After a near miss or two, Tate McRae is finally crowned on the ARIA Chart with So Close to What.
The Canadian singer and songwriter’s third studio album starts at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, published Friday, February 28th, for her first leader on either main chart.
So Close to What is McRae’s third successive top 10 entry on the national albums tally, after I Used to Think I Could Flypeaked at No. 10 in 2022, and Think Later went to No. 2 in 2023. McRae’s hit single “Greedy” narrowly missed top spot in 2023, also peaking at No. 2.
McRae has a close bond with Australia. She’s dating The Kid LARPI and the pair cut a track, “I Know Love,” which is housed by So Close to What. “I Know Love” enters the ARIA Singles Chart at No. 17, for LAROI’s 11th top 20 hit. Also, McRae completed a national tour in November 2024, which saw her perform in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne, for a jaunt produced by Frontier Touring.
Three tracks from So Close to What enjoy bursts on the ARIA Singles Chart, led by “Sports Car,” which drives to a new high, up 25-9, “It’s OK I’m OK” re-enters at No. 37, and “2 Hands” bounces to No. 40.
McRae leads an all-north American, all-female top four on the ARIA Albums Chart, besting Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet (down 2-1), Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard And Soft (up 4-3), and SZA’s SOS (up 5-4), respectively.
Newcastle, NSW indie rockers Rum Jungle pour out a top 10 with Recency Bias. The Aussie outfit have enjoyed triple j support with Recency Bias, which starts at No. 9.
Englishman Sam Fender cracks the top 20 with People Watching, his third studio effort. It’s new at No. 17 for a career best chart position in Australia. The singer-songwriter and guitarist reached No. 62 in 2019 with Hypersonic Missiles and No. 46 in 2021 with Seventeen Going Under, both of which led the Official UK Albums Chart.
Close behind is Australian singer and songwriter Ziggy Alberts, with New Love, his sixth album. It’s new at No. 18. According to ARIA, Alberts’ peak position so far is No. 9 with 2018’s Laps Around the Sun. Rum Jungle and Ziggy Alberts are the only homegrown artists to impact the latest ARIA Top 50.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” returns to the top, up 3-1. Kendrick Lamar’s “Luther” holds at No. 2 while Lola Young’s former leader “Messy” completes the top 3, up 4-3.
With the exception of Laroi’s contribution to Tate McRae’s “I Know Love”, the latest singles chart is poor harvest for Australian artists.
