A Deep Dive Into The 2022 End Of Year ARIA Charts

For the second year running a British act has taken out the #1 spot on the ARIA End Of Year (EOY) Chart, this time Harry Styles' As It Was is the top seller for 2022.

#1 - As it Was (entry April 11th, 2022; HP-1x8; WI10-33; WI100-39+, ▲5) by Harry Styles sees the former 1D member land his highest ever EOY position, while it's also the first of three Top 50/100 EOY entries for the singer and actor, as he also places at #37 with Late Night Talking (May 30th, 2022; HP-2; WI10-4; WI100-29; ▲) and his long-running entry at #44 Watermelon Sugar (Nov. 25th, 2019; HP-5x3, WI100-159+; ▲9) which was #6 for 2020 and the #31 for 2021, one of eight songs which are making their third EOY appearance. The track debuted at #1 upon entry (the second time for him after his debut single Sign O' The Times on April 17th, 2017), and spent a single week at the top, regaining the upper end of the chart three weeks later from May 2nd, seeing a six week stretch at the top, while it regained a third berth at #1 for a final sole week on August 22nd, spending it's first 24 weeks on the chart within the Top 5, eventually racking up 33 weeks within the Top 10 (leaving Dec. 12th).

#2 - Heat Waves (entry August 17th, 2020; HP-1x11; WI10-88; WI100-124+, ▲12) by Glass Animals was the #1 song for 2021, and the fact that it almost logged as much time within the Top 10 in 2022 as it did in the previous year, gave it the unique distinction of becoming the 'Longest Running Top 10 Single of All Time' at 88 weeks, while it also saw another unique chart feat, in that it spent six weeks at #1 in 2021 (March 1st to April 5th), and then amazingly it spent another five weeks at the singles-summit 53 weeks later (March 7th to April 4th, 2022), something which only Mariah Carey's Xmas tune has done in the past (now on five occasions), in returning one year after its initial #1 peak. This is the only entry within the Top 100 EOY chart for the English act.

#3 - Stay (entry July 19th, 2021; HP-1x17l WI10-53; WI100-77+, ▲12) by The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber is another dual-year entry, as it was the #2 single for 2021, and like the previous track, it too had a second run at #1, as it initially logged 14 weeks at the top upon entry in July, 2021, and never dipping lower than #5 for the entire 2021-chart-run, while its status as the #2 song for the triple j for 2021 saw it regain its #1 slot on January 31st, 2022 for a further three weeks, making it the sixth longest running #1 single of all time in Australia (1940 to 2022), plus it's now given its co-collaborator Justin Bieber a tally of 48 overall weeks at the top in Australia (from 8 #1s), placing him ninth of the listing for 'Most Weeks at #1: Singles (1940 to 2022)', just ahead of Frank Sinatra (47 weeks from 11 #1s), and sitting behind Elvis Presley (61 weeks from 14 #1s). Plus with the song racking up 53 weeks within the Top 10, it's now the second longest-running Top 10 entry of all time in Australia. Justin Bieber has a second Top 100 EOY entry too, as his track Ghost (entry March 29th, 2021 (for 2 weeks), re-entry Oct. 18th, 2021; HP-11x3; WI100-63) is the #13 song for 2022, also becoming the longest running Top 20 entry (without landing within the Top 10) of all time at 30 weeks within the twenty. While The Kid LAROI has two more EOY entries in his follow-up to Stay called Thousand Miles (#31; entry May 2nd, 2022; HP-4x2, WI10-8, WI100-28) and his first #1 single Without You featuring Miley Cyrus (#62; entry date Dec. 14, 2020; #4 in 2021; HP-1x1, WI10-29, WI100-88).

#4 - Cold Heart (PNAU Remix) (entry August 23rd, 2021, HP-1x10, WI10-39, WI100-72+; ▲7) by Elton John and Dua Lipa became Elton John's biggest single in Australia, plus it also gave Dua Lipa her first ever #1 single locally, and the fifth overall for Elton. The song was the #13th highest seller for 2021, having spent all of its 2021 run within the Top 10, holding the top spot twice from the 8th to the 15th of November, 2021 and again from December 13th to 27th, giving it five weeks at the summit in 2021, then in 2022 it retook the #1 slot from January 10th, for another three weeks, and again from February 21st and 28th, giving it another five weeks at the top during 2022, claiming ten weeks in the #1 slot altogether. Elton's previous longest run at the top was with his 1997 tribute single Candle in the Wind '97 which held for six weeks, while he followed Cold Heart up with his first ever back-to-back #1s as his duet with Britney Spears and Hold Me Closer (a remix of his 1971 track Tiny Dancer) debuted at the top on the 5th of Sept., staying for one week. This is also now the second highest placed EOY position for Elton in his 52-year chart career, as the aforementioned Candle In The Wind '97 was the top-selling single for 1997, he also placed at #5 for 1976 with Don't Go Breaking My Heart with Kiki Dee. Elton's duet partner Dua Lipa lands two further Top 100 EOY entries too, with her long-running Levitating track and remixes placing at #14 for 2022 (entry date October 19th, 2020; HP-4x5; WI10-31; WI100-116+; ▲8; #5 in 2021), which never saw a Top 10 berth for 2022, but it did stay within the Top 50 for all but the last week of the year, while she also sees her track Don't Start Now place at #70 (entry date Nov. 11th, 2019; HP-2x10; WI10-29, WI100-141;▲8;) which was also #45 for 2021 and #3 for 2020.

Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter

#5 - Bad Habits (entry date July 5th, 2021; HP-1x2; WI10-45; WI100-79+; ▲8; #7 in 2021)

#6 - Shivers (entry date September 20th, 2021; HP-2; WI10-33, WI100-68+; ▲3; #32 in 2021) both by Ed Sheeran sees his Bad Habits appear higher in 2022 that its #7 position in 2021, while the Bad Habits track initially debuted and peaked at #1 for two weeks, while Shivers jumped to #2 in its eighth week, plus for this year both tracks saw themselves entrenched within the Top 10, Bad (helped by a duet with Bring Me the Horizon) for the first 16 weeks and Shivers for the first 15 weeks. These two EOY Top 10 entries also become Ed's ninth and tenth such tracks, as Ed did score the #1 EOY for Shape of You in 2017 (also #25 in 2018; #75 in 2019; #91 in 2021; and now #74 for 2022, making this its fifth EOY appearance). Ed also scores End of Year positions with Camila Cabello on Bam Bam (entry date March 14th, 2022; HP-11x2, WI100-31; EOY #46), his now sixth-year-running EOY appearance for Perfect (#4 in 2017; #3 in 2018; #58 in 2019; #70 in 2020; #52 in 2021 and now #49 for 2022), the only song to have ever logged six such positions, while the song recently fell out of the Top 100 after the Xmas deluge, having racked up 296 weeks within the 100, the longest ever chart run, and in total that give Ed five entries in the 2022 EOY Top 100.

#7 - Where Are You Now (entry date December 13th, 2021; HP-5x4, WI10-17, WI100-56+; ▲4) by Lost Frequencies with Calum Scott is the highest placed non-top-2 single within the EOY Top 100, having logged four separate weeks at #5; Feb. 7th and 21st, March 21st and finally on April 4th, 2022, while the dance track becomes the second ever EOY placement for the Belgian act, who saw their 2015 #1 single Are You With Me become the #28 song for 2015, while for Calum Scott this is his third EOY position after Dancing on My Own (#21 in 2016) and You Are the Reason (#80 in 2018).

#8 - First Class (entry date April 18th, 2022; HP-1x2, WI10-16, WI100-37; ▲2) by Jack Harlow was one of five #1 singles this year to feature a sample within its makeup, as this track used Fergie's Glamorous, while the song debuted at the top in mid-April holding for two weeks, logging its first sixteen weeks on the chart by staying within the Top 10, and it now becomes his highest placed EOY position, as his track What's Poppin' made it to #25 in 2020 and #95 in 2021, while Jack appears as a guest rapper on the Lil Nas X track Industry Baby which lands the #16 spot for 2022.

#9 - I Ain't Worried (entry date June 13th, 2022; HP-2, WI10-22, WI100-30+; ▲2) (from Top Gun: Maverick) by OneRepublic is the only song from a soundtrack within the EOY Top 10, as the Tom Cruise sequel also saw chart entries for Lady Gaga and a returned Kenny Loggins' classic Danger Zone. The whistle-infused track took six weeks to climb into the Top 10, with it peaking at #2 on September 12th for a single week, having now spent 22 weeks entrenched within the Top 10, it should return soon as their set to tour Australia in early March 2023. This track also becomes the band's third EOY Top 10 placement, as their breakout single Apologize with Timbaland was the 7th biggest single for 2007 and then Counting Stars was the 8th highest seller for 2013, with that track also now the #89 placed track of 2022

#10 - About Damn Time (entry date May 9th, 2022; HP-3x3; WI10-17, WI100-35+; ▲) by Lizzo is one of two 2022 EOY positions for the singer, rapper and flautist, with her follow-up to this track 2 Be Loved (Am I Ready) scoring the #99 spot for the year (HP-11x2, WI100-19+), while overall this is her 4th and 5th EOY positions, as Good as Hell was #48 in both 2019 and 2020, while she also saw the #31 spot in 2019 for her Truth Hurts hit.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN

That statement was very true for 2022, as many older entries stayed on the charts, some continuing their runs since 2017, while some were just classics returning to the chart. No song epitomised this more than a tune that was featured in the fourth season of cult-TV show Stranger Things, as the series is set in the 1980s, it utilises great songs from that era within its soundtrack, and the song from the series this year which took the world by storm was the 1985 single by Kate Bush and Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), which had originally peaked at #6 during its initial 1985 run, and then in 2022 it went all the way to #1 for a nine-week reign from June 13th (two weeks) then again from July 4th (seven weeks), becoming the longest run of weeks at #1 for 2022 and the #11 placed single of the past year, while the song spent 15 weeks within the Top 10 (only 2 weeks in 1985), with the track only departing the Top 100 two weeks ago after 28 weeks within the chart this year.

Further older tracks that still made an impact on the EOY chart include 2004's Mr. Brightside for The Killers (#18 for 2022; #51 for 2021; new peak during the year of #23 in January), Dreams (originally issued 1977) by Fleetwood Mac (#35 for 2022; #22 in 2021) and their Go Your Own Way (#91 for 2022), two recouped rap/RnB classics in Lost by Frank Ocean from 2012 (#40 for 2022; peaked at #16 in late February) and No Role Modelz for J. Cole from 2015 (#41 for 2022; placing higher than its peak position of #43 on July 25th, August 1st and 22nd, and #89 for 2021).

Into the lower fifty of the EOY Top 100 we see older entries by Post Malone and Sunflower from 2018 (#51 for 2022; also #67 in 2021; #47 in 2020; #4 in 2019 and #85 in 2018), while Eminem saw two older entries (and that's all) placed for Without Me (#56 for 2022; #1 in 2002) and his second ever charted single from 2000 The Real Slim Shady (#75 for 2022; #57 in 2000). The City Of Angels theme for Goo Goo Dolls and Iris was the #58 song of 2022, having originally been the third biggest single for 1998, while Macklemore's tour here in the latter half of the year saw his third #1 single Can't Hold Us score the #71 spot for 2022 (#9 in 2013).

James Arthur's 2016 song Say You Won't Let Go is another of the tracks which scores a fifth EOY placement, this year scoring the #80 spot, having previously placed at #22 in 2016, #45 in 2017, #97 in 2020 and #73 in 2021, while Shallow for Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper also logs a fifth EOY spot, #68 for 2022, #69 in 2021; #61 in 2020, #9 in 2019 and #53 in 2018. The fifth and final of the five-year-talliers is Dean Lewis' Be Alright, #77 in 2022, #80 in 2021, #67 in 2020, #27 in 2019 and initially #4 in 2018.

Miley Cyrus and her Party in the U.S.A. from 2009 saw a #83 placing for the past year (#7 in 2009; #95 in 2010), with a recent national tour here helping the Kings Of Leon's Sex on Fire to score a place at #87 for 2022 (#5 in 2008; #53 in 2009), with Avicii's Wake Me Up logging the #100 spot for 2022 (#4 in 2013). Luke Combs' 2017 song When it Rains it Pours finally peaked at #36 on September 19th of this past year, it becomes the first of two ever EOY placements for the country artist, as that track makes it to #93 for 2022, he also sees a #95 for his track issued last year in The Kind of Love We Make (HP-21 on Sept. 19th).

MORE MULTIPLES

The Weeknd sees four end-of-year entries, his highest being Save Your Tears at #15 (#8 in 2021), followed by Blinding Lights at #29 (#16 in 2021, #1 in 2020), with Post Malone on One Right Now (#72 in 2022) and his older entry Starboy with Daft Punk was #86 for 2022 (#2 in 2016; #42 in 2017), while Post Malone not only placed with Sunflower at #51 and One Right Now at #72, he also saw his Doja Cat duet I Like You (A Happier Song) take out the #27 spot for 2022, and his 2019 song Circles placed at #79 (#66 in 2021, #7 in 2020, #20 in 2019).

Doja Cat herself had a further three EOY tracks, with back-to-back entries at #33 with Vegas (from the ELVIS soundtrack) and at #34 with Kiss Me More (#9 in 2021), while her Woman track took out the #42 spot also. Two of Olivia Rodrigo's 2021 singles made a second placement for 2022, with Good 4 U coming in at #21 (#6 in 2021) and Driver's License at #59 (#3 in 2021). Imagine Dragons' Enemy took out the #22 spot for 2022, while their 2017 track Believer placed at #81 (#72 in 2017, #99 in 2018).

Lil Nas X saw three songs within the Top 100 for 2022, his highest being Industry Baby at #16 (#2 in 2021), followed by That's What I Want at #23 and Montero (Call Me by Your Name) at #94 (#11 in 2021). David Guetta saw his second ever #1 single in Australia this past year, as he teamed with Bebe Rexha for an Eiffel 65 sampled I'm Good (Blue) (two weeks at #1 from Sept. 19th), which sees the song make it to #25 for 2022, while he also places with his Shouse remix of Love Tonight at #67 and as a guest with Becky Hill on Remember at #90.

Scoring two EOY spots each are Taylor Swift with Anti-Hero at #43 and All Too Well (Taylor's version) at #98, Tiësto with Ava Max and The Motto at #53 and his remix of the Tom Odell track Another Love is one spot lower at #54. Drake scores as guest on the Future track Wait for U at #55, while he teams with 21 Savage on Jimmy Cooks at #64, with Beyoncé just two spots apart with Break My Soul coming in at #76 and its follow-up Cuff it at #78.

AUSSIE! OY!

Eleven of the Top 100 songs for 2022 are by local Australian acts, with The Kid LAROI scoring three of those at #3, #31 and #62, with the only other local act to hit #1 during 2022 being Joji with Glimpse of Us (1 week on June 27th), which scores a #26 spot for the EOY, followed two places lower by the Luude and Colin Hay remix of Down Under at #28.

Vance Joy sees Missing Piece fit in at #57, while Tones & I sees her Dance Monkey score a fourth consecutive placing on the chart-finale, this year it lands at #60, with it previously landing at #37 in 2021, #4 in 2020 and #2 for 2019. I previously mentioned Shouse scoring the #67 spot and Dean Lewis' Be Alright at #77, with the last two Aussie acts placing for 2022 being Rüfüs du Sol at #92 with On My Knees (their first ever EOY Top 100 placement) and Flume feat. MAY-A and Say Nothing land at #96.