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2021's Hottest Radio Songs Revealed: All Aussie #1s

Staff Writer

It's been the year of The Kid Laroi, taking out the top places in both the Hot 50 Chart and the National Indigenous Music Chart, while Casey Barnes has proven to be 2021's King of Country.


The 2021 Australian end of year radio airplay charts have been revealed today, with The Kid LAROI taking line honours for his hit Without You on both the Hot 50 Airplay Chart and the National Indigenous Music Chart for 2021. His Justin Bieber collaboration Stay also put in a huge showing, coming in at #4 on the Hot 50 and #2 in the NIMA Chart. 

Over on the Countrytown Hot 50, Casey Barnes has stamped his authority with three entries in the chart including the year's biggest hit Come Turn Me On. Keith Urban and The Wolfe Brothers also flew the flag for Aussie music, landing three entries each. The runner up prize went to US hitmaker Blake Shelton and his massive hit Minimum Wage.

In what was one of the biggest years in history for First Nations music, The National Indigenous Music Chart for 2021 has been expanded to a massive 40 entries to represent the breadth of Indigenous music that graced Australian radio airwaves this year. The Kid LAROI has had a huge year, taking out three of the top five positions, with Jessica Mauboy and Budjerah taking out the other positions in the five. Sycco and Baker Boy had the most entries with four each, while The Kid LAROI, Budjerah, King Stingray and Miiesha came in with three each.

For those industry nerds among us, it's been a close-run race for the labels this year with just one percentage point splitting Universal Music and Sony Music. The year on year comparison sees a good gain for Sony Music (in a year they could probably use the good news) up just under three percentage points year on year. Universal saw a drop of around three percentage points and Warner just under two, with independents (including Mushroom) picking up the additional market share. 

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The Music's radio airplay charts are compiled by Radio Monitor, the industry standard in music monitoring across the globe. The charts are published every week at www.themusic.com.au/charts. 

For those who like to listen, check out the end of year charts in our exclusive playlists here on Spotify: