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.
Essential Australia-based artists winning at home
To see who’s getting the most backing from a cross-section of Australian tastemakers and crtitics, I track the adds on ~60-70 of the most credible new music playlists in the country and weight the data to highlight any artist with a lower following getting onto these lists at any sort of scale – this highlights newer artists getting backing from major playlisters. The top three performers (and their releases) this week were:
#1 Ricky Albeck – Famous Friends (single)
- Followers: 535
- # AU Playlists: 7
- Combined AU playlist reach: 842k
- 😮 With a Spotify following of <1k, but with three major Spotify playlist spots on Open Skies, Tapestry, and New Music Friday AU&NZ, Ricky Albeck achieved disproportionately large reach compared to his following – a big signal of support
#2 REDD. – i wanna (feat. Cat & Calmell) (single)
- Followers: 5.4k
- # AU Playlists: 12
- Combined AU playlist reach: 862k
- 🌏 This all-Warners collab also bagged a hefty international spot on All New Rock, which carries just shy of 1m followers on its own
#3 UTILITY (w/ Vv Pete) – Money Maker (single)
- Followers: 1.2k
- # AU Playlists: 7
- Combined AU playlist reach: 1.1m
- 😮 This is UTILITY’s second appearance in the top three best-performing emerging Australian artists in three weeks
The top 20 best-performing artists this week are below (including some of my personal faves like The Gnomes, Lotte Gallagher, and Ruby Gill).
Once you’re done making notes of who to check out, we’ll take a look at how the Aussies did abroad this week.
Essential Australia-based artists winning on global playlists
Landing on home turf playlists is one thing, but also breaking out into global lists is another thing entirely. I track a few hundred of the biggest and best international playlists – these are the best-performing Australia-based artists who made it onto significant lists both in Australia and around the world this week:
daine – Wishing Well (single)
- Followers: 61.6k
- # AU Playlists: 10
- # Global Playlists: 22
- Combined AU + Global playlist reach: 18.2m
- 🌏 For the eighth time in just over three months, daine once again achieved notable support internationally, ending up as one of only four artists globally with <100k Spotify followers to end up on the overall top 50 most playlisted artists across New Music Fridays (see below)
Radio Free Alice – Big Ideas (single)
- Followers: 51.5k
- # AU Playlists: 8
- # Global Playlists: 4
- Combined AU + Global playlist reach: 7.4m
- 😮 It’s more likely that RFA will appear here in any given week than not – this is their 15th appearance in this list in 19 weeks, a near unbroken run of significant international support that isn’t likely to diminish with the upcoming album release on 30th Oct
Zach Stephenson – Broke My Jaw (single)
- Followers: 572
- # AU Playlists: 5
- # Global Playlists: 4
- Combined AU + Global playlist reach: 4.0m
- 😮 This solo project attracts significant international attention for a second consecutive week
Cherry Chola (w/ Chico Sonido) – Flotando (single)
- Followers: 9.4k
- # AU Playlists: 7
- # Global Playlists: 3
- Combined AU + Global playlist reach: 3.9m
Sycco – Look Up (album)
- Followers: 39.2k
- # AU Playlists: 4
- # Global Playlists: 3
- Combined AU + Global playlist reach: 2.9m
- 😮 A second week of strong support for tracks from last week’s album
Stimpies – Doing Good (album)
- Followers: 4.0k
- # AU Playlists: 10
- # Global Playlists: 3
- Combined AU + Global playlist reach: 2.8m
- 😮 One of two particularly impressive performances this week from emerging artists (see also GRUB below), with large international lists adding global heft to a strong home-turf performance
GRUB – GRUB (album)
- Followers: 1.9k
- # AU Playlists: 7
- # Global Playlists: 3
- Combined AU + Global playlist reach: 2.9m
- 😮 A fabulous achievement and a fast start for this new project – with just two singles, and now a debut album, they’re already attracting attention from the global versions of All New Rock, All New Punk, and Fresh Finds Rock to give it all a turbo boost
Essential global artists – five bets for the future
If you’re looking outside Australia, I also take a look at artists achieving a larger presence on New Music Friday playlists around the world than their followings might initially suggest – these are five artists (and their releases) who are getting international backing beforethey’ve blown up for real.
NB: a 🇦🇺 flag indicates an Australia-based artist
Alex Crichton – Stuck on You (single)
- Followers: 63.1k
- NMF Ranking: #40
- # Global NMFs: 10
- Combined Global NMF playlist reach: 6.7m
strongboi – dizzy (single)
- Followers: 81.8k
- NMF Ranking: #43
- # Global NMFs: 10
- Combined Global NMF playlist reach: 6.5m
🇦🇺 daine – Wishing Well (single)
- Followers: 61.6k
- NMF Ranking: #44
- # Global NMFs: 12
- Combined Global NMF playlist reach: 6.5m
- 😮 Another strong performance across all playlists from daine was also emphasised by appearing on a strong list of NMFs globally, cementing her position as one of the most exciting Australian pop exports of the year
HAAi – DIGITiSE (album)
- Followers: 71.2k
- NMF Ranking: #50
- # Global NMFs: 4
- Combined Global NMF playlist reach: 5.6m
Mary Ann Alexander – Call Me? (single)
- Followers: 27.2k
- NMF Ranking: #56
- # Global NMFs: 4
- Combined Global NMF playlist reach: 5.1m
Essential global artists – the big five
Finally, these are the artists you already know, the bold-faced names who appeared the most across all New Music Fridays globally. These are artists and their the releases that the most people will be hearing and talking about this week:
Troye Sivan – She’s the Best (album)
- Followers: 9.7m
- NMF Ranking: #1
- # Global NMFs: 45
- Combined Global NMF playlist reach: 16.2m
Remi Wolf – Mud (album)
- Followers: 724k
- NMF Ranking: #2
- # Global NMFs: 45
- Combined Global NMF playlist reach: 15.8m
Grimes (w/ VADAKIN) – ACCELERANDO (single)
- Followers: 2.8m
- NMF Ranking: #3
- # Global NMFs: 41
- Combined Global NMF playlist reach: 15.4m
Slayyyter – i think he’s got a girl (single)
- Followers: 877k
- NMF Ranking: #4
- # Global NMFs: 42
- Combined Global NMF playlist reach: 14.6m
Cardi B – Don’t Chart (single)
- Followers: 27.8m
- NMF Ranking: #5
- # Global NMFs: 37
- Combined Global NMF playlist reach: 14.2m
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 🤘
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 🤘
—
Photo: Ricky Albeck at The Lord Gladstone, Sydney