It’s a career week for Dear Seattle, as the Sydney band bags a first-ever top 10 appearance on the ARIA Chart.
Produced by Fletcher Matthews and boasting the singles “Counting Hours”, “Evergreen”, “idc”, “Nothing’s Stopping Me Now”, “Sungazer”, and “Say What You Want”, TOY (via Domestic La La) opens at No. 4 on the national albums tally, behind an all-American top three.
Hailing from the Northern Beaches, the band’s debut full-length LP Don’t Let Go dropped in 2019, peaking at #45, with their second effort Someday arriving in 2022, and peaking at #31.
The alt-rock indie act broke out back in 2013 with the debut EP Words Are Often Useless. A second, self-titled EP followed in 2017.
Dear Seattle supported the latest release with a sold-out three-date Album Launch Party Tour, visiting Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle in late January.
TOY is the only Australian-made album in the ARIA Top 50.
At the pointy end of the chart is a triumvirate of solo female artists from the United States. Gracie Abrams reclaims the crown, as her second album The Secret Of Us (Interscope/Universal) improves 6-1, following the release of a deluxe edition on vinyl. The LP logged one week at #1 in early July 2024, ARIA reports.
SZA’s double-platinum certified SOS (unchanged at No. 2 via RCA/Sony) and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet (down 1-3 via Island/Universal) complete the podium.
Also new to the ARIA Chart for the week starting January 27th is the soundtrack to the Robbie Williams Better Man biopic, opening at #5. Released by Sony Music, that’s the British pop star’s 15th top 10 solo album, including five #1s. As a member of Take That, he cracked the top 10 with two albums.
The late American rapper Mac Miller scores a posthumous chart appearance with Balloonerism (Warner), his seventh studio album and the second released since his death in September 2018. It’s new at No. 12. Miller impacted the top 10 with Swimming (#7 in 2018) and Circles (#3 in 2020).
As he kicks off another tour of ANZ, U.S. country superstar Luke Combs’ Aussie fans are swarming his catalog. On the way up his 2017 debut album This One’s For You, improving 11-8, and 2024’s Fathers & Sons, up 77-20 (both through Columbia/Sony). Produced by Frontier Touring, Combs’ Live in Australia + New Zealand stadium tour wraps February 8th at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, BLACKPINK’s Rosé extend her reign with “APT.” (Warner), featuring Bruno Mars. The pop hit has now led the tally for 11th non-consecutive weeks.
Just three Australian tracks impact the top 50, led by Vance Joy’s 16-times platinum certified “Riptide” (Mushroom), unchanged at No. 22.
