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Essential Artists

Essential Artists #13: From Ariana Grande to Sweetie

This week’s data-driven roundup of artists killing it around the world and in Australia this week

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Start next week right by getting across the biggest and the hottest new music around – as usual, I’ve taken a look at which artists are bagging the most spots (especially those punching above their weight) on both the best Australian playlists and on New Music Fridays around the world.

Don’t forget there are two dashboards you can play with via the site if you want to get into the raw data behind it, one for Australia and one for the New Music Friday stuff.

These are the artists who caught my eye this week:

1. The top five global superstars with new releases

2. Five artists punching above their weight around the world this week:

3. In terms of Australian artists, these are the acts (& their releases) seeing playlisters at home and abroad making bets that they’ll be taking it to the next level soon:

You want to know why they’re on my list this week? Let’s find out!

The artists killing it on New Music Friday playlists around the world this week

First of all, these are the big five – these are the artists you’ll probably be hearing the most about this week. This is the ‘well, duh’ section – you’re supposed to know they’ve all got new stuff out, but if you don’t, these are the near-unanimous picks for Biggest Beasts this week.

The releases that put them on the top of the pile this week:

Anyway, New Music Fridays are always dominated by the bold-faced names – but if you look hard enough you can spot the up-and-comers too.

These are five artists (and their releases) that I’ve spotted being disproportionately supported around the world compared to their size, the acts being given hyper-valuable playlist real estate *before* they’ve blown up for real.

The releases – and the support – that made them standouts this week:

  • Dominique Way – Who Could Not Be Broken (EP)
    • Breaking into the top ten with less than 1m Spotify followers is really rare, so it’s a madly impressive achievement for this Canadian alt-pop singer-songwriter to land on so many, and so many major, NMFs around the world.
  • aLex vs aLex – a girl like me (single)
    • Just one of the tools in singer Sofia Insua’s bag (she’s also known as a member of both Easy Easy and ERA C) , this project is at a crazy-young stage, but still carries enough weight to be added to some monster-sized lists across South America, as well as to the Global NMF this week.
  • Lance Savali – Higher (feat. Rita Ora)
    • Original a renowned and sought-after dancer, Savali’s shimmy into music is attracting as much attention as his moves. Collaborating here with Rita Ora – and with his significant social following certainly not hurting either – Savali certainly knows how to catch an eye, with major lists around the world all picking up the new track.
  • Asha Banks – Biggest Fan (single)
    • Not content with appearing in the viral success of Prime Video’s Off Campus, Asha Banks is also busy whipping up a frenzy about her music career too, picking up adds across Europe and Asia, with a Global spot thrown in for good measure.
  • jigitz – can’t be nothing but what i am (single)
    • Currently riding a surge of momentum that started last year, kept frothy on TikTok and in clubs, the upcoming album ‘50 ballerinas’ looks like it’ll be well-backed. With only a few weeks to go before it’s released, the Brooklyn-based DJ-producer has already got the critical markets onside.

The artists killing it on the best new music playlists in Australia (and globally) this week

Back here in Oz though, we want to know who’s getting the most attention from a broader, Australia-only cross-section of tastemakers and crtitics. To do that, I track the adds on around 60-70 of the most credible new music playlists in the country. As with the breakout global acts above, any artist with a lower following that gets onto these lists at any sort of scale is doing extremely well indeed.

First of all, let’s take a look at the artists who punched above their weight the most this week, and bagged more spots across more high-quality editorial playlists than an artist of their size would normally get.

These three landed at the top of my list with their latest releases:

  • Erika Ever – Crash (single)
    • Essentially a brand-new project (although it’s not her first time on the field), the backing of Nina Las Vegas’ label for this Melbourne-based DJ-producer ensures it comes with credibility baked in – two big spots on the AU & NZ editions of Fresh Finds and New Music Friday puts some jet fuel in the tank right at the start.
  • Sweetie – Dogtooth (single)
    • The fabulous Sweetie are well-respected among Australia’s independent critics and tastemakers, and their latest single release saw them pick up adds from both street-level playlisters as well as big domestic lists like Fresh Finds AU & NZ and Local Noise.
  • Jonny Chopps – Catalyst (album)
    • This fast-rising and widely-supported Western Sydney rapper continues to build a presence, with this week’s album release hitting the mark for not only all the major AU hip-hop lists like A1 and Local Hype, but with slots too on the less genre-focussed New Music Friday AU & NZ and Turn Up Aus.

Outside of this top three, it was another strong week of releases from emerging artists. Looking down the top 20 there are some great new acts getting the support they rightfully deserve.

Once you’re done making notes of who to check out, we’ll take a look at how the Aussies did abroad this week.

OK, so – getting backing from the new music playlists in Australia is hard enough to do, but breaking out into international markets is another level entirely.

These are the artists and releases putting Aussie artists on the radar both at home and abroad this week:

  • Swapmeet – Mount Zero (album)
    • Honestly think I might just cement a slot here in place for Swapmeet, who show no signs of every giving up their spots on some of the most important guitar playlists in the world.
  • Radio Free Alice – Kick In The Shins (single)
    • Radio Free Alice are playing a similar game, with the recent single getting repeat adds on a compact, but wildly influential, set of lists this week, as well as good level of home-turf slots too.
  • C.O.F.F.I.N – Think Bad (single)
    • If I was happy as a clam to see C.O.F.F.I.N appear here last week, I’m positively giddy to see them show up twice in two weeks. Long may their hairy racket be broadcast to the world.
  • daine – Love Love (Love Love)
    • daine continues to win hearts and minds abroad, with three >1m-follower playlists all picking up last month’s single, adding to a large swell of momentum that shows few signs of slowing down any time soon.
  • Lara Buchanan – Only Once (single)
    • Solid support at home was given a hefty leg up with two important slots this week on the global lists All New Pop, and young & free, the latter carrying more than 1.5m followers.
  • Alexandria – Knight of Swords (single)
    • The only Australian emerging artist with a new release to receive notable New Music Friday support around the world, this world-building story-telling artist has rocketed to 1.5m monthlies, and has also seen strong support in Australia for the new single matched with slots on NMF lists across Asia.
  • Jem Cassar-Daley – All I’m Thinking About (single)
    • Like Lara Buchanan, both All New Pop and young & free both gave playlists real estate to Cassar-Daley’s most recent track, two weeks after release – added to the weighty spots back here in Oz, it was another good week for this artist and this track.

And that’s your lot this week, the artists that popped on the playlists, punched above their weight, and pushed out into global lists.

If you’re into raw data, then there are two new dashboards you can play with on the site for the Australia and the New Music Friday data.

Go and discover something new and amazing 🤘

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Photo: Sweetie at The Great Club, Sydney