached the top June 16, 2025)

• Kylie Minogue, Tension II (October 28, 2024)

• Missy Higgins, The Second Act (September 6, 2024)

• Amy Shark, Sunday Sadness (August 19, 2024)

• Tones & I, Beautifully Ordinary (August 12, 2024)

• Troye Sivan, Something To Give Each Other (October 23, 2023)

• Kylie Minogue, Tension (October 2, 2023)

• G Flip, Drummer (August 21, 2023)

• Kerser, A Gift & A Kers (July 3, 2022)

• Peach PRC, Maniac Dream Pixie (May 8, 2023)

• Paul Kelly, Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train (December 12, 2022)

• Jimmy Barnes, Blue Christmas (December 5, 2022)

• Meg Mac, Matter Of Time (September 26, 2022)

• Jimmy Barnes, Soul Deep 30 (June 27, 2022)

• Daniel Johns, Futurenever (May 16, 2022)

• Huskii, Antihero (February 2, 2022)

• Ruby Fields, Been Doin’ It For A Bit (October 4, 2021)

• Luke Hemmings, When Facing The Things We Turn Away From (August 23, 2021)

• Tones And I, Welcome To The Madhouse (July 26, 2021)

• Jimmy Barnes, Flesh And Blood (July 12, 2021)

• Delta Goodrem, Bridge Over Troubled Dreams (May 24, 2021)

• Amy Shark, Cry Forever (May 10, 2021)

• Tash Sultana, Terra Firma, March 1, 2021)

• The Kid LAROI, F*ck Love (Savage) (February 8, 2021)

• Joff Bush, Bluey: The Album (February 1, 2021)

• Illy, The Space Between Us (January 25, 2021)

• Barry Gibb, Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers’ Songbook (January 18, 2021)

Trivia

In the last five years, Jimmy Barnes notched up four chart toppers. But overall since the ARIA charts began in 1983, he’s had 16 of them – the highest tally.

Delta Goodrem’s Innocent Eyes and John Farnham’s Whispering Jack are in the Top 5 of longest stays at top spot.

That full list is:

• Dire Straits, Brothers In Arms (34 weeks)

• Adele, 21 (32 weeks)

• Delta Goodrem, Innocent Eyes (29 weeks)

• Ed Sheeran, ÷ (27 weeks)

• John Farnham, Whispering Jack (25 weeks)

• Shania Twain, Come On Over (20 weeks)

This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body