Aussie artists are being lost amid a sea of international bands in the ARIA charts

JUST two Australian artists made the cut into the ARIA Top 50 singles chart this week as homegrown artists are drowned out amid a sea of international acts.

Bliss N Eso are one of only two Australian acts in this week’s Australian Top 50. Picture: Jono Searle.

THIS week’s Australian Top 50 singles chart features only two Australian acts.

Sydney hip hop act Bliss N Eso (at No. 30) and Sydney singer Dean Lewis (at No. 16) are the only locals amid a sea of internationals including Ed Sheeran, Drake, Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus.

While ARIA were unable to initially calculate the last time this happened, local chart statisticians can’t recall when so few Australian acts were in the Australian singles chart.

So what’s going on?

Firstly streaming has changed everything ever since being factored into the data used to compile the ARIA singles chart two years ago. There are zero Australian acts in this week’s ARIA Top 50 streaming chart, it’s only downloading from iTunes that sees Bliss N Eso and Dean Lewis crack the main chart.

Rappers Bliss N Eso are one of only two Australian acts in this week’s Australian Top 50. Picture: Supplied

ARIAs streaming chart uses data from several streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify. Spotify’s Australian Top 50 streaming chart still contains Lewis’ song Waves at No. 27 as well as the older hit by Sydney’s Starley with Call On Me at No. 47.

Streaming charts are more static than download charts. People tend to click on the Top 50 streaming chart to hear what’s new and end up listening to the same songs over and over.

That means the same songs stay in the chart, week after week. It takes something massive, like a new Ed Sheeran or Drake record, to have a real instant impact.

This week’s Australian Artist Singles chart tells this week a more alarming picture.

The third biggest selling Australian song is Pnau’s Chameleon, which was released late last year.

Amy Shark’s Adore is still at No. 4 after 30 weeks in the chart, while the Top 10 also includes Flume’s Never Be Like You and Sia’s Cheap Thrills, which have both been in the charts for over 70 weeks.

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The No. 12 highest selling Australian song in Australia last week — Vance Joy’s Riptide, released in 2014, which has now been on the chart for 124 weeks.

Paul Cashmere, of music website Noise 11, studies chart trends. However he says listeners don’t have geographical alliegances while streaming.

“Streaming makes the listener the programmer,” Cashmere said. “Streaming makes it possible for music fans to listen to what they want when they want, they don’t need radio anymore. If the listeners are choosing international acts over Australian acts, that is indicating the music industry out of tune with audience demands”.

Right now there is a distinct lack of new Australian songs being purchased by Australians — either because they haven’t been exposed to them or they’re not connecting with them.

It’s no secret you don’t hear much Australian music on commercial radio — it is often shoehorned into the token Australian music shows that air well out of peak hour listening times.

Most Australian commercial radio networks are obliged to play at least 25-per-cent of local music — again that can be made up by playing Australian artists out of prime time.

The most-played Australian artists on local radio last week?

Sydney’s William Singe, who guests on the new song Mama by UK act Jonas Blue is at No. 20, Dean Lewis at No. 26 with Waves (now on the way out, after peaking at No. 16 on the radio chart) and a new hit by Melbourne rapper Illy at No. 28 with Oh My featuring Jenna McDougall.

Songs by Pnau, Amy Shark, Peking Duk, Starley, Sia and Vance Joy are still in enough rotation to feature in the bottom end of the 100 most played, while ‘niche’ acts Keith Urban (No. 84) and Rick Price (with a song written for Smooth FM at No. 71) are new entries.

Melbourne’s Vance Joy is still selling copies of his hit Riptide three years on. Picture: Supplied

Certainly Australian acts have found the easiest way to get songs on commercial radio is to make songs that fit commercial radio formats.

Illy’s string of radio hits have an international sound featuring guest female singers on the chorus, Sia’s songs are actually written and produced overseas, while Pnau and Peking Duk’s bangers were embraced by the same commercial stations who didn’t get Flight Facilities or Rufus.

Amy Shark, who broke through Triple J, is arguably the least ‘mainstream’ act to break into the Top 40, although her sound owes a debt to Kiwi musician Lorde.

Just as record labels are still trying to cash in on the ‘tropical house’ sound pioneered by Diplo, Major Lazer and Justin Bieber, Lorde’s take on electronic pop also opened doors others have followed.

However Cashmere insisted radio isn’t the reason Australians aren’t buying local product.

“The music industry needs to stop blaming commercial radio for its downfall. Radio is not the music industry, it is the radio industry. It has a completely different set of goals to record companies. If the music industry spent less time on fast food artists and more on developing them we would be in much better shape.”

Then there’s the theory that maybe it just is a quiet time for Australian acts.

Casey Donovan’s independently released Lonely has only surfaced at No. 20 on the Australian artist chart, missing the Top 100 even after coming after winning a national reality TV show and getting heavy media exposure for the new release.

Breakthrough: Brisbane’s Amy Shark has infiltrated the mainstream chart this year. Picture: News Corp

Same for Isaiah — saturation coverage of his Eurovision performance his song Don’t Come Easy did not translate into radio play or sales — it has so far peaked at No. 69.

There should be at least two Australian entries next week — Troye Sivan’s very ‘now’ collaboration with Dutch DJ Martin Garrix There For You (complete with the trop house chorus), Vera Blue’s Mended and Illy’s Oh My are selling on iTunes; streaming usually takes a few weeks for new releases to register.

Key pop acts like Guy Sebastian, Jessica Mauboy, Delta Goodrem, The Veronicas and Flume are all between releases.

Reality expats Samantha Jade and Stan Walker have both released new singles last week.

However Cashmere said there’s never a “quiet time” for Australian music.

“There is always live music to go and see. Tours like APIA Good Times and Red Hot Summer prove Australians want to hear Australian music. Again the ones who aren’t complaining are the career acts who have been doing this for a living for a long, long time and are getting better with age. The industry needs to look at its own priorities before blaming aligned industries like radio.

“Having only two Australian acts in the chart is also a reflection on how useless the chart has become. If the Black Sorrows, Colin Hay, Deborah Conway and Mental as Anything together can sell out a national tour, then the chart is no longer a reflection of Australian music fans tastes.”

Melbourne rapper Illy has had back to back mainstream radio hits. Picture: Brett Costello