Halfway Through 2024, No Aussie Albums Have Topped The ARIA Charts

50 years ago this month, Skyhooks were recording Horror Movie, which would become the biggest hit on their landmark debut album, Living In The 70’s. If they had their time again, they could easily change a key line from “horror movie, it’s the 6:30 news” to “horror movie, it’s the ARIA charts”.

Six months into 2024 and the mid-season report makes for pretty bleak reading.

Not a single Australian album has hit #1 this year, making 2024 the first year an Aussie album has failed to top the charts in the first half of the year since 2001 (when Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! soundtrack, which could arguably be called an Aussie album, did hit #1). Before that, we have to go back to 1996 to find a year when an Aussie album didn’t reach the summit in the first six months.

This year’s highest-charting local release has been Troy Cassar-Daley’s Between The Fires, which debuted at #2 in May. 12 local albums have reached the Top Ten, with 28 making the Top 40. But alarmingly, not a single Australian album has spent more than one week in the Top 40 this year.

The story is no brighter on the ARIA Singles Chart, where no homegrown hits have topped the charts, and just one local song reached the Top Ten – Dom Dolla’s Saving Up spent one week at #10 in February.

The year’s longest-running local hit has been Cyril’s remake of Chris Norman and Suzi Quatro’s Stumblin’ In, which has spent 16 weeks in the Top 40 and peaked at #15. Meanwhile, Vance Joy’s 2013 hit Riptide continues to resonate in 2024, spending 15 weeks in the Top 40. Overall, just eight Australian singles have cracked the Top 40 in 2024.

There are some other lowlights worth pointing out from the mid-season report. For the first month of 2024 – five ARIA charts – the Top 40 did not feature any Aussie albums. Overall, too, nine weekly charts have failed to feature an Australian album. And in one particularly grim week – the April 29 chart – there were no local singles or albums in the Top 40 at all.

Taylor Swift mania has receded, but the American artist continues to torture Aussie acts. This week’s Top 40 features six of Swift’s albums and four of her singles, while the chart features just one Aussie album (Sheppard’s Zora, which debuts at #8) and two local singles (Cyril’s Stumblin’ In at #32, and Vance Joy’s Riptide at #37).