Amyl and the Sniffers were about to top the charts. Sony had another idea
This is a story about a battling independent Aussie rock band that thought they had an ARIA No.1 album, and the strange tactics that got them there. It’s a story about how they were pipped at the last moment by a huge American rap act, using strange tactics of his own. And it’s a story about how the album itself has become almost a footnote in modern music marketing.
Cartoon Darkness, the third album from Melbourne punks Amyl and the Sniffers, smashed into the ARIA charts this week at number two. Sadly, in terms of industry bragging rights, there is no number two. You’re either a chart-topping sensation or you need to find another angle for your press release.
Floored: Amyl and the Sniffers’ hopes of a No.1 album were gazumped at the last moment.
Just two days out from the chart, Amy Taylor and her mullet-headed Sniffer gang were confident they had that top spot sewn up, thanks to the bag of tricks record labels now employ to get a No.1 sticker by stealth.
Similar to recent first-week strategies by Aussie chart-toppers Lime Cordiale and Missy Higgins, Amyl’s tactic was to bundle the album with live ticket sales. Pay just $2 more for a ticket to their show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl next January, and Cartoon Darkness was yours.
What should have been a sure thing came undone because of an error in the online ticketing system. But even without those gig bundles, Cartoon Darkness was such a hit with actual album buyers, downloaders and streamers (even though streams count for far less in ARIA’s incredibly complex accounting system), the band were still on target to cream the field.
But what nobody saw coming was another modern-day marketing tactic: a surprise album drop.
Two weeks ago, Californian rap giant Tyler, the Creator gave fans notice of the imminent arrival of his seventh album, Chromakopia. But physical copies – which still play a vital role in the ARIA count – would arrive too late to trouble Amyl.
That was until Sony Australia, Tyler’s local label, decided to rush import a batch of Chromakopia CDs last Tuesday, just days before ARIA’s weekly sales accreditation window closed at midnight on Thursday.
Australian fans who had ordered the bundled hoodie/T-shirt/cap/poster/tote bag – oh, and CD – from Tyler’s US site had their orders filled with superhuman haste. Numbers were duly (and fairly) crunched at ARIA HQ, and on Friday afternoon the weekly chart newsletter was issued.
“Amyl and The Sniffers storm the chart,” read the headline, as ARIA did its best to back the local underdog. It was not inaccurate, but the kicker was in the third paragraph: “Tyler, The Creator takes the top spot for the first time with Chromakopia.”
The US rapper had outsold the Melbourne punks, 7716 units to 7543.
Tyler, the Creator in concert at Qudos Arena, Sydney in 2022.Credit: Wolter Peeters
“We would have loved to see Amyl reach No.1, but we’re still going to shout from the rooftops about them hitting No.2,” says Annabelle Herd, chief executive of ARIA. “It is an amazing achievement … We are constantly, proudly, advocating for Australian musicians.”
Only six Australian albums have topped the ARIA chart this year. “In a world of highly globalised content and discovery platforms, it’s really challenging for Australian artists to cut through,” Herd says. “The home-market advantages afforded by local media just don’t apply like they used to.”
There’s no suggestion of impropriety on anybody’s part in this high-stakes drama of fame, fortune and creative marketing machinations. But in all the feverish bundling of merch and tickets as a means to claiming pop chart supremacy, what really leaps out is the diminished value of the actual album.
Indeed, for some Tyler fans, the chart-topping disc is next to worthless.
“For some reason I can’t get my CD to work,” one fan told me on Reddit this week. He managed to “rip it” later, only to report that it was definitely an “earlier version” of the final album that is now enjoying hundreds of millions of streams worldwide.
So, was this chart-topping album even the one that most people are now listening to, or was it a not-quite-finished test pressing? The absence of song titles, credits or lyrics on the plain cardboard sleeve points to the latter. “Fairly positive these were rushed out to be shipped first week so they would count towards first week sales,” one fan speculated online.
Even if it was a slightly different album, ARIA’s rules would allow it. “It is quite common for there to be product variants,” Herd says, citing as an example the “special tour pack” often issued with additional live recordings.
“This practice is certainly not unique to international artists, and has been used to great success by a number of Australian acts, some of whom have topped the charts with re-releases and similar,” Herd says.
Amyl and the Sniffers, meanwhile, are taking it on the chin. Currently on tour in Europe before their summer dates back home, they had a simple message for their crestfallen management on chart day: “How good is number two.”
The band’s manager, Simone Ubaldi, is devastated but ultimately philosophical.
“The ARIA charts are a game, and we played very hard, but we lost,” she says. “The reality is Tyler is a much bigger artist than Amyl, with a much bigger arsenal. For a self-funded independent Australian band to come within 150 sales of a No.1 record is an incredible achievement.
“From a global marketing perspective, it’s deeply annoying to have missed out. But that’s all it amounts to: a marketing strategy. It’s very high-stakes silliness.”
Amyl and the Sniffers play Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, on Jan 24 and the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, on Jan 25. Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia tour hits Australia in August 2025.
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