Lime Cordiale are the first Aussie artists to finally reach No. 1 on the ARIA charts in 2024

An Aussie indie rock band has taken out the top spot in the Australian music charts, after a long drought of eight months.

It took eight months for a homegrown artist to finally claim No. 1 on the Australian charts this year.

Indie altrock duo Lime Cordiale became the first Australian artist to land at the ARIA album chart summit in 2024, with their third record Enough of the Sweet Talk.

Lime Cordiale broek the longest local artist chart drought since 2001 when Kylie Minogue’s Fever album finally reached the summit in October that year.

The Sydney siblings are signed to Chugg Music, the small but influential label set up by legendary local artist champion and promoter Michael Chugg.

Lime Cordiale’s achievement is even more remarkable as they are an indie act without the might of a major label’s marketing and promotional muscle and budget.

Sydney band Lime Cordiale are the first Aussies to reach No. 1 on the ARIA charts in 2024. Picture: Supplied.

The brothers pounded the pavements – and their social media channels – by staging old school instore signing sessions to help push their new record to the top of the charts.

“We’ve worked so hard with Chugg Music to push this as hard as it can go. It’s really awesome having an indie label help us to be the first Australian artist to get #1 in the ARIA Albums Chart this year. Australian music is #1,” the brothers said in a statement.

Reaching the chart summit this week coincided with ARIA launching a new “Australian #1 Album Award” based on the results of their Australian Artist charts as the industry has grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of representation on the mainstream top 50.

“We’re seriously proud to take home the first official Australian #1 Album Award. We think it’s awesome that ARIA are awarding Australians for the #1 spot because it’s not an easy feat for Australians to get above the noise, especially against international commercial artists,” Louis and Oli Leimbach said.

“Australian musicians do it for the art first and so many still don’t realise just how good the quality of Aussie music really is.”

The Kid Laroi is No. 1 on the Aussie Artist chart but only No. 25 on the main top 50 singles. Source: Supplied

The Kid Laroi, who has finally announced his rescheduled Australian tour for November, claimed No. 1 on the Australian Singles chart with his hit Girls, which is only No. 25 on the mainstream top 50.

ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd said the new Australian #1 Singles and Album Awards are an attempt to promote homegrown music to local music fans who are barraged by big international releases.

Streaming playlists and social media algorithms favour a handful of top tier international acts including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and The Weeknd who score more plays and therefore higher chart positions.

That has resulted in local artists having to hurdle a much higher bar in 2024 to make it onto the mainstream top 50 singles.

Bernard Fanning and Paul Dempsey are gunning for a No. 1 album debut this week. Picture: Cybele Malinowski

“There’s been a lot of negativity and talk about the climate with so few Australian albums and singles in the main charts,” Herd said.

“We wanted to put the spotlight on Australian success so two years ago we shifted focus to the Australian Artist charts which have grown in popularity within the artist community; we can see that through artists posting getting to No. 1 online.

“It’s a huge deal to create and record and promote an album to No. 1 on the local charts because that gets noticed by international promoters and agents and labels.”

There are some heavy hitters chasing a No. 1 debut with new records this week including Tones and I with her Beautifully Ordinary record and power rock duo Bernard Fanning and Paul Dempsey with their new project The Deluge.

Originally published as Lime Cordiale are the first Aussie artists to finally reach No. 1 on the ARIA charts in 2024