The Aussie Charts Just Celebrated Its First Full Year Of Women At No. 1

Olivia Dean

This week marks a rather notable milestone on the ARIA charts, with women having spent a full calendar year in the No. 1 spot.

The occasion occurs as Ella Langley spends her fourth consecutive week atop the chart, marking a total of seven weeks in the position.

The run first began on August 8th, 2025 when Justin Bieber’s Daisies exited the penthouse and was replaced by Golden, performed by Huntrix for the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack.

Comprising Rei Ami, Ejae, and Audrey Nuna, the trio’s efforts spent ten weeks at No. 1 before perennial chart-topper Taylor Swift took over with The Fate Of Ophelia for eight weeks.

From November 24th until March 30th, it was 19 straight weeks of Olivia Dean, whose track Man I Need occupied the top spot, and even took out triple j’s Hottest 100 during that time.

Dean somewhat replaced herself on the charts, however, with her Sam Fender collaboration Rein Me In spending three non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 from April 6th. The only thing stopping this non-consecutive run was the reappearance of Man I Need and another Olivia – this time, Olivia Rodrigo – ducking into the top spot with Drop Dead.

Langley’s Choosin’ Texas would take out the Gold medal position for the first time in May, with Rodrigo’s The Cure and Stupid Song each spending one week up top, and Swift’s I Knew It, I Knew You also taking over the penthouse for two weeks.

Of the past 52 weeks, only nine different songs have been found at No. 1, and five of them have involved a woman named Olivia, whether it be Dean or Rodrigo.

While both Dean and Swift have appeared with two different songs, three of these songs belong to Rodrigo, with Huntrix and Langley accounting for the other two.

Additionally, Sam Fender remains the only man to have appeared in the top spot across the past calendar year, with his contributions being found in only three of the past 52 weeks.

Historical Precedence

It’s the first time that such this milestone of women hitting the top spot has been achieved in the history of the Australian charts. The closest it had come previously was the 33 weeks between August 2022 and April 2023.

That run included a week of Blackpink’s Pink Venom, Elton John and Britney Spears’ Hold Me Closer, Nicki Minaj’s Super Freaky Girl, and SZA’s Kill Bill; two weeks of David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s I'm Good (Blue); three weeks of Mariah Carey’s perennial All I Want For Christmas Is You; six weeks of Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ Unholy and Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero; and 12 weeks of Miley Cyrus’ Flowers.

However, if one is looking for the longest unbroken run of women on top without any male vocal accompaniments, one would have to set their minds back to 27 weeks of 1999.

Beginning in January of that year, the stellar run included three weeks of both Sixpence None The Richer’s Kiss Me and Jennifer Lopez’s If You Had My Love, five weeks of Cher’s Believe, seven weeks of TLC’s No Scrubs, and nine weeks of Britney Spears’ ...Baby One More Time.

A similar, 25-week run occurred between August 2019 and January 2020, when Tones And I spent 24 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 with Dance Monkey, broken only be the annual appearance of Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You.

Men, We Need?

In contrast, the most recent time that a male-centred milestone of this manner occurred was between August 2016 and August 2017, when male artists topped the charts for 55 weeks.

This included one week of Harry Styles' Sign Of The Times; two weeks of Major Lazer's Cold Water (which also included Justin Bieber and MØ) and DJ Khaled's I'm The One; six weeks of Clean Bandit's Rockabye (which also featured Sean Paul and Anne-Marie), seven weeks of James Arthur's Say You Won't Let Go, nine weeks of The Chainsmokers' Halsey-featuring Closer, 13 weeks of Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's Despacito, and 15 weeks of Ed Sheeran's Shape Of You.

It gets even more egregious the further back we go. Between July 1979 and July 1980, 56 weeks of songs from M, Racey, Two-Man Band, The Knack, Patrick Hernandez, The Boomtown Rats, Mi-Sex, The Buggles, Michael Jackson, KC & The Sunshine Band, Queen, Split Enz, Rocky Burnette, The Vapors, and the Village People took up the charts.

From December 1974 until March 1977, 118 weeks’ worth of acts featuring men made the charts thanks to tracks from Carl Douglas, Billy Swan, William Shakespeare, The Carpenters, Skyhooks, Bob Hudson, Sherbet, Pilot, Freddy Fender, Bay City Rollers, Sweet, Captain & Tennille, ABBA, Ted Mulry Gang, C. W. McCall, Queen, Fox, Elton John and Kiki Dee, Bryan Ferry, Chicago, and Pussyfoot.

In that mix, however, vocals from women were offered frequently, thanks to appearances from The Carpenters, Captain & Tennille, Kiki Dee, and six separate songs from ABBA.

From October 1968 until March 1971, it was a similar story for a total of 121 weeks. That run included songs from The Beatles, Cream, Barry Ryan, The Scaffold, Bee Gees, Peter Sarstedt, Russell Morris, The Cowsills, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, Ross D. Wyllie, Roy Orbison, Johnny Farnham, Shocking Blue, Led Zeppelin, Norman Greenbaum, Ray Stevens, The Beach Boys, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Simon & Garfunkel, Mungo Jerry, The Mixtures, The Carpenters, Miguel Ríos, The Partridge Family, and George Harrison.

In that run, only The Carpenters, The Partridge Family, and The Cowsills offered up female vocals, meaning only seven of those 121 weeks were not dominated by male musicians.

The longest unbroken run of men in the Australian charts to date began in March 1957 when Rosemary Clooney’s Hey There left the top spot after four weeks. It would take 133 weeks for another woman to appear in the top spot, with Maxine and Bonnie Brown appearing alongside Jim Ed Brown as The Browns with The Three Bells for five weeks in September and October 1959.

However, it would be an additional 37 weeks before another solo woman took out the top spot (Connie Francis’ Everybody's Somebody's Fool in March 1960), ultimately equating to 175 weeks of men in the number one position.

It’s also worth noting that this current run of women atop the charts isn’t necessarily over yet, with Langley possibly set to continue her domination at No. 1 with Choosin’ Texas. We’ll have to wait until the end of the week to see what the charts look like.

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