The Radar: This Week's Tunes You Need To Know – September 8

Every Friday in The Radar, The Music breaks down the week’s top performers and the breaking new music you need to be across. 

Hear the big new tunes of the week now on The Music Hit List.
For the hottest rock, punk and metal jams, check out Kill Your Stereo’s Heavy Hitlist.
And for the latest in hip-hop and EDM, get your ears around Purple Sneakers’ Best New Music.

DSPs

Today is downright enormous for new album releases, but there’s no competition when it comes to the biggest: Olivia Rodrigo’s second album, GUTS, is all but guaranteed to decimate the charts. Spotify has Rodrigo on the cover of this week’s New Music Friday playlist, and in a rare move for the streamer, two songs from the album itself in the mix: get him back! at #1 and all-american bitch at #10. Apple Music’s New Music Daily playlist has the former ranked at #2, with their list topped by James Blake’s Tell Me (his sixth album, Playing Robots Into Heaven, also arrives today).

The rest of both streamers’ Top Tens are impressively diverse. Both feature new tracks from EDM heavyweight Marshmello (Other Boys, featuring Dove Cameron), grunge revivalists Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers (Salt, featuring The Grogans), rap queen Tkay Maidza (WUACV) and house stalwart Open Till L8 (CFB, a joint effort with KAHUKX). Spotify’s list also features a little more Aussie rap – both the new tracks by Day1 and Hooligan Hefs (In Ya City and More Life, respectively) – as well as a touch of country with the new jam from Seaforth (Loud Music) and some choice pop from Laufey (Lovesick).

Apple Music’s editors normally champion more country than Spotify’s, but they seem to have spaced on that Seaforth inclusion (showing up nowhere in their 92-song playlist). They did show some love to James Johnston, though, popping WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD on the list at #5. Filling in the blanks with some banging synthpop, their Top Ten is rounded out by the latest cuts from Alison Wonderland (the MEMBA-assisted Fight Or Flight) and Daine (Bite Back).

RADIO

This week saw the NOVA Network add just one new song across the board (ATB), being Timbaland’s Keep Going Up – a massive 2000s throwback with guest spots from Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake. The network’s daytime offerings were also bolstered by Peggy Gou’s (It Goes Like) Nanana, and Kylie Minogue’s Tension was added to the late-night rotation.

Over on the HIT Network, Miley Cyrus’ Used To Be Young was added to the drive rotation across all stations nationally. Brisbane and Melbourne both copped an extra two songs (via B105 and The Fox, respectively), with that aforementioned Timbaland cut added ATB alongside Paint The Town Red by Doja Cat. Both of those tracks made it to the nighttime rotation at KIIS, while Troye Sivan’s Rush and Jung Kook’s Latto-assisted Seven were added ATB this week.

In the last Radar, we mentioned the enormous hype surrounding MAY-A’s second EP, Analysis Paralysis. triple j seemed to agree that it’s a special release, making it a spotlight record for this week. The coveted feature album, however, went to Polaris’ career-defining third LP, Fatalism. Not only does it mark a huge win for Australian metal, it makes Polaris one of the few acts to have three consecutive drops honoured as feature albums.

Eight new songs were added ATB at triple j, with half being Australian: Lightyears by Kinder and BCBC, I Like It by Teenage Dads, Silent Disco by The Terrys, and Start Again by Vallis Alps. As for the internationals, we heard the new jams from Stormzy and RAYE (The Weekend), Ashnikko (Dying Star, featuring Ethel Cain), Griff (Vertigo) and Omar Apollo (Ice Slippin). And while this week’s ATB adds were an even split, the only international spot add was given to Hold Me by Quavo.

There were four other spot adds on triple j this week, all given to local artists: Stay Or Go by The Belair Lip Bombs, YUCK! by CLOE TERARE (featuring Short Stack), Only 25 by Eliott, and On My Soul by J-MILLA.

Looking at this week’s Radio Monitor Hot 50, Taylor Swift is back in the #1 spot with Cruel Summer, the Lover cut that simply refuses to die. Rema’s Calm Down also rose from #4 to #3, while The Weeknd’s Madonna- and Playboi Carti-assisted Popular rose from #6 to #5. The other two songs in the Top Five, however, are both single-spot bumps down for their respective artists: Dua Lipa went from #1 to #2 with Dance The Night, and Olivia Rodrigo’s vampire slipped from #3 to #4.

Rodrigo also has one of this week’s two new entries – bad idea right? at #45 – with the other being Timbaland’s Keep Going Up at #37. This week’s re-entries include As It Was by Harry Styles (#43) and Hold Me Closer by Elton John and Britney Spears (#41), as well as all of the last four spots: Ferrari by James Hype and Miggy Dela Rosa at #47, Players by Coi Leray at #48, Closer by The Chainsmokers and Halsey at #49, and Forget Me by Lewis Capaldi at #50.

COUNTRY

Hear the big new country tunes of the week on the Countrytown Hot Country Hits Playlist.

As mentioned above, Spotify and Apple Music both went above and beyond with new country songs in their Top Tens, Seaforth in the former’s spread and James Johnston in the latter’s. Both DSPs also highlighted the new tunes from Chris Stapleton (Think I’m In Love With You) and Amy Sheppard (Overthinking).

There’s another handful of barnstormers on Apple Music’s flagship New Music Daily playlist, including a platform-exclusive release by Miranda Lambert, Driving Back There In My Mind. Also featured in that spread is Drink You Up by Nathan Lamont, Forever Ain’t So Long by Ella Hooper, Bridges by Piper Rodrigues, Rustin’ In The Rain by Tyler Childers, Same Damn Walls by Jimbo Stokes, Champagne by the James Barker Band, Single Problem by Petric, and Two Way Street by Sari Abbot.

Meanwhile, Casey Barnes has been knocked down from the top of the Countrytown Hot 50. The #1 spot is now taken by Travis Collins and The Wolfe Brothers’ joint single Runnin’ The Country. Barnes’ Boys Like Me is still wildly popular, though, staying strong at #2. Sara Berki also holds on to her #3 spot with A Boy That’s Into Trucks, as does Luke Combs with his #4 spot for Fast Car. This week’s Top Five is rounded out by Morgan Evans, who leapt up from #7 with his single Hey Little Mama.

There are three new entries in this week’s chart, including a Top 20 debut for Lane Pittman – Love In A Country Town at #19 – as well as some backend debuts for Hinterland (To The Limit at #49) and Camille Trail (Gotta Get To Know You at #50). This week’s re-entries include Kane Brown’s Bury Me In Georgia (#40), Kita Alexander’s Date Night with Morgan Evans (#44), Morgan Wallen’s You Proof (#44) and Busby Marou’s Conversation (#48).