Gotye ‘Making Mirrors’ was the biggest selling Australian album of 2011 and the only Australian album to make the year’s Top 10.
Boy & Bear at Noise11.com
Australian acts in Australia faired poorly in 2011 which is more a statement about media support than it is about quality of the music.
Commercial radio should hang its head in shame for the support it gave the local music industry in 2011. Yeah, we all know Adele and Bruno Mars test well. That’s not the point, Start hiring people with ears and support your local industry.
The newer acts unveiled at the 2011 ARIA Awards indicated the true support for Australian music was coming from Triple J and the community radio stations. Hit acts of 2011 like 360, Drapht, Boy & Bear, Gurrumul, The Jezabels and Birds of Tokyo were ignored by Australian commercial radio.
A lot of the drive for Aussie sales came from television. No. 16 Reece Mastin, no. 21 Damien Leith, no. 60 Guy Sebastian, no. 80 Jack Vidgen, no. 85 Jessica Mauboy and no. 87 Altiyan Childs all had their origins in television talent quests.
No. 17 by Cold Chisel, no. 54 by Icehouse, no. 60 by Guy Sebastian, no. 79 by Crowded House and no. 98 by Lee Kernaghan were all greatest hits albums while no. 15 Reece Mastin ‘Reece Mastin’, no. 21 ‘Roy’ by Damien Leith, no. 80 Jack Vidgen ‘Yes I Am’ and no. 87 Altiyan Childs ‘Altiyan Childs’ were mostly covers albums.
Only three Australian albums, Gotye ‘Making Mirrors’, Reece Mastin ‘Reece Mastin’ and Cold Chisel ‘The Best of Cold Chisel – All For You’ made the Top 20.
The only original Australian debut albums to make the Top 100 were ‘Moonfire’ Boy & Bear (23), ‘Prisoner’ The Jezabels (72) and ‘Gilgamesh’ Gypsy & The Cat.
The singles chart fairly even worse. Only one Australian song made the top 20. Only four songs made the Top 50 of 2011 and only nine made the Top 100. They were ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ Gotye feat. Kimbra (2), ‘Good Night’ Reece Mastin (27), ‘We Run The Night’ Havana Brown (40), ‘Who’s That Girl’ Guy Sebastian feat. Eve (47), ‘Inescapable’ Jessica Mauboy (52), ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ Guy Sebastian (76), ‘Friday To Sunday’ Justice Crew (85), ‘Loud’ Stan Walker (88) and ‘From The Music’ Potbellez (95).
2012 is also off to a bad start. There are only seven Australian songs in the first Top 50 of 2012. Here’s hoping it improves from here.
Boy & Bear at Noise11.com
360 at Noise11.com
